Client Case Studies

PMD Group, Inc., formerly a major business segment of BFGoodrich Company, is a leading global producer of performance polymer systems and additives. The company, which sells its performance materials to customers around the world for a broad range of consumer and industrial applications, is organized into three market-focused groups: Performance Coatings, Polymer Solutions, and Consumer Specialties. Its materials are based on proprietary technology and improve the performance of products in many industries such as personal care, pharmaceuticals, industrial, construction and automotive.

Challenge
BFGoodrich Performance Materials required an e-Commerce solution that would allow its customers to order products online, thereby substantially improving customer service levels and decreasing customer service costs. Because of its then pending sale, BFGoodrich Performance Materials sought deployment of a B2B e-Commerce site within 60 days of communicating the final requirements. The company also wanted to improve its compliance with the Responsible Care program launched by the American Chemistry Council, by using its e-Commerce solution to restrict ordering of certain products to only those authorized to make such purchases.

Solution
After an extensive vendor selection process, which included consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers, PMD Group chose SpaceWorks. This selection was primarily based on SpaceWorks track record of rapid implementations and the out-of-box functionality of its software solution, the SpaceWorks Web BusinessManager Suite.

Through the Suite, U.S. manufacturing customers can now conduct real-time transactions with PMD Group on a 24x7 basis. Users logon to a personalized home page from which they can search the company's catalog, which is fully integrated with the Suite, and immediately place orders for a variety of specialty chemicals and polymers, such as adhesives and coatings, specialty plastics and polymer additives. The site, appropriately named Performance Materials Online, also provides up-to-the-minute order tracking, account order history, and shipment tracking.

Platform Deployment
The Suite's deployment includes:

• Hardware: AS/400
• Operating System: Sun Solaris
• Databases: AS400/Prism and Oracle

Results
PMD Group's customer service staff is extensively using the Performance Materials Online site. Select customers across its divisions are participating in a pilot program. Roll out to its full customer base will be completed this year. Selecting SpaceWorks also enables PMD Group to easily expand its site functionality by adding optional modules in the Suite, which address specific business processes, rather than implementing new systems. The company plans a phased expansion of its site, which will incorporate various Suite modules, as well as an international roll out to Europe and Asia, which will allow it to practice global B2B e-Commerce. Through deployment of the Suite, BFGoodrich Performance Materials has realized:

• 60-day implementation after receiving the final requirements
• Improved productivity of customer service staff
• Self-service ordering capability for customers
• Ability to automate compliance with American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care program

"In our business -- speed and efficiency are top priorities and SpaceWorks has given us the ability to achieve these goals while simultaneously opening up new revenue opportunities," stated Todd Nelson, Director of Global Information Technology for BFGoodrich Performance Materials. "With their focus on the Global 2000 marketplace, domain expertise in the B2B space and in our industry, we couldn't have picked a better e-Business partner than SpaceWorks."

CertainTeed Corporation is a leading North American manufacturer of building materials including fiber glass insulation, residential and commercial roofing, vinyl and fiber cement siding, windows, composite decking and railing, ventilation products, vinyl fence, deck and railing, and piping products. CertainTeed is a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain (France), one of the top 100 industrial companies in the world.

Challenge
CertainTeed decided to establish an Internet-based sales channel linking its seven manufacturing divisions with the company's more than 6,000 business customers. Through this initiative, CertainTeed's customers would be able to order any of the company's wide range of building products, 24-hours a day, seven days a week via the Internet. CertainTeed saw this approach as a key strategic tool in the competitive building supplies market. Among its goals was to deploy a site that presented a single face to its customers, making Internet-based transactions across its divisions transparent. CertainTeed also required a solution that enabled it to expand site functionality without requiring additional third-party applications.

Solution
One of the primary reasons that CertainTeed selected SpaceWorks was its proven ability to seamlessly integrate multiple back-end systems. This was a key factor since CertainTeed required that its seven divisions be linked together in a way that was transparent to its customers. Additionally, SpaceWorks' solution, the Web BusinessManager Suite, provided the product roadmap that fulfilled CertainTeed's objective to easily grow its site, which it can do by adding at anytime optional Suite modules that address a wide range of business processes.

Through the Suite, CertainTeed's business customers can place real-time orders over the Internet and search its comprehensive catalog of building products. The site is being rolled out to incorporate the company's broad product lines: insulation, roofing, attic ventilation, vinyl and fiber cement siding, composite decking and railing, vinyl fencing, decking, and railing, piping products and windows. Customers can also get up-to-the-minute updates on order status, inventory availability, pricing, and shipment tracking.

