Commerce One 5.0 delivers significant savings to Bae Systems, Eastman Chemical, Medibuy, ITT, Sasol

At eLink2002 today, Commerce One, the Business Internet Company, announced that Bae Systems, Eastman Chemical, Medibuy, ITT and Sasol have realised impressive cost savings and return on investment using the buying and sourcing applications that are part of the new Commerce One 5.0 suite.

Eastman Chemical, a multi-national chemicals and plastics manufacturer, uses Commerce One Buy to support the procurement of $500 million worth of goods and services annually. The Commerce One Collaborative Platform enables Eastman Chemical to integrate Commerce One's e-procurement solution with each of its logistics providers through a single point of entry for all trading partners.

"Commerce One was the only complete best-of-breed solution that could meet all of our unique demands," said Eddie Page, manager, eMRO, Eastman Chemical. "We have reduced our cost of materials by 5% to 15%, shortened order cycle times from two weeks to 24 hours, lowered administrative costs and improved inventory practices to realise an overall return of 126% in under 10 months."

Medibuy, a leading provider of comprehensive business-to-business supply chain solutions for the healthcare industry, adapted Commerce One Buy and Collaborative Platform into Reqs and Medibuy Marketplace respectively, to streamline the procurement and transaction processes for its customers. Medibuy has exclusive agreements to provide core e-commerce products and services to nearly 40% of the acute care industry, representing more than $23 billion in purchasing power.

"Escalating costs, administrative inefficiencies and managed care complexities are just a few of the obstacles plaguing the healthcare industry," said J Edward Pearson, president and chief executive officer of Medibuy. "Working with Commerce One, we have helped our customers automate procurement processes. For example, more than 23 000 people actively use Reqs, our Web-based requisition product. In addition, several hundred hospitals and a quickly growing group of suppliers are integrated to our marketplace and other solutions to reduce paperwork and transaction processing errors, allowing them to concentrate on their main goal of delivering quality healthcare."

"Customers are demanding best-of-breed applications that leverage and integrate legacy applications and reduce expenses in today's tight economy," said Dennis H Jones, vice chairman, president and chief operating officer of Commerce One. "We are helping our customers realise immediate value on their technology investments and streamline the entire corporate buying process."

Additional Commerce One enterprise customers are saving time and money using Commerce One 5.0 solutions:

• .         Bae Systems, one of the world's largest aerospace and defense contractors, reported that it has conducted more than 80 auctions saving nearly $15 million. In addition, 475 purchasing transactions totalling $85 000 are conducted monthly on the corporate e-procurement system that connects to Exostar, the aerospace and defense e-marketplace powered by Commerce One.

• .         ITT Industries, a global leader in engineering and manufacturing, streamlined operations and centralised its supply chain. The company reported an average of 5% in savings on its e-commerce spend.

• .         Sasol, based in SA, is a world leader in the commercial production of petrochemical products. Sasol says it will save nearly $10 million over five years in MRO purchases while reducing average cost per purchase by 40% and shortening order-cycle times from 28 days to 10 days using Commerce One solutions.

Commerce One 5.0

The Commerce One 5.0 suite delivers collaborative solutions for visibility and control over the source-to-pay process. It links people and systems within the enterprise and connects organisations with trading partners. Built on an open, collaborative platform, Commerce One 5.0 is designed to meet the unique, complex requirements of specific enterprises, industries and regions. Commerce One 5.0 includes Commerce One Source, Commerce One Buy and the Commerce One Collaborative Platform.