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eConnections Enables Flash to Speed Quote Process by up
to 50%, Make Better Decisions and Optimize Supply Chain Relationships
Pasadena, CA – September 10, 2001 – eConnections,
the provider of extended supply chain intelligence solutions
for the electronics industry, announced today that Flash Electronics
has recognized a significant return on its investment within
two months of implementing the eConnections Quote Manager,
"Quotility." eConnections Quote Manager is the only
net-native solution that is designed specifically for managing
quotes in the electronics industry and provides connections
to a community of more than 1500 of the world's leading suppliers,
distributors and manufacturers' representatives. Early benefits
realized by Flash, one of the industry's fastest growing contract
electronics manufacturers, include:
- Reductions of 35%-50% in quote preparation time, resulting
in Flash's ability to respond faster to its OEM customers
and minimize time spent on non-revenue-generating activities.
- Ability for Flash to create more competitive proposals
for it's own customers by leveraging quote intelligence
from connections to a community of world-class suppliers.
- Optimized supplier relationships, enabled by real-time
performance metrics, allowing Flash to more effectively
analyze and reward strong supplier performance.
- More control through direct, automatic delivery and receipt
of quotes in a standard format – no more delays to
quotes waiting for manual data entry or missing in action
in disparate systems.
"Having a single point of access to our supplier community
is very important to us. We really like the fact that almost
all of our suppliers already use the eConnections Quote Manager,"
said Curtis Campbell, vice president of sales for Flash Electronics.
"You can buy a solution with front-end functionality
for gaining efficiencies internally, but if you don't have
the back-end connections, it doesn't help you in the long
term. It's good to see that the electronics supply chain community
has adopted such a solution."
Flash Electronics, headquartered in Fremont, Calif., is one
of Silicon Valley's leading contract electronics manufacturers.
Propelled by a "culture of quality" and commitment
to surpassing its customers expectations, Flash has achieved
a five-year growth rate of 5,050% and earned a place on the
Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast-500, honoring the fastest
growing technology companies in North America.
The contract manufacturer's commitment to quality starts
before a project ever begins – with the quoting process
– where the goal is to provide fast response and highly
competitive proposals to OEMs. It is a complex process. Flash
typically manages 10-15 new quotes per week, each one consisting
from 250-500 line items, and each requiring quotes from suppliers.
In the past, Flash had implemented another quote software
package, which provided some up-front efficiency in quote
preparation but didn't provide "back-end" connectivity
into supply chain partners' systems. The result was a range
of time delays over which Flash had little control –
from the need of Flash's partners to re-enter data manually
to quotes lying in the inboxes of people who were either out
of the office or too busy to process the quotes promptly.
Flash subscribed to the eConnections Quote Manager solution
because of its established community and its ability to optimize
the entire quote process. Flash has been able to cut the time
required to prepare quotes in half by leveraging the electronics
industry domain intelligence embedded in the eConnections
Quote Manager. And because the eConnections Quote Manager
delivers quotes in the data formats preferred by Flash and
its suppliers, all of Flash's supply chain partners can take
advantage of the optimized quote process with improved quote
turn around time and the elimination of costly, unnecessary
delays.
Equally important, the eConnections Quote Manager allows
Flash to select its own competitive criteria for on-line supplier
performance evaluation. For example, Flash can quickly sort
quotes based on its own predetermined priorities in order
to make faster, better purchasing decisions. This insight
allows the contract manufacturer to then reward its most competitive
supplier partners with the business, resulting in optimized
supplier relationships. Armed with this intelligence Flash
can, in turn, provide more competitive quotes to its OEM customers
with a combination of the fastest response and the best offer.
"Flash Electronics' success points to the rapid, real-world
benefits of using our Quote Manager, the first service in
our suite of extended supply chain intelligence solutions
for the electronics industry," said Rob Rodin, president
and CEO, eConnections. "Flash has realized marked improvement
in efficiencies and competitive gains by using eConnections
Quote Manager to optimize relationships with OEM customers
and suppliers."
About Flash Electronics
Since its founding in July 1994, Flash Electronics has enjoyed
annual growth in excess of 80%. Its campus is in the heart
of Silicon Valley, midway between San Jose, Oakland and San
Francisco and close to all Bay-Area airports. In August 2000,
Flash launched a global manufacturing strategy with the completion
of a new 55,800 sq.-ft facility in Shanghai, China. Flash
serves a dynamic list of OEMs who demand the highest levels
of quality, value and service. They include Nokia; Digidesign;
Pinnacle Systems; PE Biosystems; CacheFlow; Lexar Media; Adept
Technologies; Redback Networks; and Sonic Wall, Inc. For more
information about Flash Electronics, visit the Web site at
www.flashelec.com.
About eConnections
eConnections is the leading provider of extended supply chain
intelligence solutions specifically designed to manage the
electronics industry's global marketplace. eConnections offers
hosted supply chain services that combine embedded domain
expertise with authorized connections to a community of more
than 1500 of the world's leading suppliers, distributors,
and manufacturers' representatives. eConnections provides
electronics companies with trusted, net-native solutions that
streamline the complexity of the supply chains in which they
operate and enable them to get the right product to the right
place, at the right time, in the most efficient way possible.
eConnections, a privately held company, is headquartered in
Pasadena, Calif. For more information, please visit www.eConnections.com.
Public Relations Contact
Meredith Mills
Blanc & Otus
(415) 856-5156
mmills@blancandotus.com
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