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Product category: Supply chain planning and execution software
News Release from: SSA Global | Subject: iBaan for Product Lifecycle Management
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial Team on 13 December 2002

SRM solutions enhance PLM

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PLM software helps organisations share product information with buyers to assist in supplier selection and enhance management of supplier and subcontractor relationships.

Baan - the leading enterprise application provider for industrial enterprises and part of Invensys plc - today announced new capability for manufacturing companies to leverage product-related information throughout an enterprise using the iBaan for Product Lifecycle Management (iBaan for PLM) and Baan's Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) solutions With the recent announcement of Baan's SRM offerings, Baan's PLM customers can now benefit from enhanced capabilities in areas like supplier rationalisation, capacity utilisation, quoting accuracy and procurement efficiency, and bring a new range of business benefits to a new community of suppliers, buyers and subcontractors

"At Baan, we recognise that a comprehensive product lifecycle management strategy must enable manufacturing companies to focus on product information throughout all phases of a product - from enterprise design and engineering to manufacturing to product retirement," explained Ilana Jucha, president, Baan PLM business unit.

"Baan has taken a major step forward in this area by introducing a new iBaan Sourcing solution and enhancements to iBaan E-Procurement." Baan's new SRM offerings are an important component of the company's iBaan for Supply Chain Management (iBaan for SCM) strategy.

The new business solution will enable industrial enterprise organisations to closely link their innovation and procurement teams by sharing product information - such as new components, engineering change orders, product enhancements, retirement schedules, and design documents - with buyers so they can efficiently manage supplier and subcontractor relationships.

Buyers can share product design documents and plans with business partners during RFQ negotiations and supplier development activities - to assist in supplier selection and management.

"PLM is about owning the processes, data, traceability history and historical analyses behind the product and SCM is about providing capabilities to better manage the supply-oriented aspects of demand-driven management, including direct procurement, demand planning, inventory optimisation, and logistics," Jucha said.

"While each of these solutions is independently valuable, the real pay-off for demand-driven organisations is the combination of both applications, allowing suppliers and subcontractors to participate in the decision making process of an enterprise." "Baan's unique knowledge-driven approach to product lifecycle management allows businesses to execute on their interoperability strategy," said Ed Daihl, president of the Baan CRM and SCM business units.

"For buyers, this strategy provides a range of features, linking design and engineering documents to sourcing documents such as a contract or RFQ while querying and viewing all product documents online.

The collaboration with buyers will help them reach their operational goals of cost, quality and performance." John Moore, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Advisory Services at ARC Advisory Group said: "There is a natural and very compelling reason to have a comprehensive PLM and SRM solution: it ensures that engineers are sourcing the right product from the right suppliers and also ensures that a company leverages its spend with key suppliers.

Baan's efforts to bring these two solutions together will provide their customers with a very attractive offering that should deliver impressive future ROI from more cohesive design and spend management." iBaan for PLM provides discrete manufacturers with the ability to support and maintain a closed-loop system that can help them manage all aspects of a product's lifecycle within one virtual, yet comprehensive environment.

iBaan for PLM enables manufacturers to link hard copy storage documents to sourcing entities, retrieve correct versions of linked documents, search documents using sophisticated query capabilities, improve engineering change management, add electronic signatures, and securely store documents in distributed vaults.

Baan solutions for the SRM market help organisations build and maintain better relationships with suppliers by driving enhancements in purchasing productivity, overall cost performance and forging stronger supply chain relationships.

Baan's SRM solutions help businesses analyse their spend and supply base as well as their product lifecycle and production needs.

They help to plan commodity, procurement and supplier management strategies; source raw materials, components, goods, services and capital equipment with an emphasis on obtaining best total cost; procure items from negotiated contracts to sustain savings; and measure supplier performance and contract compliance.

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