Magnussen Home Completes Major Phase of B2B Initiative
June 29, 2004

Replaces traditional EDI with FurnishNet’s Internet-based EDI to save costs, speed connections

FurnishNet, a leading provider of Internet-based supply chain solutions, announced today that Magnussen Home, Canada’s largest furniture importer/exporter, has completed a major phase of its B2B initiative by switching from traditional EDI to an Internet-based EDI for all trading partner connections. Twelve of the company’s largest retail clients were involved with the move to FurnishNet services including JC Penney, Sears Canada and Leon’s Furniture among others. Documents now being processed electronically over the Internet include purchase orders, acknowledgments, shipping notices, and invoices.

“We wanted to get out of the EDI business,” said Eric Konig, CIO for Magnussen Home. “Not only was usage of EDI by our trading partners sporadic, but each time we added a new partner, we basically had to relearn the process. Plus, we were spending significant amounts of money for annual fees, upgrades, and maintenance that produced little if any value for the company.”

By standardizing their EDI operations on FurnishNet, Magnussen Home has reduced both operational expenses and the time it takes to connect new trading partners. “When we did a time study comparing manual order processing to EDI, we discovered that we could take nearly 50 percent of human touch-points out of the order processing equation plus make a significant reduction in errors,” added Konig. “But the real thrust of this initiative is to drastically reduce the time it takes to bring a new partner on board. FurnishNet’s Internet-based solution allows us to do more electronic business with more trading partners faster than we could ever do it with traditional EDI alternatives.”

The second phase of Magnussen Home’s B2B initiative will be to connect those partners with whom the company does not currently have electronic connectivity. Those companies include several divisions of the May Company—Robinsons-May, Filene’s, and Famous Barr. The second phase will also add new documents such as bills of lading and shopping manifests to their electronic exchange capability.

“The core disciplines for Magnussen Home are customer intimacy, product leadership, and operational excellence,” said Konig. “Implementing FurnishNet as our sole EDI solution helps us maintain those disciplines at a high level.”

Other phases of the Magnussen Home B2B initiative already in place include a website giving retail clients access to product and order information as well as a sales force automation solution.

FurnishNet’s solution for Transaction Management speeds the accurate transmission of purchase orders, purchase order acknowledgements, advance ship notices, invoices, and many other transaction types. By integrating e-mail, web applications, electronic data interchange (EDI), and XML into a unique "Any-to-Any" exchange, FurnishNet is able to translate the information into the appropriate format for the immediate electronic flow of information between business partners of any size, running on any corporate system. This reduces errors and costs and shortens delivery cycles to improve customer service

About Magnussen Home
Magnussen Home Furnishings Inc. designs, imports, and distributes medium- and upper-medium priced occasional tables, accent furniture, and case goods across all style categories for retailers around the world. The company brings more than 20 years of experience with offshore sourcing focused on quality control of state-of-the-art technology, workmanship, finishing and timely delivery. As a result, the Magnussen Express Program delivers products domestically within five working days to participating retailers in the United States and Canada.

About FurnishNet
Over 550 of the nation's leading retailers and manufacturers are using FurnishNet's electronic document exchange solution to streamline their supply chains. For more information or a list of connected manufacturers, please call 1-800-854-2263, or visit www.furnishnet.com and take the Self-Guided Tour.