Fisher & Paykel Appliances is to roll out Genie Systems’ web-based supply chain management system, through Unisys’ ASP service, to over 1200 US dealers after a four month pilot.
Fisher & Paykel (F&P), one of the largest corporates in New Zealand, was one of the first blue chip companies to go to market in the middle of last year with an RFI for a technology partner to pursue e-business strategies.
Global marketing manager Ian Cooper says Unisys, with its ASP (application services provider) model, won the contract over a number of international and local vendors because of its services expertise and its range of ASP offerings such as Genie’s Orderware.
Adopting Orderware as an e-business model for its US dealers was the first part of Fisher & Paykel’s B2B e-business strategy and the only part to be implemented so far, he says.
F & P liked Orderware because it could see an ability to roll the system out across other groups or divisions of the business.
Orderware was piloted with five dealers on the West Coast of the US in November and has been extended to 10 US dealers with a timeframe for the rollout to rest of the1200 still unclear. Orderware’s transaction engine, which automates information requests, credits, part details, volumes, and availability, was implemented as part of F & P’s “DealerNet” portal. DealerNet had been purely information-based but now allows the US dealers to order F & P goods online direct from New Zealand.