AmEx to the Rescue

Dean R. Hoffman could not have been happier at the news that American Express Co. had purchased Harbor Payments, an Atlanta-based electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) provider. His company, the $2.3 billion engineered component maker Kennametal Inc., is using Harbor to service 12,000 invoices a month, about 95% of Kennametal’s U.S. volume. Hoffman, Kennametal’s manager of customer/vendor support systems, is hoping that the takeover by a behemoth like American Express could make it possible for his company to consider expanding the Harbor accounts payable program to Kennametal’s overseas suppliers.