Building on its focus on the World Wide Web as an important approach for future opportunity, Bayer Corporation's Agriculture Division is launching an e-commerce platform through which the company can enhance supply chain activities between Bayer and its business-to-business customers.

"BayerValue.com will enable Bayer to use the internet to provide our customers with a comprehensive and efficient online supply chain management platform,'' said Emil Lansu, president of Bayer Corporation's agriculture division in the United States and head of Bayer's North American crop protection business.

"BayerValue.com will provide a much-needed solution to supply chain issues for the customers we serve, including veterinarians, animal health distributors and agribusiness retailers and distributors,'' Lansu explained.

The web site will allow Bayer and its business-to-business customers to use the internet to communicate in a seamless manner to increase the speed and efficiency of business operations such as order placement, order tracking, inventory management and distribution.

"We are committed to providing our business-to-business customers with the tools necessary to
succeed in today's and tomorrow's virtual marketplace,'' Lansu added. "Our goal is to create a virtual supply chain that will become recognized as an industry standard in the markets in which we do business.''

"This innovative e-commerce initiative is a part of our strategy to increase market access and
opportunities through use of the World Wide Web,'' explained John Payne, senior vice president for Bayer's animal health business group.

"In our animal health business, Bayer already uses the internet for select e-commerce transactions for products such as Advantage flea control for cats and dogs and Baytril antibiotic for cattle,'' noted Payne. "Here we look for BayerValue.com to take our current web-based platforms to the next level by offering more encompassing supply chain management for all of our products to veterinarians and animal health distributors.''

According to Trevor Thorley, senior vice president for Bayer's crop protection business group, a pilot version of the BayerValue.com e-commerce platform will be active this summer, with a first-phase launch scheduled for October 2000. This first phase will focus on Bayer's crop protection products sold primarily in the Midwest's corn belt. The company plans to expand the scope of its platform within North America in 2001.

"BayerValue.com also will enable us to help enhance the operations of our agribusiness retail and
distributor customers, and, in turn, will enable them to help enhance the operations of their customers,'' Thorley said.

He noted that in a like manner the BayerValue.com internet-based solution will further Bayer's important goal of strengthening its relationships with retail and distributor customers and could serve to strengthen the customer relationships among distributors, retailers and producers as well.

Bayer is working closely with retailers and distributors with whom it currently does business in
developing BayerValue.com to ensure that the company is meeting the needs of its customers, Thorley added.

Bayer's Agriculture Division researches, manufactures, markets and sells innovative products that help ensure the health of food animals and family pets; that protect homes, lawns and gardens from harmful insects; and that enable farmers, both in the U.S. and around the world, to keep their crops safe from plant diseases, insects, and weeds.

Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences and chemicals. The company had 1999 sales of $8.9 billion and employs approximately 22,200 people. Bayer Corporation is investing $9 billion in capital expenditures and research and development from 2000 through the year 2004. 2000 capital investment and R&D expenditures are projected to total $1.6 billion. Bayer Corporation, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $29 billion international life sciences, polymers and specialty chemicals group based in Leverkusen, Germany. 

Company news release
N2680