Rolls-Royce is the sixth partner to take an equity stake in the Exostar business-to-business online exchange. It will take a 17% shareholding and with it a seat on the company's main board.
Exostar founding members were BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and technology provider CommerceOne.
The arrival of Rolls-Royce comes as a welcome boost for Exostar, which lost the services of chief executive Andy Plyler just before the show. Plyler, who had been lured to Exostar from his position as chief operating officer of Web-based spare parts company PartsBase.com, had been with the company for only five months.
Principal
Exostar will become a principal medium for Rolls-Royce transactions with its aerospace suppliers.
Says R-R chief executive John Rose: "Exostar will allow us to cut material and procurement costs, shorten lead times and reduce our inventory. It will also enable us to collaborate more effectively with partners on designs for future projects."
The company plans over the next two years to connect over 250 procurement systems currently used by the five founding partners in 20 countries. Some 4,000 suppliers have been activated so far.
Source: Flight Daily News
