BOC launches web services-enabled gases management tool

Arrowhead2 expands on BOC’s previous gases management tool, Arrowhead1 – which offers ordering, inventory management, internal chargeback and supplier management of cylinders and related industrial gases products – with its support for web services standards such as simple object access protocol, or SOAP.This capability allows dynamic application-to-application content sharing between multiple sources of information.

"BOC Arrowhead1 helps our larger customers streamline their supply chain. The launch of Arrowhead2 means these and other customers can benefit further from BOC’s continued use of the latest technology standards " said Brian Walsh, president, of BOC Industrial and Special Products, North America.

Fulton Wilcox, director of technology business development, BOC, said, "The number one problem in b-2-b eBusiness today is content management. Adding web services capability allows Arrowhead 2 to tie into customer, exchange, and supplier content and supplier information sources. For example, a web services "SOAP call" lets Arrowhead2 tap into a BOC special gases "Thesaurus," resulting in a quick retrieval of useful information."

As with Arrowhead1, Arrowhead2 enables customers to implement Internet ordering from suppliers using the Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) process model. And Arrowhead2 is offered as a hosted service, with BOC acting as the application services provider.

BOC offers a wide range of eBusiness services, including Internet ordering, electronic access to quality assurance data, automatic supplier replenishment through vendor managed inventory, Tel-Tanktm remote tank monitoring, on-line plant configuration, and process design tools and expertise.