Aspect Development and Cahners to Create Manufacturing Portal

Posted on November 18, 1999

Aspect Development, Inc. and Cahners Business Information, a subsidiary of Reed Elsevier, have signed a letter of intent to form Manufacturing.net, a joint venture that will combine their strengths into a business-to-business eCommerce site for researching and buying manufacturing goods and services. The manufacturing.net B-to-B portal currently operated by Cahners will become part of the joint venture.

Manufacturing.net, formerly known as Manufacturing Marketplace, provides more than 400,000 pages of editorial information from 23 vertical markets, including the latest developments in automation and controls, manufacturing processes, design engineering and development, plant operations and the supply chain. Manufacturing.net has 200,000 registered users and receives more than one million page visits a month. With the addition of Aspect's MRO eContent and search technology, Manufacuring.net will expand into eCommerce.

Brian Nairn, Cahners chief operating officer, said, "Cahners is the trusted source of content for more than 2 million manufacturing professionals. Aspect is the leading provider of business-to-business infrastructure and eCommerce solutions for the inbound supply chain, in use today at more than 170 leading manufacturing companies. The combined resources and market knowledge of Cahners and Aspect will create an eCommerce solution for businesses that is unmatched."