Together we want to improve the position of the manufacturing industry

“Brainport Industries and Tech2B happened upon one another in the manufacturing industry several times already. That’s why working together makes perfect sense for both parties.”

John Blankendaal and Sjors Hooijen talk with great enthusiasm about their collaboration, which makes sense, given the backgrounds of both organisations. John is Managing Director of Brainport Industries (BI), a network of suppliers in the manufacturing industry with a campus in Eindhoven.

Sjors is Co-founder of the manufacturing platform Tech2B and sees a lot of added value in both parties working together: “Through Brainport Industries we can approach OEM companies a lot easier. We started our platform with mainly Tier 5, 4 and 3 SMEs. We now work with a lot of Tier 1 and 2 companies as well. This way we rise in the supply chain, but also keep growing our network as a whole. Our platform has over 1,000 active companies and a database of more than 10,000 companies. This enables us to improve connections through the entire supply chain”

Why this collaboration?

John explains: “Tech2B recently became a member of Brainport Industries. We are happy to welcome them, as we believe they can contribute to our supply chain with their digital solution. We are investigating the best way to implement their solution and together will organise a knowledge sharing session after this summer”

“We already met Tech2B in projects with SCSN, the communication standard between ERP systems in the manufacturing industry. There are a lot of SMEs without an ERP system, who don’t see the added value of SCSN. Tech2B can play an important role in bringing these parties together.” 

Sjors agrees: “Eventually the SMEs will definitely benefit from this. Due to fewer mistakes and efficient cooperation we enable companies to engage in joined innovation, no matter their size.”

What does this collaboration actually mean?

John explains: “Brainport Industries is a cooperation with members which I see as shareholders. By joining, Tech2B became a ‘shareholder’ as well. Cooperations pursue economic gains for their members, and we do this focussing on people, technique and market. Tech2B offers a solution to improve the efficiency within the supply chain. This perfectly fits the scope of services we offer our members. We help them offer their platform to other members without obliging anyone to actually engage.”

Sjors ads: “We want to increase transparency, in order for companies to find each other as easily as possible. Besides that we connect ‘Tech Hubs’, so members of different hubs can connect and different regions can benefit from one another. Even internationally, knowledge can be shared and findability can be improved. This way the global position of the European market can benefit in the end.”

What are the benefits related to SCSN?

“Buyers often have a hybrid solution with SCSN, but not all companies in the chain are compatible with the network. Tech2B will provide the connection for companies without an ERP or with an ERP that is not compatible. It will also be possible to place an RFQ directly on the supply and demand page or to use the platform as a procurement portal”

“By developing the connection with SCSN, purchasing companies with an ERP system should be able to share their RFQs directly through Tech2B. This way it is no longer needed to send emails and all transactions can take place via SCSN. 20 members of Brainport Industries were already active on our platform, so the connection is existing already. Both parties see the future of this collaboration as highly promising.”