Visteon Drives the Information Superhighway To Partner

with Leading International Suppliers Dearborn, Mich. (PROTEXT) - As part of its comprehensiveelectronic commerce strategy, Visteon Automotive Systems willconduct its first on-line bidding activity today to competitivelyaward nearly $150 million in circuit board business to suppliers. This innovative bidding process allows the organization toefficiently tap the capabilities of the very best globalsuppliers. It also allows Visteon to realign its purchasingoperations to take advantage of the process improvements and costsavings associated with such leading-edge approaches. Pre-qualified suppliers have been invited to bid on-line toprovide Visteon with the latest printed wiring circuit boardtechnology. The hour- and-a-half long event is the first of manyVisteon expects to conduct to on- line source a variety ofcommodities. "Visteon is committed to technologies and processes that willhelp it leverage the most advanced global automotive resourcesfor its customers," said Alex Preston, vice president, supply andprocess leadership, Visteon. "Our use of the Internet and ourentire electronic commerce strategy will allow us to developstrong, reliable partnerships with the very best suppliers in theworld. Those partnerships will enable Visteon to remain on theleading edge of product development, systems integration andcustomer service." Internet retailing has already achieved widespread acceptancewith millions of on-line consumers. Visteon's investigation intothe opportunities associated with Internet bidding began inJanuary when managers began exploring how purchasing operationscould more fully benefit from the information superhighway. Within a matter of months, Visteon designed and implemented anelectronic procurement system that would accommodate real-time,on-line bidding from around the world. "We spent a lot of time talking to suppliers about whether ornot they had participated in on-line auctions, and what theythought about them," said Kim Marslender, an interior systemspurchasing manager with Visteon. "We incorporated theirsuggestions and addressed their concerns in designing ourprocess." Suppliers can access the bidding site via a standard Webbrowser and a password. Once they are on-line, they will be ableto view the prices being bid for a particular commodity. Theywill not see the names of the other organizations involved in theon-line bidding. They will be able to submit new bids throughoutthe event in the strictest confidentiality. Unlike target pricing, where a customer typically sets atarget price for a commodity, suppliers bidding in today's eventwill help set a real market price for the technologies andcommodities being sourced. But market price is not the onlydetermining factor in a sourcing decision, Marslender stresses. "We initially sent out requests for information to over 90printed wiring circuit board suppliers around the world. From theinformation that they submitted, we narrowed the field down tothose suppliers who could meet our rigorous quality, performanceand technology standards. Those are determining factors,"Marslender said. Suppliers who are participating in the on-line bidding processwere required to attend a half-day session to learn what Visteonexpects of all suppliers. After the bidding is over, thesuppliers who are sourced will be audited, Marslender added. On-line bidding is just one way Visteon will sourcecommodities in the future. Other venues, such as early sourcingtarget agreements, open auctions, on-line requests for quotes anddesign contests, will also be employed as part of Visteon'soverall electronic procurement strategy. Visteon's electronic buying and selling strategy, known aseVisteon, encompasses all of the organization's daily businesscommerce transactions such as procurement and electronic datainterchange. eVisteon will allow Visteon to build new informationchannels with both customers and suppliers to support electroniccommerce and on-line retailing. With a global delivery system of nearly 125 technical,manufacturing, sales and service facilities located in 21countries, Visteon Automotive Systems is leveraging the talentsof its 77,000 employees to deliver innovative, consumer-drivensystems solutions to its customers. ots Original Text Service:Visteon Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Media:Cheryl Eberwein, (USA) 313-248-6321 email, ceberwei@visteon.com,or Analysts: Kent Niederhofer, (USA) 313-390-1467 email,kniederh@visteon.com, both of Visteon Web site:http://media.visteon.com

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