Five of North America's largest railroads - Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific Railway, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific along with iRail.com, Inc. and GE Global eXchange Services (GXS) - have created an alliance for an online marketplace for the worldwide railroad industry. RailMarketplace.com is a global rail initiative that will enable companies to perform low-cost supply chain collaboration using only a Web browser.
IronMax, Inc. users now have access to the Last Bid auction sales results, the Green Guide for equipment values, and the Rental Rate Blue Book for ownership and operating costs. Founded in 1999, IronMax provides equipment pricing and resale values to help companies manage their construction equipment.
Pyramidparts.com offers shoppers OEM-alternate replacement parts online to keep mining machines and large construction cranes up and running. Since integrating into the P&H MinePro Services global distribution network in 1998, Pyramid Parts expanded its line from 1600 to 10,000 mechanical wear parts and over 22,000 electrical items, with inventory increasing from $1 million to $8 million.
The X-lode mining portal offers a single access point to data that supports company-specific operations and procurement. Mining OEMs, operators, dealers, distributors, and service suppliers can use the e-commerce feature to deliver specific information straight from the OEM to the workshop.
Hydroflow selected eFilter as its Internet distribution partner. Hydroflow, launched in 1986, makes capital equipment, including vacuum filters, centrifuges, and rotary drum filters. eFilter brings to the agreement the ability to recommend and supply industries with filtration equipment to suit specific applications.
Cummins Engine Co.'s MiningGateway.com is an interactive Internet portal that provides mining customers free basic information for Cummins-powered haul trucks, excavators, and drills. MiningGateway.com also provides customers with links to local distributor offices and offers "user forums" that allow customers to post questions or information about mining engines and equipment. Cummins plans to add real-time features like graphical trend analysis, automated information downloads, an "engines for sale" listing, and a lineup of Cummins products.
John Deere & Co. has teamed with platform provider Ariba to help transform the company's purchasing processes and to power other e-commerce efforts. Under the plan, Deere impacted the purchase of indirect materials and services for the company's factories, engineering centers, and sales and marketing offices worldwide. Ariba is not Deere's only partner in e-procurement; Deere selected Pittsburgh, PA-based online reverse auction site FreeMarkets in August as its platform for sourcing production and non-production materials after a seven-month pilot program.
