Lest anyone think that B2B e-commerce consists primarily of small businesses
ordering printer paper, manufacturing company Eaton Corp. says it has to date bid out over
$370 million in direct materials acquisitions through the FreeMarkets B2B site.
Eaton makes highly engineered products that serve the vehicle, construction,
aerospace and semiconductor markets.
“We have successfully used FreeMarkets to save millions on components that go
directly into the products we produce for a range of markets,” said Larry
Oman, vice president of supplier resource management at Eaton. ” we have not
only been able to achieve a quick return on our investment, but we have been
able to maintain the high level of quality that is critical to the products
we produce.”
Eaton has purchased a range of products online including springs, molded
plastic, metal stampings, printed circuit boards and raw materials.
FreeMarkets
is a B2B e-marketplace for industrial parts, raw materials,
commodities and services. The company says it has executed online auctions
for more than $5.4 billion of purchase orders to date.
The site features more
than 100 supply verticals, including injection molded plastic parts,
commercial machinings, metal fabrications,
chemicals, printed circuit boards, corrugated packaging and coal. More than
4,000 suppliers from over 50 countries have participated.