CertainTeed is considering adding wireless ordering through the Suite's OrderManager wireless access option and reporting through ReportManager. Additionally, it is considering using the Suite's connectivity capabilities to expand its Web-based sales channel to incorporate electronic storefronts for contractors using CertainTeed products.

Platform Deployment
SpaceWorks integrated the Suite with the five back-end systems servicing the seven divisions. Each contains unique product families, pricing information, catalog data and account structures. As part of the integration, SpaceWorks built a 'super gateway' to enable CertainTeed to easily integrate future back-ends. The Suite deployment also includes:

• Hardware: Compaq and Unix servers
• Operating Systems: Windows NT 4.0
• Databases: Oracle
• Back-End System: IBM AS/400

Results

• Real-time order placement, order tracking and pricing availability
• 24x7 access to CertainTeed's 30,000-item catalog of wholesale building materials
• Seamless integration of five back-end systems
• Ability to easily grow site functionality through optional Suite modules

"When we decided to create a way for our customers to order from us online, we looked for a vendor with a proven technology expertise and an implementation track record in electronic business-to-business commerce," says Rose Lee, CertainTeed's Executive Director of E-Business. "After an extensive evaluation, SpaceWorks emerged as the leader with a comprehensive program that will make doing business electronically with CertainTeed easy for our business customers."

GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE), an $11 billion business unit of General Electric, is the global leader in aircraft engine manufacturing. The company produces and services large and small jet engines for airlines, charter and leasing companies, and military aircraft. GEAE also supplies marine and industrial engines based on its successful jet engine designs and provides extensive aviation services. Additionally, the company jointly owns CFM International, the leading supplier worldwide of mid-sized commercial engines, with Snecma of France. GEAE clients include all the major airlines in the world.

Challenge
General Electric Aircraft Engines sought to streamline its ordering process and strengthen business customer relationships by deploying a "Customer Web Center" to sell spare parts online. It required a rapid deployment, complete with links to the company's back-end systems to enable 24x7, real-time transactions with its clients, which include more than 300 major airlines and aircraft maintenance and overhaul providers. GEAE saw the site as a way to drive online revenue and enhance productivity internally as well as for its clients.

Solution
GE Aircraft Engines chose SpaceWorks for its ability to meet GEAE's aggressive 60-day implementation schedule with a proven B2B e-Commerce product, the Web BusinessManager Suite, which offered the most out-of-the-box functionality. The Suite also provided superior back-end integration with GEAE's Oracle back-end system, where multiple catalogs store volumes of information ranging from hundreds of thousands of product codes, to individual customer account and billing information, as well as shipping data.

Users logon to a personalized home page from which they can search GEAE's 250,000 item product catalog, obtain price and real-time inventory availability information, save their parts list, check order and shipping status, place orders, and more. SpaceWorks also integrated Enigma's CommerceSight solution, which GEAE uses to manage and present its extensive technical content online. This allows users to click on the picture of an engine part to launch an order form.

The system can handle one billion transactions a year. This is more capacity than GEAE currently requires, giving it the flexibility to easily address substantial new growth using the system's existing resources.

Results

• The site went live in just 53 days providing GEAE with a "first-in-market advantage" for GEAE over its competitors.
• More than 360 airline customers are now linked to GEAE's Customer Web Center.
• The site is expected to generate $1.4 billion in transactions in its first year of operation , including $50 million in new business
• GEAE's Customer Web Center was selected by Forbes as one of its "Best of the Web" for B2B e-Commerce sites.
• The site won first place in the prestigious 2000 "Best Practices in B2B" awards competition sponsored by eWeek and the Technology Managers Forum

"SpaceWorks has provided GEAE with an important business-to-business e-commerce technology for the new millennium," according to John Rosenfeld, e.Commerce Leader, GE Aircraft Engines, "SpaceWorks came through with a rapid implementation, delivering the fully-tested, fully-operational system in only 53 days. We couldn't have imagined it being more successful."

Maytag is a 100-year-old, $4 billion manufacturer of home and commercial appliances. Its range of home and commercial products includes floor-cleaning equipment offered through the Hoover brand and major appliances provided under the Maytag, Jenn-Air, and Magic Chef brands. The company sells its products through a network of national retailers, independent dealers, and distributors.

