CLEVELAND, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH) today unveiled plans to expand its electronic enterprise capabilities in a strategic partnership with MRO.com, Inc., a subsidiary of PSDI (Nasdaq: PSDI). Key to this initiative is the company's plan to include its distributors in a Parker-branded network to offer customers value-added service in addition to order management and engineering assistance. )
MRO.com will provide the infrastructure to extend Parker's e-business capabilities to include online procurement; product selection and sales; and customer service. Once the infrastructure is established, distributors will be able to participate in the buy- and sell-sides of the exchange. Parker also will host distributor web pages in the branded network.
While the company already conducts e-commerce with customers using EDI, the network will integrate transactions among Parker and its suppliers, distributors and customers, which is expected to yield greater efficiencies across the supply chain. Participants will be able to connect to the Parker network through various portals, including other exchanges.
The company noted that its distribution strength complements its unrivaled capability to design, engineer, assemble and service complete systems across a breadth of hydraulic, pneumatic and electronically controlled products. Because the vast majority of Parker's products are highly engineered, the ability to provide on-site, value-added services everywhere in the world is a key competitive advantage.
Parker's worldwide "army "of more than 7,500 distributors are able to make 24/7 service a reality, including local inventory management, personalized engineering and maintenance support. To capitalize on this strength, Parker plans to continually advance its e-business initiative to offer customers collaborative engineering and systems-configuration capabilities.
The network also will allow Parker and its distributors to leverage their combined buying power with electronic procurement. Central procurement has not yet been fully exploited within the company itself.
"We are wired for e-business, and this initiative is another step forward to drive our motion-control systems strategy like never before," said Chairman and CEO Duane Collins. "Our advantage is that we have the engineering know- how, the product breadth and the service reach to be able to attack our customers' costs and deliver system-solutions to improve their performance. That is not only premier customer service; that is a recipe for value creation."
"The fact that Parker turned to us to strengthen its e-business architecture is a validation of MRO.com's overall strength in the B2B online industrial MRO market," said Chip Drapeau, president and CEO of PSDI. "Parker recognizes the value of providing a streamlined system to improve the overall efficiency of customer transactions, while at the same time opening up new opportunities to a broader audience."
With $5 billion in annual sales, Parker Hannifin Corporation is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies, providing systematic, precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, industrial and aerospace markets. For more information, visit the company's web site at www.parker.com, or its investor information site at www.phstock.com . SOURCE Parker Hannifin Corporation
CONTACT: Media, Lorrie Paul Crum, VP - Corp. Communications, 216-896-2750, or lcrum@parker.com , or Financial Analysts, Timothy K. Pistell, Treasurer, 216-896-2130, or tpistell@parker.com ; or Rob Bloom of PSDI, 781-280-6527, or rob_bloom@psdi.com ; or Don Jennings of Lois Paul & Partners for MRO.com, 781-238-5756, or don_jennings@lpp.com/
