Asian Sourcing Network (ASN) set up for country sourcing

BANGALORE: Manufacturers of machined parts located in low-cost countries can now connect to their global innovation networks through the Asian Sourcing Network (ASN), a first-ever joint solution of IT and consulting services.

The promoters of this new initiative are A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions, a global sourcing services firm, and UGS Corp., a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services. They have teamed with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to run the Asian Sourcing Network center from Coimbatore.

Through the ASN center, opened on March 4, the three companies will find, develop and

on-board companies from low-cost countries from which manufacturers and their suppliers can electronically source engineered machine parts. ASN will provide companies with a perpetual local presence, which is critical to the success of low-cost country sourcing activity.

“Identifying and building effective long-term relationships with the right low-cost suppliers will be a distinguishing characteristic of leadership companies going forward,” said Joseph Raudabaugh, President, A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions. “Finding, developing and on-boarding these key suppliers and getting them fully embedded into supplier-partner networks is

critical.”

“ASN combines the extensive supplier research assessment and negotiation capabilities of A. T. Kearney with the collaboration, content exchange, and sourcing enablement of UGS technologies and the far reaching business experience and recognized quality services of TCS to offer low-cost country sourcing as a packaged solution,” added Raudabaugh.

The ASN targets the increasing need for manufacturers to tie up low-cost country suppliers into their global innovation networks to help reduce cost. According to the Aberdeen Group, the leading provider of fact-based research and advice for the global technology-driven value chain, medium and large enterprises expect to double their average spend in low-cost countries from

approximately 20 percent in 2005 to 40 percent in 2008.

The new category-specific ASN center, focused on engineered machine parts, will include 100 dedicated collaboration workstations, engineering support and supplier development services. The center will initially target over 400 small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) that provide machining services.

“The ASN represents a major step forward in enabling companies to leverage global innovation networks by establishing the local presence critical to the success of low-cost country sourcing activity,” said Raj Khoshoo, vice president, strategic initiatives, UGS.

“This initiative will enable the global manufacturing industry to achieve desegregation of their

value chain and restructure their supply chain to include global suppliers based on the selection criteria of an optimum combination of capability and cost,” said Ravi Gopinath, vice president, engineering and industrial services, TCS.