Crossroads 2002 A-List Award Winners

TRADEC
San Jose, CA

Quote Management System
> Direct Procurement for Electronics Manufacturers

CUSTOMERS AT WORK

Leading electronics manufacturers are racing to get products to market while at the same time struggling to keep costs down. Tradec’s customers are accelerating the sourcing process in order to meet their business objectives. Telecom networking start-ups and a leading contract manufacturer were among the reference customers. Common strategic objectives included:

§ Reducing turnaround time for the sourcing process

§ Improving visibility into procurement costs and supplier performance

§ Increasing employee productivity

WHY TRADEC?

Tradec allows electronics manufacturers to bring consistency and best practices to an often chaotic procurement process. Tradec’s Quote Management System combines a productivity tool for the procurement buyer, a business rules and pricing filter for the enterprise, and a Web client for suppliers. With Tradec acting as a neutral hub, manufacturers can start working almost immediately with a large number of Tradec-ready suppliers. Tradec also provides analytics that give a procurement organization a clear picture of how their buyers and suppliers are performing by product group or customer account.

BUSINESS IMPACT

Near-term value: Process consistency is a huge step forward for procurement organizations that tend to have evolved in a seat-of-the-pants fashion. Companies report significant improvements in enforcing internal pricing rules, thus achieving more cost-effective sourcing.

Enterprise innovation: Tradec allows large procurement teams to leverage investments in data, supplier relationships, and people. Armed with more reliable data, companies are able to negotiate more effectively with clients and suppliers. On a daily basis, a smoother communication process allows buyers to focus on managing exceptions rather than chasing the paper or email trail. Over time, companies report that they have moved personnel formerly dedicated to processing quotes manually to higher-skilled positions.

Technology gains: Tradec’s managed service approach guarantees security, reliability, and network effects that few electronics manufacturers, especially start-ups, could achieve independently. No longer held captive by fragmented desktop data sources, companies also benefit from the audit trail created by the Tradec approach.

SUCCESS FACTORS

Project strategy: Experienced companies advise that configuring standard workflows for buyer/supplier interactions is the most critical design decision in a Tradec implementation.

Learning: Prospective customers should organize buyer and supplier education programs, either in person or virtual, so all interested parties are able to understand the benefits of adopting the technology and the Tradec service itself.

Resources: For larger companies, a hidden challenge involved in a Tradec implementation is consolidating bill of material (BoM) information from various internal applications. Experienced customers have been able to load highly complex BoMs into the Tradec application once they have completed the necessary data standardization effort.

Fit: Global electronics manufacturers will intuitively see the potential benefits of a Tradec solution for their procurement organizations.

COMPANY INFO

Tradec is a private company with 31 employees.

408.291.2565
www.tradec.com
Published: January 2002