Rolls-Royce Becomes Fifth Exostar Partner

Engine OEM Rolls-Royce has joined BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as the fifth partner in Exostar, the e-business consortium founded by these major companies in 1999.

The company invested enough to make it an equal partner to the enterprise with the others, according to Exostar. Rolls-Royce chose to join Exostar over other industry-owned exchanges after "an exhaustive competitive analysis of all the major players," according to Exostar.

"Exostar will allow us to reduce material and procurement costs, shorten lead times and reduce our inventory," says Rolls CEO John Rose. "It also will enable us to collaborate more effectively with partners on designs for future projects."
Rolls' entry into the consortium gives the company more of a balance between U.S.- and European-based companies. All of the partners have significant military business, and Exostar executives have said in the past that their primary target market is the defense establishment.

With five major partners who build and sell a wide variety of major aircraft and defense systems, Exostar can draw as many as 40,000 second- and third-tier suppliers into its exchange, just so they can deal directly with their prime customers. Some 4,000 suppliers already have tied into their system.

Exostar offers several products on its e-business site:

• ProcurePass taps into Exostar's supplier database to purchase products with a browser and Internet connection. It allows low-cost purchasing without needing complex enterprise resource planning systems in the background;
• SupplyPass manages incoming purchase orders and standardizes processes through a single application. It allows companies to streamline how they accept, respond to and plan orders;
• Publisher builds an electronic catalog form a company's existing content, storing it on Exostar to make it available to all subscribers;
• MachineLink integrates ERP or legacy systems with an XCBL/API package for automated transaction processing;
• Auctioneer conducts real-time auctions and reverse auctions; and
• ForumPass allows companies to create, launch, manage and participate in hosted projects, allowing development of team roles, time lines and workflow rules at all stages of a project.