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2002: Covisint used extensively for bidding

Covisint (2002) describes a  high‑  level of activity on the 

exchange. Taking the example of DaimlerChrysler AG, 

512 online bidding events were processed through 

Covisint over a  twelve‑  month period from 2001 to 2002. 

In total, this amounted to €10 billion. In May  2001, 

DaimlerChrysler staged the largest online bidding event 

ever, with an order volume of €3.5 billion in just four 

days. In total, 43% of the total value of the parts for 

a future Chrysler model series was negotiated online, 

with over 50 online bidding events in the third quarter 

of 2001 alone. As well as savings in material purchas‑

ing prices, DaimlerChrysler succeeded in reducing 

throughput times in purchasing by approximately 80%, 

thus saving on process costs. According to Dr Rüdiger 

Grube, Deputy Member of the Board of Management 

responsible for corporate development,

the economic effects achieved with e‑Procurement 

in the first year of implementation have already cov‑

ered the costs of previous investment in e‑Business 

and hold great potential for the future, too. Therefore, 

we will continue to pursue our e‑Business activities to 

the fullest extent in 2002 as well.

With the online catalogue system ‘eShop’ which was 

part of the Covisint service at that time, DaimlerChrysler 

would be able to reduce process costs by 50% after the 

completion of the blanket  roll‑  out, which will give approx‑

imately 15,000 users the possibility of ordering several 

million articles. By the end of 2002 about 1,500 busi‑

ness partners would be connected to the electronic 

document exchange system ‘eDocs’, which would 

enable them to process approximately 500,000 docu‑

ment transmissions per year. Initial results using the 

‘FastCar’ program for networking change management 

in automotive development at Chrysler show cuts in 

communication processes by  60–  90%. In 2001, over 

600 managers connected to the system developed over 

300 product improvement suggestions online with the 

‘New Product Change Management’ used in the devel‑

opment  department  of   Mercedes‑  Benz.

‘e‑Business activities are already closely intertwined 

from development through procurement, logistics, sales 

and marketing. To a great extent, they are already a part 

of everyday business,’ says Olaf Koch, Vice President 

of Corporate e‑Business. Dr Grube: ‘We’re a good deal 

closer to our goal of making DaimlerChrysler the first 

automotive company to be networked throughout the 

entire value chain.’