Tyson Helping Hatch Internet B2B Tools
by March 5, 2001 12:00 am 87 views
Tyson Foods Inc. is going forward with two business-to-business Internet initiatives that should be up and running sometime this spring.
Gary Cooper, Tyson’s vice-president of information services, was neck-deep in work for both efforts and was unavailable for comment. But both the upcoming commodities site, provisionx.com, and the online food-service marketplace, eFS Network, that the Springdale poultry firm is participating in are proceeding through the developmental stage as planned.
Provisionx.com of Chicago is the product of Commerce Ventures, a collaboration of Tyson Foods, Cargill Inc.’s processing subsidiary Excel Corp., Gold Kist Farms of Atlanta, Ga., Farmland Foods of Kansas City, Mo., and IBP Inc. of Dakota Dunes, S.D.
Tyson spokesman Ed Nicholson said the initiative should be up and running by spring and that it will be an open exchange primarily for products that his firm calls WIP, or works in progress. Nicholson could not comment further.
An example application might be a container of leg quarters or hamburger that had not found a market. If the product is not going to be further processed on site, the firms might find it more efficient and profitable to sell the product online. A typical buyer would most likely be other food processors instead of food service or grocery industry firms.
Tyson helped form Electronic Foodservice Network, shortened by the startup to eFS Network, in July along with Cargill, Sysco Corp. of Monmouth Junction, N.J., and McDonald’s Corp.’s Internet subsidiary eMac Digital of Chicago. No date has been set for its debut. The site will focus on optimizing synergies in the food service sector.
Originally, a number of online food marketplaces publicized their desire to serve as pseudo food brokerages. But buyers often wanted a specific brand name of meat, and the Internet companies would not reveal their suppliers to avoid getting side-stepped.
Also, the sites weren’t adequately set up to be middle-men. The industry prefers humans in that role, since it allows them more flexibility in negotiating deals.