CHAMBERSBURG, PA (November 11, 2008) – A U.S. business method patent (Patent No. 7,451,106) that will change the way organizations buy customized goods or services has been awarded to e-LYNXX Corporation, one of the leading procurement management firms in North America.
 
"U. S. Patent No. 7,451,106 is revolutionary because it forms the backbone for any electronic system that manages the procurement of a customized good or service.  Systems are available today through such companies as SAP, Ariba and Oracle that manage the procurement of inventoried items -- those items that are mass produced and kept in a warehouse until they are ordered, such as through an on-line catalogue.  A customized good or service is very different.  It must be ordered to precise specifications at the time of purchase.  Examples, to name a few, include commercial print, construction services, direct mail, labels, machined parts, marketing materials, product packaging, temporary staffing, textiles, transportation, trucking, and more," said William Gindlesperger, inventor of the methodology for which the patent was awarded and founder and chief executive officer of e-LYNXX Corporation. 

"The magnitude of the impact of this patent is enormous since 6 to 30 percent of a typical organization's sales/revenues are attributable to the purchase of customized goods and services before the organization can produce a product or deliver a service.  Every organization with an electronic procurement system designed to procure customized goods or services -- that follow the steps outlined in this new patent -- will need a license to use the patented methodology.  This would apply to systems that are developed internally as well as systems obtained through third party brokers, procurement services and system providers."
 
Known as The Gindlesperger Method, the patent covers any electronic system for procuring customized goods or services that automatically matches supplier attributes with contract specifications to identify qualified suppliers, disseminates a bid solicitation to at least two identified suppliers and receives and forwards a bid response to the buyer.  The simple methodology of this patent allows for a buyer to maintain its own qualified supplier base, obtain optimal cost reductions by establishing an environment in which the supplier is permitted to sell its excess capacity by bidding high, low or not at all without regard to buyer pricing expectations, without setting a precedent for its next bid price and while ensuring inclusion in the next bid opportunity on which the supplier is qualified. 

Anthony Hawks, e-LYNXX Chief Legal Officer said some companies may already be using this methodology since e-LYNXX filed the patent on Nov. 30, 1998.  "During that ten-year period, it is conceivable that this approach to procurement may have been implemented somewhere, but our interest is to work with those organizations, because we see licensing use of this patent to be an attractive proposition for any entity that buys customized goods and services," he explained.