E-commerce solution boosts Routeco website

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 18, 2002

Routeco has set up supplyPartnership, a secure, integrated and cost effective e-commerce solution for customers to purchase all their maintenance, repair and operations products via the Internet.

Routeco has set up supplyPartnership, a secure, integrated and cost effective e-commerce solution for customers to purchase all their MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) products via the Internet.

Already many thousands of customers use Routeco's e-purchasing website to check product prices, track deliveries and place orders for their control and automation product requirements, but the company's new multivendor e-commerce solution goes much further.

The customer's ERP system is linked to the supplyPartnership customer bespoke product catalogues, providing a one-to-one connection with their preferred suppliers.

E-commerce offers customers enormous potential cost savings, not just by reducing the purchase price of product but through more efficient ordering, inventory control, invoicing and delivery, made possible by web-based systems.

National or multinational end users with multiple sites can also ensure that local purchasing follows company policy, by allowing only products on the approved lists to be selected, eliminating maverick spend and maximising company engineering standards policy.

"With supplyPartnership, customers have a virtual shop window that enables them to select products, obtain price and delivery details and order everything they need for payment on a single monthly invoice", says Routeco Marketing and Support Director Tony Usher.

"This offers huge savings in transaction costs and keeps control over the range of products that individuals in the organisation can purchase".

supplyPartnership works by linking a customer's SAP, similar ERP or commerce buying applications like ARIBA ACSN systems to a series of customised, on-line catalogues that contain only those products selected from the suppliers' range.

Each catalogue can be linked in real time back to the supplier's view of the inventory.

In addition to Routeco's extensive product range of industrial control and automation products, customers can add catalogues from other suppliers of products as diverse as stationery, mechanical goods, safety equipment and building maintenance supplies to make supplyPartnership a true one-stop shop.

The catalogues include pricing and delivery information, and orders can be placed in real-time with supplyPartnership.

Suppliers invoice supplyPartnership for the goods ordered, and these multiple invoices are checked and consolidated so the customer receives a single monthly invoice.

Delivery is direct from the supplier to the customer.

"supplyPartnership combines the efficiency of B2B e-commerce with the strengths of traditional, local distribution.

It adds national, uniform pricing to create a robust combination of products and services for the maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) marketplace", says Tony Usher.

"Solutions range from just-in-time fulfilment to taking on the entire materials management responsibility for all indirect purchases".

Because supplyPartnership gives customers access to their own dedicated catalogues drawn from existing suppliers, they maintain existing working relations and support.

This facilitates maximum control for the customer without the transactional burden.

Each customer is also able to develop a unique, tailor-made purchasing solution to meet their own particular strategic objectives, but everyone will benefit from reduced total costs of acquisition, ownership and use offered by supplyPartnership.

These benefits include: lower prices through volume purchasing; elimination of excess or obsolete stock; optimum levels of stock holding; reliable local delivery; 24/7/365 ordering; management of repair, return and warranty process; efficient, accurate invoicing; and measurement and reporting of key performance indicators.

With the launch of supplyPartnership, Routeco now has one of the most advanced e-commerce solutions available to UK manufacturers.