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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APICS Recognizes New Breed Corporations, SupplySolution, and Prescient Systems/AAi.FosterGrant with
Corporate Awards of Excellence
Nashville, TN (October 28, 2002) APICS—The Educational Society for Resource Management, a professional society headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia presented its annual Corporate Awards of Excellence today to companies that value workplace education, are innovative, and reward the benefits of partnerships for the betterment of their companies.
New Breed Corporations, Inc., of High Point, North Carolina, was the recipient of the APICS Education Award of Excellence; SupplySolution of Southfield, Michigan, was the recipient of the APICS Innovation Award of Excellence; and the APICS Technology Partnership Award of Excellence was awarded to Prescient Systems of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and AAi.FosterGrant of Smithfield, Rhode Island. Company representatives received the awards during the 2002 APICS International Conference and Exposition here this week.
New Breed Corporations, the education award recipient, is a third-party logistics provider that is committed to the APICS vision of lifelong learning for lifetime success as demonstrated by its support of APICS certification programs and local APICS chapter involvement for its employees. The application of the APICS body of knowledge throughout the corporation lead to improvements in company performance and determination by New Breed senior management that Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) training and certification would be mandatory for all management levels. Today, nearly 75 individuals are CPIMs or are in the process of obtaining the designation and several others are now pursuing their Certified in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM) designation.
According to Dennis C. Hunt, New Breed executive vice president, business development and contract administration, "APICS certification is a revered designation. In fact, CPIM and CIRM are the only certifications permitted on New Breed business cards. At New Breed, APICS is not just taught, learned, and practiced, it is a part of the corporate culture."
The innovation award recipient, SupplySolution, developed a Web-based B2B application service, I-Supply Service, that provides real-time collaborative inventory management for the manufacturing supply chain by reducing inventory, decreasing administrative costs, and lowering monthly downtime and premium freight costs. Subscribers have no up-front investment cost in hardware, software, or proprietary connections. "On average, users see a 30 to 70 percent reduction in inventory, a 50 to 90 percent reduction in freight costs, and a 40 to 80 percent reduction in administrative tasks," according to Michael Hennessey, SupplySolution vice president of product management and solution engineers.
"SupplySolution began with a vision of developing a fulfillment application to enable Web-based collaboration between trading partners within supply chains in the automotive industry. Today, SupplySolution provides applications for manufacturing, distribution, exchanges, and supplier organizations," said Hennessey.
APICS also recognized the recipients of the technology partnership award—Prescient Systems and AAi.FosterGrant. The award demonstrates how a partnership between a technology provider and a corporate client can increase the client's success. AAi.FosterGrant, a leading supplier of sunglass and optical products, wanted to reduce inventory levels and boost fill rates when sales were down. Long lead times hindered forecasting seasonal items, like sunglasses, and the time between placing orders and delivering product was close to five months.
"The company needed a demand management system that could support sales, finance, and operations forecasts, while managing and maintaining the demand history," said Darrin Weigle, AAiFosterGrant vice president of supply chain management.
AAi.FosterGrant selected Prescient Systems to help develop and deploy a supply chain strategy involving people, process, and technology that would drive cash out of the company's inventory while simultaneously supporting corporate growth plans.
"Prescient Systems delivered a demand management solution that was able to achieve a highly flexible, responsive, and interactive demand management process to serve as the major cornerstone to AAi.FosterGrant's overall supply chain management strategy," said Kelly Vizzini, vice president of marketing for Prescient.
According to Weigle, "AAi.FosterGrant's inventory levels fell between 33 and 46 percent, order fill-rates rose nearly 99 percent, and we can now forecast point-of-sale demand five months in advance with only 30-35 percent forecast errors, which translates to higher fill rates."
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APICS—The Educational Society for Resource Management is the recognized global leader in professional certifications, educational programs, and publications for manufacturing and service industry professionals. Founded in 1957, the society supports 60,000 members in 20,000 manufacturing and service industry companies worldwide. To learn more about the APICS community, visit www.apics.org.