e4engineering partnerships

Citation

(2001), "e4engineering partnerships", Assembly Automation, Vol. 21 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2001.03321cab.013

e4engineering partnerships

e4engineering partnerships

Keywords: Internet, Engineering, Partnering

Over the coming months e4engineering.com will see the launch of a number of high profile partnerships between Centaur and leading companies such as KPMG, GoIndustry, Vertacross, Globaloverstock, a major high street bank, trade associations and learned bodies. These are in addition to those already launched such as e4data.com, e4metals.com and e4overstock.com and some interesting internal alliances within Centaur. Clearly branded as e4, these partnerships will form an integral part of e4engineering.com within the rapidly expanding e4network.

e4engineering.com is being developed predominantly as a channel for business transactions. Its global reach and operational efficiencies will offer a relatively inexpensive means to transact business on a much broader canvas than is currently possible. It will also touch the markets Centaur serves at a number of different levels and points, thereby generating new routes to market, as and when they become viable.

e4engineering.com is designed to serve the entire engineering community, which encompasses suppliers, contractors, associations, educational establishments and end-users across the whole of manufacturing industry. This is a community that requires a great deal of information in the form of data sheets, case histories, market intelligence, standards, etc. An increasing number of companies are now automating their component order requirements through the Web. Internet-enabled manufacturing is now a reality and off-site control of sophisticated plant and equipment from anywhere in the world is now commonplace. This is an industry that is now intrinsically linked to the World Wide Web and Centaur states that its dominant presence within it grows each week.

The "Vision in Manufacturing study", compiled by a leading consultancy firm, shows that manufacturing is poised for a renaissance. In contrast to the recent past, technology is now abundant and affordable, while skilled technical workers are in increasingly short supply. The availability of information and technology is enabling niche players, as well as those in emerging markets, to "leap" traditionally cost-prohibitive infrastructure barriers and assert themselves globally.

Through the Internet, customers increasingly have access to more products and services than ever before and this is enabling them to make more informed, personalised choices. They are also beginning to exert their bargaining leverage to influence price.

Manufacturing technologies have also reached critical mass and are converging globally. E-commerce and virtual information are reshaping the business landscape and it is against this backdrop that e4engineering.com was launched in February 2000, with a view to developing the leading Internet portal for the engineering industry.

Centaur claims to now hold a unique position in the engineering sector, and the World Wide Web offers it a real opportunity to deliver regular, relevant and targeted information to the industry, developing into a fully transactional medium that is second to none.

The next wave, and the one into which Centaur is going to launch directly, will address supply chain issues. Centaur will be delivering real business to customers and take a percentage of the sale. Centaur says that its largest customers are already starting to re-engineer their businesses in such a manner.