QAD announces private trading exchange strategy to drive collaborative commerce in manufacturing

A strategy to help manufacturers quickly set up private trading exchanges (PTX) that efficiently drive collaborative commerce across the value chain has been announced by QAD.

Leveraging its expertise in manufacturing software, QAD is now enabling companies to quickly integrate their internal operations with those of suppliers, partners and customers and capitalize on new profit opportunities through exchanges.

"Reinventing itself from a pure supply-side vendor to one that provides order management applications, and the ability to handle fulfilment from its own procurement applications, QAD`s product strategy shows where order management applications are quickly heading," said Louis Colombus in the AMR Research Alert dated 8 May 2001.

"Taking the early success of QAD as a barometer, it`s clear that the key to growth of sell-side private trading exchanges has to be partnership technologies that provide for greater velocity and accuracy."

Private trading exchanges give manufacturers the ability to automate supply purchases and collaborate in real-time with trusted suppliers, without opening up sensitive information to unwanted eyes. While many exchange strategies rely heavily on procurement software, QAD eQ acts as the order management hub for private trading exchanges. It includes Commerce Relationship Management, Sell-Side, Buy-Side and Replenishment applications.

"Manufacturers need applications that can quickly and efficiently leverage the value of their back office systems as part of a collaborative platform and information system that centralises B2B commerce," said Pam Lopker, president and founder of QAD.

"QAD eQ applications are ready to help manufacturers quickly and economically create private trading exchanges that offer greater connectivity, flexibility, and personalisation than anything else now available."

QAD eQ creates a collaborative commerce infrastructure that permits manufacturers to connect back end systems and then expand their supply and demand networks. Companies gain the ability to flexibly model their business processes, accept orders from their own private networks of customers as well as from public exchanges, and intelligently automate production, outsourcing and distribution decisions to maximise profits.

The QAD eQ Commerce Relationship Management module leverages a company`s investment in ERP, allowing the various business rules and policies (eg, payment and shipping requirements) for each trading partner to be set once, and intelligently automated thereafter. This enables companies to operate with maximum efficiency, while delivering outstanding, personalised service.

QAD eQ Sell Side accepts orders in multiple ways. It automates the complete order lifecycle process for specific industries and countries with credit checking, order status and tracking, supply chain inventory information, pricing and promotions, sourcing, global taxes and invoicing. QAD believes that manufacturers now implementing QAD eQ Sell Side to make orders from anywhere to anywhere will substantially lower transaction costs and expand their market share, global reach, and profit potential.

For an immediate improvement to the bottom line, QAD eQ Buy Side reduces direct material procurement costs, while providing an on-ramp to e-market exchanges for MRO and indirect procurement. It will track the consumption of items from multiple back end systems and consolidate the information for negotiating volume discounts with suppliers. Additionally, QAD eQ will enable Internet-based reverse auctions, manage the request for quote (RFQ) and proposal (RFP) processes to support multiple suppliers, manage contracts for large multinationals, and generate purchase orders from a variety of sources.

Absent from most exchange-based solutions, automatic and unattended replenishment of inventories, or Internet Kanban, will give manufacturers the ultimate "pull" inventory system. QAD eQ Replenishment can deliver a 300% ROI through a three- to four-fold improvement in inventory turnover.

To achieve such dramatic results, QAD eQ will integrate all distribution centres into the internal and external supply chain and enable vendor-managed inventory. When an item`s inventory falls below a prescribed level or usage rate, QAD eQ will automatically generate an order and forward it to the appropriate factory, supplier or distribution point for action. After the order is filled, the item will be assigned to a carrier for delivery to the distribution centre where the order originated. This will eliminate manual order entry, enabling manufacturers to use QAD eQ as a competitive weapon that helps them anticipate demand and quickly adapt to changing market conditions.