Company Saves Millions of Dollars on Custom Packaging and Food Ingredients
Purchases
PITTSBURGH, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Welch's, the world's leading
manufacturer and marketer of Concord and Niagara grape-based products, today
announced that it has purchased more than $67 million in direct and indirect
materials through the FreeMarkets B2B eMarketplace. Welch's has been using
FreeMarkets since 1999 and has saved millions of dollars on the purchase of a
range of products from labels to food ingredients to corrugated packaging.
FreeMarkets, Inc. (Nasdaq: FMKT) is the world's most successful eMarketplace
since 1995.
"Through FreeMarkets, we are able to maintain a reliable, secure source of
goods at competitive prices, through suppliers that meet or exceed the
quality, delivery and service standards that are so critical to our company,"
said Bill Coyne, director of purchasing for Welch's. "The FreeMarkets B2B
eMarketplace is a powerful purchasing tool that allows us to receive and
evaluate multiple bids in real time. This has resulted in significant cost
and time savings for us."
"Welch's is one of the world's best-known brands and a company known for
providing high-quality food products," said Glen Meakem, chairman and CEO of
FreeMarkets. "We're pleased that they have chosen to purchase items critical
to their business through our B2B eMarketplace."
About Welch's
Welch's is the world's leading marketer of Concord and Niagara grape-based
products, including grape juice and jelly. The company produces a variety of
other fruit-based products, including 100 percent juices and juice cocktails
in the following forms: bottled, refrigerated, single-serve, and frozen and
shelf-stable concentrates. In addition, Welch's produces a number of fruit
spread products. Welch's web site can be found at: http://www.welchs.com.
About FreeMarkets
FreeMarkets is the world's most successful B2B eMarketplace since 1995,
with active markets for industrial parts, raw materials, commodities and
services. The Company created online auctions for over $2.7 billion worth of
purchase orders in 1999 and nearly $1.0 billion worth of purchase orders in
1998. Since 1995, FreeMarkets has created online auctions for products in
more than 70 supply verticals, including injection molded plastic parts,
commercial machinings, metal fabrications, chemicals, printed circuit boards,
corrugated packaging and coal. More than 3,000 suppliers from over
45 countries have participated in the FreeMarkets B2B eMarketplace.
FreeMarkets provides access to its eMarketplace to industrial buyers and
suppliers. The FreeMarkets eMarketplace includes industry-leading online
auction technology, technical operations, industrial market making services,
access to a global database of suppliers and supplier research, call center
support to buyers and suppliers in over 30 languages, and marketplace rules.
The Company's current clients include United Technologies Corporation, The
Quaker Oats Company, Owens Corning, Eaton Corporation, Emerson Electric
Company, FirstEnergy Corp., SmithKline Beecham plc, Navistar International and
Delphi Automotive Systems Corporation. FreeMarkets can be found on the Web at
http://www.freemarkets.com. FreeMarkets is a registered trademark of FreeMarkets,
Inc.
Forward-looking statements
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including
those statements that refer to FreeMarkets' plans, prospects, expectations,
strategies, intentions, hopes and beliefs, are forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are based on information available to
FreeMarkets today, and FreeMarkets assumes no obligation to update these
statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements, including, without limitation, market acceptance of our online
auction marketplace, the competitive nature of the market for business-to-
business online auction services, FreeMarkets' ability to retain and increase
revenue from existing clients and to execute agreements with new clients, and
FreeMarkets' ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. These and
other risk factors are described in detail in FreeMarkets' prospectus dated
December 9, 1999, which is included as part of its Registration Statement on
Form S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE FreeMarkets, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.freemarkets.com
CONTACT:
Karen Kovatch of FreeMarkets, 412-297-8767,
or kkovatch@freemarkets.com; or James Callahan of Welch's,
978-371-3762, or jcallahan@welchs.com
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