Challenge
As the third largest home appliance manufacturer, Maytag was eager to quickly automate sales for its US dealer channel as well as address growing competitive challenges on the Web. The goal was a six-month timeframe to install and perfect a direct-to-dealer e-Business Web initiative, to be named Maytag Advantage. The company created definitive goals for its B2B e-Commerce strategy: reduce call center costs and improve customer satisfaction by Web-enabling their dealers to serve themselves, day or night. Potential Maytag Advantage users included 6,000 mid-size dealers, dealer reps, sales reps, and builders within its Appliance Division.

Solution
After consulting with leading industry analysts, Gartner Group and Forrester Research, Maytag selected SpaceWorks for its growing list of successful back-end integrations to AS/400's as well as the out-of-box functionality and long-term scalability of its solution, the Web Business Manager Suite. They also placed high value on SpaceWorks the ability to quickly tailor and launch the automated, complex ordering solution it needed to make its B2B Web sales initiative a success.

The Suite provides a complete, interconnected order solution for Maytag. Dealers can search a catalog of the thousands of products Maytag builds, price products, place and track orders, and check inventory availability - all in real time. They can also check account status, view invoices, and submit consumer warranty registrations online. To help personalize and speed purchasing, the Suite enables display of account-specific pricing and the user's most-frequently purchased items. Maytag can also use the site to instantly alert its dealer network to special promotions, like closeouts and discontinued models.

Platform Deployment
Maytag Advantage's Web BusinessManager Suite application complements the company's existing EDI program. Medium and small dealers, who have never participated in EDI, benefit through the comprehensive ordering capabilities and productivity improvements.

Web BusinessManager Suite is linked to multiple back-end systems at Maytag. These include two separate applications that manage warranty registrations and invoices, as well as the in-house enterprise resource planning system running on an IBM AS/400. The Suite is deployed on a Hewlett Packard NT server and is integrated to an Oracle database, which is running on a Sun Solaris database server.

Results
Maytag is considering enhancements to the site that would enable the company to target its customers online with personalized promotions. It is also considering rolling Maytag Advantage out to its other divisions. Results to date, include:

• Tens of millions in revenue were driven through Maytag's new dealer site in its first year of operation.
• User surveys show that nearly half of Maytag Advantage users use the site daily and many logon on Saturdays - reaffirming the power of its 24x7 availability.
• Seamless back-end integration with multiple databases and an in-house ERP system
• Integration of product catalog containing thousands of items with e-Commerce capability

SpaceWorks "delivered what we needed today: Fast implementation, easy integration to our back-end systems, simple navigation for the user, and strong technical performance," said Mike Smith, Director of Business-to-Business E-Commerce for Maytag.

Pratt & Whitney, a wholly owned subsidiary of the $25.3 billion United Technologies Corporation, is a leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, industrial gas turbines and space propulsion systems. Customers of the $7.36 billion company include more than 600 airlines that operate with Pratt & Whitney large commercial engines in more than 150 countries as well as 7,400 regional airlines and 27 armed forces. A pioneer in flight and technology, Pratt & Whitney's approximate 18,000 commercial engines power more than half of the world's commercial fleet. In addition, nearly 11,000 military engines from Pratt & Whitney and 33,000 small aircraft engines from Pratt & Whitney Canada are in service around the world.

Challenge
As part of its continuing effort to develop more efficient business processes for itself and its customers, Pratt & Whitney sought to deploy an extranet, called e-Spares, to sell new and used spare jet engine parts. e-Spares would provide an integrated solution that focuses on customer interaction and improves productivity for both Pratt & Whitney's clients and its employees. Other objectives for the site were to deliver "anytime, anywhere" access to key information, increase spare parts sales, and leverage the company's technical content and pedigree information, which is the usage history for each part required before a buying decision can be made. Initially, e-Spares would be rolled out to purchasers of very large jet engines and jet engine parts, such as the major commercial airlines. However, the company also wanted to deploy a scaleable, expandable solution that could grow to incorporate online sales for other Pratt & Whitney divisions.

Solution
The complex ordering requirements of its business led Pratt & Whitney to seek a provider who had experience in deploying an aerospace industry e-Commerce solution: SpaceWorks. In addition to its industry expertise, Pratt & Whitney chose SpaceWorks for the rapid implementation and out-of-box product functionality it offered through its solution, the SpaceWorks Web BusinessManager Suite. Also important to Pratt & Whitney was SpaceWorks experience in integrating its Suite with Enigma CommerceSight, the technical content management application used by Pratt & Whitney.

