Ford Motor Co. and Caterpillar Inc. announced a software alliance to develop a world-class logistics information system to speed the delivery of service repair parts.

Ford said the new agreement will support its expanded efforts to work with dealers to provide improved service to the end customer. As announced in July 2001, Ford will place service parts inventory closer to its 5000 U.S. dealers through its "Daily Parts Advantage" delivery network -- 21 new parts distribution centers that will facilitate daily restocking of dealer inventories, reduce order-to-delivery times for service parts by 80%, extend dealer order cut-off times by eight hours to 11 p.m., improve fill rates to dealers and reduce backorders, and reduce shipping and handling damage to parts delivered to dealers.
The new technology also will allow Ford and its dealers to share parts inventory information in real time. This will improve customer service turnaround time and will eliminate waste and cost across the entire supply chain -- from dealers' parts departments to Ford's suppliers.
The software alliance will oversee development and maintenance of the system, drawing talent from Ford and Caterpillar as well as external software providers. In addition to implementing the new logistics information technology at Ford and Caterpillar, the alliance also will market the capabilities of the new system to other customers.