Ford dumps Oracle for legacy soln

Detroit: Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday said it has scrapped a five-year-old $200 million web based purchasing project, 'Everest' to move suppliers over to an Internet-based purchasing system powered by Oracle software and deciding instead to revert back to its custom-built system.

The project was meant to manage the company's business with its suppliers, covering payments and purchases.

The automaker decided to "transition back to proven current systems" after evaluating the current status of Everest, Ford spokesman Paul Wood said. Declining to discuss the reasons for dropping the "Everest" project, he said all suppliers using the Oracle-based system will move back to the automaker's proprietary Ford Supplier Network.

Ford first announced in November 1999 that it would work with Oracle Corp. to develop Everest, a procurement system based on the Oracle 11i e-commerce software. The first parts of the system rolled out in 2000, and Ford had been extending the system gradually since then. Everest was intended to be used by nearly all of Ford's suppliers-automobile production suppliers as well as non-production suppliers

According to a Reuters report, Ford has spent four years and at least US$200 million buying and developing Everest to manage its business with suppliers, including purchases and payments.

But not all of its suppliers had transitioned to the Oracle-based system. Suppliers that are currently working with Everest will continue to do so "for some time" until the company is ready to shift them back to the earlier technology, said the spokesman.

Ford maintains that the abandonment of the Everest procurement project doesn't signal a general shift away from Oracle database software or applications. Oracle has many other things going on at Ford. This is just one project—just one platform," he said.

Oracle declined to comment on Ford's decision to shift back to earlier technology, citing a nondisclosure agreement. But the company issued a statement saying it "continues to support Ford on its back-to-basics strategic initiatives and IT projects."