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News of November 14, 2000
BMW
and Softlab found e-Business-Company
Munich,
Germany - The BMW Group will bundle its e-business activities in a new
company named nexolab, to be founded by its IT subsidiary Softlab. With
the founding of this company, the BMW Group chooses a different approach:
with nexolab, the BMW Group creates a platform that will support the
entire process chain - from the buying to the sales process. nexolab will
focus on providing e-business consulting and services especially for the
manufacturing industry. Its offering will range from strategy and process
consulting to the development of new systems and implementation concepts.
Working
closely with partners such as Kabel New Media and Ariba, the new company
will offer all services required for a successful e-business
implementation. At first, nexolab will focus on automotive suppliers and
logistics service providers. Other primary markets include industries that
will be considerably influenced by e-business such as the consumer goods,
the engineering and the plant construction industries. The combined
industry, process and technology expertise of BMW and Softlab enables the
new e-business company to quickly deliver productive solutions to
manufacturing companies.
The
BMW Group chooses a platform that covers the entire value chain - from the
supplier to the customer. "Today, manufacturing companies are
primarily dealing with four major e-business processes that significantly
change the way they'll conduct business in the future. This includes all
processes related to gaining and keeping customers, planning and improving
the value chain to parts suppliers and logistics service providers,
electronically purchasing goods and production materials as well as the
joint product development with construction partners," says Dr.
Norbert Reithofer, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG,
responsible for production.
The
successful implementation of the BMW Group's e-Commerce modules to
strengthen BMW's sales channel presents as solid basis for the new
e-business company. As a prime contractor, Softlab has been responsible
for the complete technical execution of that project. "nexolab will
allow us to bring e-business solutions to market real fast. The
communication with dealers and especially
with customers will therefore gain a new quality," says Dr. Michael
Ganal, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for sales.
The
e-business activities of the BMW Group have already advanced in many
different areas: BMW is currently trying to reduce the processing time of
an individual car to last no more than ten days. This is made possible by
a quantum leap in change flexibility which allows BMW to still implement
changes desired by the customer up until ten days before the actual
delivery date. BMW also focuses on improving the infrastructure for its
suppliers to enhance the production process. Using the latest eSCM (Supply
Chain Management) technology components, BMW increases the availability of
parts and its measurability within the production and delivery chain.
E-procurement solution form the basis for purchasing technical products
and services and capital goods. These solutions also help to significantly
improve all buying and procurement processes. BMW concentrates on
collaborative distributed engineering solutions to be able to decentralize
product development as well as on using innovation platforms.
The
new e-business company provides a number of benefits for manufacturing
customers: as a BMW Group Company, nexolab offers excellent industry
expertise and proven innovation - both necessary for the successful
implementation of e-business solutions. Softlab on the other hand ensures
that e-business projects are professionally completed as it possesses
extensive know-how in applying new technologies to business-critical
processes. In addition, Softlab has long-term experience in project and
quality management. "The goal of the new Softlab company is to bring
productive solutions to market fast using modern and flexible technologies
and therefore being able to handle future requirements. We will use an
architecture that can easily be extended and protects the investments of
our customers," says Peter Broicher, Chairman of the Softlab Group.
The
new company will be located in Munich and start its business activities at
the beginning of the new year. nexolab plans to have about 40 to 50
consultants on board from the start. "Our goals are ambitious: within
the next three years, we want to have five times as many employees and
customers," adds Broicher.
(Nov. 13, 2000)
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