Improving Supply Chain Collaboration with Enterprise Social Networking

The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), part of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin (UT), announced the admittance of Macrolynk to its IT Portfolio.

Consistent with 25 years of industry-changing B2B technologies incubated by ATI, Macrolynk is improving supply chain management, especially in the automotive industry.

Macrolynk enables business partners to secure supply chain collaboration using applications and enterprise social networking from initial purchase order to final payment.

Macrolynk provides a collaborative enterprise social networking interface within supply chain management that connects all business partners and gives unparalleled access to critical information and remove inefficiencies that add costs and reduce revenues.

Macrolynk customers and their suppliers have insight into all aspects of their business transactions with real-time guidance, as well as alerts to problems or changes.

“Macrolynk is an ideal addition to the ATI IT portfolio as its technology is the first in the industry to apply benefits of social networking to supply chain management,” said Kyle Cox, Director, IT and Wireless at ATI. “Macrolynk is giving the Tier 1, Tier 2 - and even Tier 3 -players in the automotive supply chain the same caliber tools as the big guys, all without having to staff a large team to manage a complex SCM solution that costs the company thousands.”

Companies with complex and time critical supply chains and intensive ERP implementations benefit from the value that comes from “social for the supply chain” as delivered by Macrolynk. Supply chain efficiency can be optimized for companies by linking their employees, their suppliers and their customers into Macrolynk’s one real time collaborative system.

In the automotive industry, Macrolynk powers Tier 1 and Tier 2 players with technology capabilities previously only available to the biggest OEMs. Before Macrolynk, founder and CEO Saul Haro spent years managing supply chain and import/export operations for Mabe (GE Appliance Company) and Valeo Wiper Systems where he saw firsthand the inefficiencies in the supply chain: all the time spent doing manual record keeping, other clerical non-value-add management, and all the opportunities for errors.

“In industries as large as automotive, the reliance on Excel spreadsheets, and entry and re-entry of data to meet the requirements of the big OEMs and their SAP systems is shocking,” said Haro. “Our vision is the “social supply chain,” incorporating some of the best features of social networking, at enterprise scale and security, to bring together trusted partners to communicate and collaborate on transactions, saving big time and money for all parties in the supply chain.”

About the Austin Technology Incubator:
The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) is the startup incubator of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin. ATI works with seed and pre-seed-stage companies, helping prepare these businesses for commercial success, with a particular focus on helping startups compete in the capital markets. The Incubator has operated since 1989 with a dual mission: create jobs and wealth in Central Texas through technology entrepreneurship, and provide distinctive teaching and research opportunities to the UT-Austin community. Over the past 10 years, ATI companies have created more than 5,500 jobs, nearly $1 billion in economic impact, and over $20 million in tax revenues in Central Texas.

Related: The Social Side of Supply Chain Management

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