Burton Snowboards Carves Out Up to One-Half of Procurement-to-Payment Costs with TradeCard
Innovative supplier-financing program adds to savings, strengthens supplier relationships
New York, August 5, 2004 - TradeCard Inc., the leading provider of on-demand financial supply chain
services, announced that it has automated Burton Snowboards' trade transactions from procurement to payment. Benefits
for the world's top snowboarding brand include improved working capital management, the elimination of letters of
credit, and major business process efficiencies.
According to Tom D'Urso, the company's treasurer, "Our procurement-to-payment costs will be one-third to one-half of
last year because of TradeCard."
Burton Snowboards and its suppliers use TradeCard to conduct global trade transactions online. TradeCard
electronically routes, matches and stores trade documentation - from purchase orders to payment information. Each
party has appropriate access to view and amend documents as the transaction progresses. Payments are automated based
on supplier compliance of purchase order terms and conditions. Discrepancies are managed online.
"TradeCard breaks down the wall between finance and operations," says D'Urso. "I use its corporate-wide view of
procurement data to forecast working capital requirements. Now I can keep less cash on hand, and I have the right
foreign currency at the right time to pay suppliers." TradeCard calls this Just-in-Time Working Capital ManagementSM.
Suppliers Line up For New Financing Program
In addition to streamlining processes, Burton Snowboards also utilizes TradeCard's Automated Supply Chain Financing
program, which delivers early payment to suppliers in exchange for a discount off invoice. Suppliers sign up for the
program in lieu of more traditional financing or factoring arrangements.
D'Urso says, "Our trade transactions created mountains of paperwork, which made it tough to capture early payment
discounts. By automating these transactions, we're able to offer suppliers payment in five days at a discounted rate.
We're surpassing the return we saw from extending payment terms. Plus, we no longer tie up time and working capital
with letters of credit."
One of Burton Snowboards' largest suppliers, Canada-based Trak Sports, is on 30-day payment terms. "Our business
with Burton increased by 56 percent this past year," says Doug Barbor, the company's president. "Supporting this
growth on 30-day terms stretched our cash thin. We had to hire 60 more people and start purchasing far more raw
materials. Now that we can opt for five-day payment terms, we have the cash we need to support Burton and grow our
business."
Buyers can fund an Automated Supply Chain Financing program with their own cash or through financing from one of
TradeCard's partner financial institutions. The latter option is available at favorable rates because of buyers' good
credit and the visibility that partner financial institutions have into transactions.
Enterprise Application Functionality - on The Web
"Our suppliers sometimes ship 30 to 40 times on a single purchase order," says D'Urso. "Because TradeCard
automatically matches relevant procurement and fulfillment documents, we really benefit from time savings. We've also
created cool workflows on TradeCard, including payment authorization and audit trails for handling discrepancies.
It's very slick, especially compared to phone calls and e-mails going into our A/P department."
Burton Snowboards' suppliers also benefit from TradeCard's functionality, says Trak Sports' Barbor. "Our CFO uses
TradeCard to keep tabs on receivables. It's helping him more precisely manage working capital and cut back on short-
term borrowing. On the other side of the house, our head of production uses TradeCard to see purchase orders as they
come in, so he can get advance notice on materials and manufacturing requirements."
Buyers and suppliers securely connect to TradeCard using just a web browser, eliminating the need for any hardware
or software investment. Organizations can also link TradeCard to their ERP systems, to enhance existing data. Burton
chose this approach, integrating TradeCard with its SAP implementation in under 25 business days - a process that,
says D'Urso, "could not have been smoother."
Kurt Cavano, TradeCard's chairman and chief executive officer, notes, "Working with Burton has been nothing short of
great and has demonstrated why they are leaders in their field. Just like their snowboards, they were fast to get it,
implement, and to get benefits."
About TradeCard
TradeCard, the leading financial supply chain services provider, is revolutionizing global trade with a web-based
platform that automates the financial processes in supply chains that have been plagued with decades-old paper-based
solutions. By using TradeCard, buyers and sellers can manage their transactions with complete visibility to initial
orders through final settlement. TradeCard's global network of partners provides additional automated services on
the platform including supply chain financing, credit protection, money movement and inspection. In addition to
process improvements, customers realize immediate cost savings, optimized cash flow, reduced reliance on credit lines
and improved supply chain relationships. Headquartered in New York City, TradeCard Inc. has offices in San Francisco,
Hong Kong, Brussels, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo and Shenzhen. TradeCard is a registered trademark in the United States and
elsewhere throughout the world. TradeCard is located online at www.tradecard.com.
About Burton
Burton Snowboards, the world's first snowboard factory, is a pure snowboard company solely dedicated to creating and
perfecting a full range of the best snowboarding equipment on the planet. Founded in 1977, Burton has fueled the
growth of snowboarding worldwide through its team of top snowboarders and successful programs such as Learn To Ride
(LTR), the Chill Foundation and the Open Snowboarding Championships. Headquartered in Burlington, Vermont with
international offices in Innsbruck, Austria and Tokyo, Japan, Burton has been the industry leader since its
inception.
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This press release contains a number of matters that constitute forward-looking
statements. The presentation reflects the current views of TradeCard's
management with respect to future events and is subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements.
