New dot-com targets the fluid power industry

By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 11/1/2000

Chicago-In October, Agito, Inc. launched its portal, FluidPowerHub.com, which is designed to bring together motion control and automation channels, including fluid power, power transmission, electronic controls and automated manufacturing, on the Web.

The site offers a comprehensive e-commerce platform dedicated to enabling information exchanges as well as procurement transactions between manufacturers, distributors and end users of fluid power products.

"Our goal is to provide tools that accelerate procurement decisions," said John Crossno, Agito's chief executive officer. He said the goal is also to speed time-to-market for configured and engineered-to-order products through "real-time Web-enabled design collaboration."

The site uses technology such as Ariba's Marketplace application and Question.com's Expert Community to enable direct and indirect goods procurement and valuable configuration and collaboration tools that will assist purchasing agents, engineers, and maintenance professionals in their decision-making process.

Carla Crossno, Agito's vice president of marketing, said the site differentiates itself with its industry-specific focus and its dual focus on design and commerce functions.

In addition, several members of Agito's management team have a background in the fluid power industry. John Crossno, for example, has more than 25 years of fluid power manufacturing and distribution experience. Crossno has worked for Hydro-Line Inc. in Rockford, Ill., an industrial cylinder manufacturer that is now owned by Eaton Corp., and Atlas Cylinders, Inc. In addition, Crossno owned and operated Air-Dro Cylinders, Inc. of Decatur, Ala., a manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic actuators also now owned by Eaton Corp. Marty Collins, sales manager, was formerly a salesman and application engineer for Parker Hannifin Corp.

"We understand the industry," Carla Crossno said. "We understand the role the distributor plays and so we're trying to assist the distributor and manufacturer, at no cost to them, to have an e-commerce strategy."

FluidPowerHub.com's revenue stream will come from purchases made online and from subscription fee-based expert community services such as parametric product configuration and Web-enabled engineer-to-engineer collaboration on product design documents and component specifications.

Following the initial launch, subsequent launches in November and in early 2001 will give registered site users access to e-commerce capabilities and interactive portions of the site.