MMA AND TRIBON SIGN DEAL

The Marine Machinery Association (MMA) has inked a deal with Tribon Solutions AB that will provide “increased exposure” for the equipment and services of its members and perhaps ultimately help them crack the international market.

Under a recently signed letter of understanding and cooperation, MMA members will receive special benefits when participating in tribon.com, a neutral e-marketplace for shipowners, shipbuilders and equipment and service suppliers. Those using the site can access a database that contains 3D ship models, design information, images, technical specifications and commercial information to conduct e-commerce.

“The main thrust of this agreement,” Jack Barney, MMA president, told Marine Log, “is to provide our membership with a much, much broader exposure--more than 100 shipyards worldwide--and that kind of audience is hard to resist.” Barney says the deal “dovetails nicely” with the MMA’s own efforts to develop electronic catalogs. That effort is the result of a program jointly funded by the MMA and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to help create a tool for e-commerce by establishing common parts classification and definitions.

Barney says more than a dozen members will have e-catalogs by the end of this month. Other equipment associations, such as the Danish Export Group Association and the German Marine and Offshore Equipment Industries Association (VDMA), have struck similar deals with Tribon Solutions.

TRIBON ADDS AUCTION FUNCTION

Meantime, Tribon Solutions has added auction functionality of surplus material for shipyards to tribon.com. The new service enables all shipyards subscribing to tribon.com to sell and buy surplus material between each other in an easy and efficient manner. Northern Ireland’s Harland and Wolff, is already on line for the new service and has initiated an auction of surplus material.

David Melville, procurement manager of Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries, says that as users of Tribon Shipbuilding System in the design process, Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries Ltd. and Harland and Wolff Technical Services Ltd. are committed to maximizing the full benefits of tribon.com.

“The tool will provide speedy and effective access to technical information from the global supplier base and will integrate into our hull and outfitting design operations. This in turn, will seamlessly flow into our procurement process, generating both time and cost savings, combined to increase the overall efficiency and competitiveness of our operations." The company has already initiated an auction of 182 items and is looking to place auctions on valves and cable material as well. ML