AFRICAN companies investing in e-commerce will benefit from a comprehensive business alliance between MRO.com Inc. and Ariba, Inc. The alliance between MRO.com, a leading solutions provider for streamlining the supply chain for maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) materials, and Ariba, the leading B2B e-Commerce platform provider, was announced this week.
MRO.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of the international enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions provider PSDI. South African EAM and industrial supply chain solutions provider MST is the African agent for MRO.com, as well as for PSDI that develops the work and asset management system MAXIMO.
MST already initiated discussions with Ariba`s representatives in South Africa to co-operate locally, says Dirk Labuschagne, MST`s e-Procurement Director.
The Ariba MRO.com alliance will enable buyers and suppliers using MRO.COM and/or MAXIMO solutions to transact with buyers, marketplaces and suppliers on the Ariba B2B Commerce Platform, and to use the value-added services of the Ariba Commerce Services Network for content, payment, logistics and sourcing.
A result of the alliance will be the integration of the MAXIMO enterprise asset maintenance system and the MRO.COM marketplace solutions with the Ariba Commerce Services Network (CSN). This Web-based integration will provide MRO.COM-powered buyers with seamless access to suppliers globally through Ariba CSN, Ariba powered marketplaces and network partners, delivering reach to over 20 000 global suppliers. It also gives Ariba-powered buyers access to MRO distributors and manufacturers through MRO.COM via the open transaction routing capabilities, and content management and discovery services of the Ariba Commerce Services Network.
MST together with Ariba`s representatives in South Africa will embark on a joint programme to approach maintenance and repair dominant organisations with a view to providing them an end-to-end e-commerce solution. The MRO.com Ariba alliance will empower MST to provide solutions to the capital-intensive industry that will enable them to extract the full value add from the indirect supply channel.
"Case studies in the US shows that MRO.COM is a perfect complementary technology to enhance the value that organisations unlocked with an Ariba implementation. Ariba focuses on the operational materials e-procurement while MRO.COM has a heritage of maintenance and repair materials e-procurement.
"MAXIMO`s strong position as the demand engine in the MRO supply chain in these global companies makes MRO.COM for buyers an ideal complement to the Ariba platform, including the Ariba Buyer solution. I believe there is accordingly a need in Sub Saharan Africa for full interoperability between various collaborating companies` systems," said Labuschagne.
MST MD Kobus Blomerus says the announcement could not have come at a better time. "We are at the point to conclude and announce a number of agreements for South African industrial clients, including the use of the MRO.COM technology as a branded marketplace in specific vertical communities." The Ariba MRO.com announcement will give all role-players - buyers, suppliers and marketplace owners - the confidence that their choice of a marketsite and technology is acknowledged by Ariba and that integration with Ariba CSN will be seamless."
Blomerus believes that "Africa`s productive industries such as electricity generation, transmission and distribution, water utilities, mining, transportation, process and manufacturing will be able to benefit most from being part of the MRO.COM community. These industries spent up to 85% of their materials purchasing on maintenance and repair items. Because Africa does not manufacture plant equipment locally the only way to optimise the indirect supply chain from manufacturer to end-user is to be able to enter a marketplace where the global industrial suppliers are. This is not the case for most operating materials though".
A significant differentiator of the MRO.COM solution is that it is built on the Intermat SMD industrial item-cataloguing standard. Leading South African companies that are already SMD enabled are Eskom, Telkom, PPC, SA Breweries and Sasol.
Bernie Kruger, MST`s General Manager Cataloguing, says the market is rapidly accepting the SMD methodology as the international standard for item descriptions. "This 22-year-old methodology is paramount for successful B2B e-Commerce trading," he emphasised. Kruger predicts that the alliance with Ariba, combined with the fact that the SMD is the de-facto cataloguing standard, will enhance and sustain MRO.COM`s leadership in the MRO B2B e-Procurement environment.
"The SMD methodology is globally the most appropriate engineering naming convention for industrial items. It was founded prior to the `computer evolution` and has survived many technology changes. Therefore, the fundamental success of the SMD is not technology related, but rather in the engineering knowledge of spare parts," he said.
By using this standard African industrial companies will be able to use globally standardised item descriptions and will therefore be able to find suppliers quickly and effectively on the global marketplace. Item description standardisation is the foundation of inventory optimisation and sharing.
According to Blomerus one of the strongest benefits and differentiators of the MRO.COM technology is that asset intensive industrial organisations that are currently caught up in ERP focused solutions can "plug" into the MRO.COM technology and become EAM focused without having to discard their current systems. As the best-of-breed global leader in EAM solutions MAXIMO has existing integration gateways to SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, Baan, People Soft and others.
"This is where we believe that MST with its experience and knowledge of EAM and the indirect supply chain offers asset intensive organisations in Africa a knowledge and technology partnership that is unparalleled," Blomerus said.
MST will host a series of supply chain seminars in all the major business centres in South Africa in early August. Leading indirect supply chain specialist Rich MacInnes, President of Net Results, will share his years of experience in the e-enabled indirect supply chain all over the globe with South Africans.
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PSDI and MRO.com, Inc.
PSDI is the leading solutions provider for streamlining the MRO supply chain for some 7,000 of the world`s asset intensive companies. Through its subsidiary, MRO.com, Inc., the company complements its MAXIMO work and materials management software with its MRO.COM brand Internet-based B2B marketplace technology and B2B marketplace for buyers and suppliers, a suite of online procurement software products that improve purchasing efficiency, and Internet-based content management tools and cataloging services.
Businesses, government agencies, and other organizations use MAXIMO across their enterprise to assist them in the management of their high-value capital assets, such as plants, facilities, and production equipment, to cut inventories and supply chain costs, control maintenance expenses, reduce unscheduled downtime, and more effectively deploy productive assets, personnel and other resources.
MST (Pty) Ltd
MST, a Pretoria based Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Indirect supply chain solutions provider, is partnering with PSDI to supply Sub Saharan Africa with the MAXIMO, MRO.COM and Intermat solutions. The MST solution is value based and core business focussed. MST also has a skilled resource pool that has been involved in the establishment of the Intermat technology in South Africa and owns the intellectual property of a South African SMD library. More information is available on our website at www.mstsa.co.za
Ariba, Inc.
Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of B2B services and solutions to leading companies around the world, including more than 15 of the Fortune 100. The company delivers an open, end-to-end, best-of-breed platform of interoperable solutions to build B2B marketplaces, manage corporate purchasing, and electronically enable suppliers on the Internet. Together, Ariba`s Internet services and software integrate commerce processes of B2B marketplaces, buyers, suppliers and commerce service providers to create global economies of scale for all participants.