ICG Commerce Helps Indalex Drive Major Cost Reductions Through Strategic Procurement Initiative
Fully Implemented Solution Facilitates Indirect Material Purchasing and Unites Fragmented Purchasing Organization with Supplier Base
PHILADELPHIA - Monday, July 14, 2003 - ICG Commerce, a leading procurement services provider, today announced the
successful completion of a nationwide roll out of a strategic procurement initiative for Indalex Aluminum Solutions Group,
the largest independent producer of soft alloy aluminum products in North America. The solution was designed to help
Indalex, a company that has grown significantly through a series of mergers and acquisitions made by parent company
Novar plc, centralize its fragmented procurement function in order to leverage its purchasing power with suppliers,
streamline procurement processes and gain more visibility and control over company-wide procurement expenditures. ICG
Commerce has already helped Indalex identify and implement savings opportunities in ten core purchasing categories at 14
manufacturing facilities in the United States and is producing both significant hard dollar cost savings and operational
efficiencies.
In order to maximize the savings and efficiencies realized in indirect categories and ensure year over year cost
improvements, Indalex is leveraging ICG Commerce's full range of procurement services. These services provide the
company with leading edge technology and support across the entire procurement process from strategic sourcing to
purchase-to-pay transaction management and ongoing category management.
Indalex and ICG Commerce began by thoroughly analyzing company expenditures to identify savings opportunities.
The two companies leveraged a variety of sourcing strategies including pre-sourced aggregation-based agreements to
establish preferred supplier relationships for each of the key categories. In order to ensure that the identified savings are
actually realized, ICG Commerce has executed a comprehensive savings implementation process that entailed
connecting both buyers and suppliers through RealExchangeSM.
RealExchange, ICG Commerce's fully hosted purchase-to-pay platform, provides all Indalex buyers a single point of
access to preferred supplier catalogs while streamlining the buying and payment processes and increasing purchasing
compliance, control and visibility. IGC Commerce will also provide ongoing management of these indirect categories
and supplier relationships to continuously improve upon savings for Indalex in the future.
RealExchange has been integrated with Indalex's JD Edwards and Lawson ERP systems, providing one common
purchasing platform across all manufacturing sites. This integration allows for increased visibility and firm control over
company expenditures. Additionally, Indalex will soon be receiving invoices electronically, allowing for full
procurement automation, all the way from "requisition" to "check", and alleviating the burden and costs associated
with manual processing. Indalex users are currently utilizing RealExchange to purchase from 28 preferred suppliers in
categories such as Chemicals, Electrical Supplies, General Industrial Supplies, Janitorial Supplies, Lumber, Office
Supplies, Packaging, Power Transmissions/Bearings, and Forms and Labels.
"Having joined Indalex after the implementation had already begun, I was initially skeptical that we would see savings,
" said Dale Prows, Vice President of Procurement for Indalex, "but I am very pleased with the results and success of
the program which is in large part due to the dedication our plants and buyers have shown in adopting the new system."
Soon, Indalex will take advantage of ICG Commerce's electronic Vendor Managed Inventory (eVMI) services. eVMI
allows suppliers to take a more active role in managing inventory, enabling them to place orders via RealExchange on
the customer's behalf against a pre-approved purchase order.
"Having never worked with e-procurement technology before, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get up
and running on RealExchange and more and more I'm finding that it saves me a significant amount of time placing
orders," said Indalex Purchasing Manager, Linda Liguori. "Once you put your rules and parameters in place, everything
flows very smoothly through the exchange. With the coming eVMI capability, the responsibility for managing
inventory falls primarily to the supplier, which makes sense from an administrative standpoint."
"Procurement cost reductions and efficiencies are particularly significant for companies who have grown via merger
and acquisition but continue to manage sourcing and procurement in a disparate or siloed manner," said Edward H.
West, chairman and CEO for ICG Commerce. "Indalex's procurement strategy is a perfect example of how utilizing a
holistic approach to find and fully implement both process and cost improvement opportunities can have a measurable
impact on company performance. We look forward to expanding our relationship with Indalex to further identify,
realize and improve upon savings and streamlining results."
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About Indalex Aluminum Solutions Group
Indalex Aluminum Solutions Group is North America's only truly continent-wide extruder of engineered aluminum
components. The company operates 16 extrusion facilities and three aluminium billet casting operations in the United
States and Canada, employing approximately 4,000 people. A customer-focused, Total Quality business, Indalex
Aluminum Solutions Group serves a wide range of customers in diverse markets including Information Technology,
Consumer Durables, Electrical, Building & Construction, Transportation and others.
About ICG Commerce, Inc.
ICG Commerce (www.icgcommerce.com) is the leading Procurement Services Provider delivering total procurement
cost savings through an unmatched combination of deep expertise and hosted technology. ICG Commerce provides a
comprehensive range of solutions to help companies identify savings through sourcing, realize savings through
implementation and transaction management and drive continuous improvements through category management. ICG
Commerce Inc., a privately held company founded in 1992, is a member of Internet Capital Group's (Nasdaq: ICGE)
network of partner companies and has been honored as a Forbes' Best of the Web: B2B and UPSIDE Magazine Hot
100 company as well as had its executives recognized among iSource Business "Pros to Know".
Contacts:
Genevieve Brill
ICG Commerce
215-649-1494
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