Long strong in supply chain management, Manugistics is a newcomer to e-sourcing and e-procurement software.

Last July, Manugistics signed a deal to resell online sourcing and procurement applications from Frictionless Commerce, a four-year-old venture-funded company in Cambridge, Mass. Manugistics also has demand-planning, forecasting and scheduling applications that run on the Internet, so companies and suppliers can better plan the delivery of goods.

Although Manugistics' last full year of profitability was 1997, it has lately shown signs of strength. Average contract size last year jumped 78%.

Manugistics has been "very responsive" to truck-maker Paccar Inc. as it installs a private network connecting it to its 1,700 dealerships worldwide, says Bob Christensen, general manager of the Paccar parts department.

A similar endorsement is made by Hank Steermann, senior manager of supply chain at Sears, Roebuck and Co., which got its initial exposure to Manugistics via a marketplace for retailers, and is now testing the software with one of its largest trading partners. "They [Manugistics] are working well with us at this point," Steermann says.

Despite the strides it has made, Manugistics' late arrival in e-procurement and its lack of a product for enabling online auctions have slowed its progress in the online sourcing market—even with some customers.

For example, DaimlerChrysler uses several Manugistics applications, but none for online sourcing or procurement. For those tasks, DaimlerChrysler uses Covisint, a marketplace built on Commerce One technology.

Unilever, a $46 billion consumer goods company, is well into a giant project to overhaul how it buys everything from memo pads to the ingredients for making ice cream. It's using Manugistics for demand planning, but SAP for purchasing.

For now, Manugistics appears to be more a company to watch in e-procurement than an emerging leader. "It's something they're trying out tactically, but Manugistics probably will not be a direct threat to Ariba or Commerce One," says analyst Albert Pang of International Data Corp.

Manugistics Group
2115 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 984-5000
www.manugistics.com

Ticker: MANU
Exchange: NASDAQ
Employees: 1,271

Greg Owens
CEO, Chairman
Joined April 1999 after managing the supply chain practice at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Has a B.S. degree in industrial management from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Richard Bergmann
President Joined June 1999 to head sales and services unit, then made president in December 2000. Also an Andersen supply chain alumnus. Before that, directed corporate logistics at Frito-Lay.

Robert Phillips
Chief Technology Officer
Joined December 2000, when Manugistics bought Talus Solutions, a pricing analysis software vendor, where he was also chief technology officer. Oversees overall tech strategy.

Key Products:
Sourcing Workbench, Project Management, Supplier Selection, Vendor and Contract Management, Buyer's Workbench, Supplier's Portal, Event Management and Analysis.

Reference Checks

Paccar Inc.
John Wisdom
Manager, Dealer Inventory Program
(425) 468-7400
Project: The $6.1 billion truckmaker uses Manugistics to track inventories and automate ordering of truck parts at 330 of its 1,700 dealerships.

Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Hank Steermann
Senior Manager, Supply Chain
hsteerm@
sears.com
Project: Sears tracks and forecasts sales with suppliers via GlobalNetXchange, a marketplace for retailers that uses various Manugistics applications.

Serono
Peter Laurence
Director, Global Supply Chain Project
+41 22 739 3000
Project: The $1.4 billion Swiss biotech company will consider Manugistics' e-procurement packages after rolling out sales forecasting, demand planning and other Manugistics applications.

Archstone-Smith
Donald Davidoff
VP, Pricing and Revenue Management
(303) 708-5959
Project: The $830 million real-estate company uses a revenue-management tool that Manugistics inherited when it acquired Talus Solutions in 2000.

Black & Decker
Mark Lawrence
Supply Chain Manager
(410) 716-3900
Project: Manugistics applications coordinate supply and demand planning at factories of the $4.3 billion power tools manufacturer.

GlobalNetXchange
Bharat Popat
VP, Product Management
(415) 399-0990
Project: Uses Manugistics to let retailers and suppliers collaborate on inventory issues.