Ascom Purchases Aspect's eDesign Solution to Cut Inbound Supply Costs
Swiss Telecom Company's Investment in Aspect's Inbound Supply Chain Management
Solution Will See Payback in First Year
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspect Development, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASDV), the global leader in e-Business solutions for Inbound Supply Chain Management, today announced that Ascom, the $2 billion international Swiss telecommunications and service automation group, has purchased Aspect Development's eDesign solution for strategic product development. The substantial contract, which Ascom signed in March, includes decision support software, content and services. Aspect eDesign will aid in Ascom's restructuring effort to reduce costs across the Group's worldwide activities.
Aspect eDesign will enable Ascom to meet two key objectives: to replace old mainframe-based component management systems and consolidate component purchasing and supplier management across the different business units of Ascom worldwide. Ascom expects to achieve a return on investment within one year of implementing Aspect's eDesign solution.
"Telecommunications is a fast-moving and cyclical business," said Andre Maurer, senior vice president of Services and Production/Logistics at Ascom. "In order to compete globally we needed to maximize our component use and consolidate on fewer suppliers. Aspect eDesign will bridge our SAP(TM) R/3(R) ERP and different PDM systems, maximize our operations and help to cut costs significantly in the inbound part of the supply chain. We have the ability to increase component reuse across our different manufacturing operations and consolidate on preferred suppliers. Aspect eDesign will provide a major step forward for our business."
Ascom is implementing the three key elements of Aspect's eDesign solution for Inbound Supply Chain Management:
-- Aspect's eXplore decision support software is an open, three-tier
distributed application architecture that will allow Ascom to create
and manage a consolidated, unified repository of knowledge regarding
components, suppliers and designs with complete flexibility for
enterprise-wide deployment, as well as integration with the company's
desktop and enterprise applications.
-- Aspect's VIP (Very Important Part) eContent database will provide
Ascom with complete product information on over three million
production components from more than 800 suppliers. Instant,
intuitive access to VIP will enable Ascom to cross-reference Aspect's
part data with its own internal parts to quickly meet internal
business needs such as new part requests or component and supplier
management.
-- Aspect Data and Consulting services will consolidate and cleanse
existing component, design and supplier data, creating a master
database that can be quickly and easily searched. This database will
be cross-referenced to the VIP reference database to enable rapid
component selection for new designs, ensuring that preferred
components and designs are selected and reused. Aspect will also
provide implementation services to Ascom.
"We're very pleased to have Ascom as a customer," said Romesh Wadhwani, Aspect chairman and CEO. "They are a leading European manufacturer and we expect their deployment of CSM to save them millions of dollars through reduced inbound supply costs."
"Ascom's selection of Aspect eDesign is reflective of the growing strength of the Inbound Supply Chain market in Europe," said Bob Evans, Aspect president and COO.
About Ascom Group
Ascom is an internationally active Swiss telecommunications and service automation group with 10.500 employees world-wide and annual revenues in 1998 of US$ 2 billion. The company is positioned as a provider of sophisticated solutions and as a systems integrator. A range of major projects, including GSM/GPS satellite mobile telephones, attest to Ascom's technological competence in serving a growing world-wide customer base. |