The Suite enables Pratt & Whitney's clients to use e-Spares to search the company's 250,000-spare parts catalog, place and track orders in real time, check inventory availability, review account status, and get shipping updates. In addition, they can submit requests for quotes and initiate online pricing negotiations. Pratt & Whitney also licensed two optional Suite modules, MarketingManager and ReportManager. MarketingManager allows Pratt & Whitney to target promotions to its customers based on buying habits and individual interest. Through ReportManager, the company can access reports on its e-Spares customers' buying activities, such as buyer histories, responses to targeted promotions, and sales revenue-to-date.

Platform Deployment
For the e-Spares deployment, SpaceWorks integrated the Suite to a number of third-party applications and back-end systems already in use by Pratt & Whitney, allowing the company to leverage existing IS resources. This included integration with the content management application from Enigma, which enables users to research parts configurations through online technical content, as well as Documentum, which stores the pedigree information required for the sale of serviceable parts. The Suite is also integrated with Netegrity SiteMinder for LDAP, which provides a single sign-on and seamless interface across all of e-Spares applications for users as well as a central point for the storage and management of user profile data. Finally, SpaceWorks developed a gateway to SEEBEYOND's E-Gate Middleware, which Pratt & Whitney uses to maintain the inventory, part and order information that are stored in three separate backend systems. The Suite's deployment includes:

• Hardware: Two Windows NT-compatible application servers and a Sun enterprise server for its Oracle database
  
  
• Operating Systems: Windows NT for both the web and application servers and Solaris for the database server

Results

• Convenient, "anytime, anywhere" transactional capability on new and used parts for Pratt & Whitney clients
• Streamlined business processes have improved productivity for Pratt & Whitney employees and clients
• Three legacy inventory systems linked through the development of a gateway to SEEBEYOND's E-Gate Middleware
• Incorporation of 250,000-part illustrated catalog
• Multiple third-party application integrations:
  • Enigma CommerceSight for technical content
  • Documentum for service pedigree of serviceable parts
  • Netegrity SiteMinder and LDAP for single sign-on and user profile management

"Pratt & Whitney selected SpaceWorks because of their proven track record in rapidly deploying e-business solutions and for the comprehensive out-of-the-box functionality of the Web BusinessManager Suite," said David Brantner, Director of e-Business at Pratt & Whitney. "SpaceWorks expertise in B2B, coupled with their aircraft industry knowledge, will enable Pratt & Whitney to execute its long-term e-commerce strategy in a timely, cohesive manner."

BFGoodrich Performance Materials

CertainTeed

GE Aircraft Engines

Maytag

Pratt & Whitney

"With their focus on the Global 2000 marketplace, domain expertise in the B2B space and in our industry, we couldn't have picked a better e-Business partner than SpaceWorks."
—Todd Nelson, Director of Global Information Technology, BFGoodrich Performance Materials
































































"SpaceWorks emerged as the leader with a comprehensive program that will make doing business electronically with CertainTeed easy for our business customers."
—Rose Lee, Executive Director of E-Business, CertainTeed

"SpaceWorks in Rockville, Md., provided transactional software that allows GEAE site users to order components, research inventory availability, and verify orders and shipping status."
— Darwin Magazine,
Dec. 2000

"With more than 360 airline customers linked to GE Aircraft Engines' Internet-based Customer Web Center (CWC), transactions through the center have surpassed $1 billion this year [2000] … GEAE has even sold spare jet engines over the CWC, representing multi-million dollar transactions."
—GEAE press release,
Dec. 2000






















































"SpaceWorks OrderManager delivered what we needed today: fast implementation, easy integration to our back-end systems, simple navigation for the user, and strong technical performance."
— Mike Smith , Director,
B2B E-Commerce,
Maytag Corp

"SpaceWorks expertise in B2B, coupled with their aircraft industry knowledge, will enable Pratt & Whitney
to execute its long-term
e-commerce strategy in a timely, cohesive manner."
—David Brantner,
Director of e-Business,
Pratt & Whitney.

Using "…SpaceWorks transaction software,
Pratt & Whitney is launching an Internet sell site called
E-Spares that includes new and used parts and engines, not only for its own engines, but for those of other manufacturers."
— Aviation Week,
March 2001