Custom Brass faucet maker turns to CA for solutions to more than two million problems; Harden Industries Selects CA-MANMAN/X And CA-OpenIngres To Handle Myriad-Combination "Design-It-Yourself" Showroom Orders

Business Wire, Nov 28, 1995

ISLANDIA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 28, 1995--A manufacturer of decorative brass faucets and bathroom accessories has turned to Computer Associates to solve more than two million manufacturing problems.

Harden Industries' highly successful make-to-order business segment includes a popular option that gives its customers the ability to design their own brass faucets and accessories in Harden's showroom, and then have their creations built for them. While clients love the creative freedom, Harden has the burden of managing more than two million potential customer-designed product combinations.

In looking for enterprise management software, Harden needed a system to support both its make-to-stock and its make-to-order businesses. Its make-to-stock business involves producing, shipping and warehousing brass faucets for the do-it-yourself market. Harden's high-end product lines are custom-built faucets and accessories. The demand for these products comes from both its showroom and international architects and design firms who place large orders.

Harden evaluated solutions from CA, DataWorks, Symix and QAD and chose CA for the robust functionality and flexibility of CA-MANMAN/X and CA-OpenIngres. It also considered CA's rock-solid stability and demonstrated commitment to its clients.

"Not only are we pleased with CA's products, but we are confident in the company and we're impressed with its support staff," said Bill Crtalic, project manager for Harden. "These are the ingredients for a great vendor-customer relationship."

Crtalic said a small company tracking large projects must know where to devote resources if it is to maintain a competitive edge. "With all our diverse manufacturing projects, it's important we keep on top of what is profitable and what is not," said Crtalic. "Our prior system did not produce good, usable information on a timely basis, so we are looking forward to the benefits of the integrated CA-OpenIngres database management system."

CA-OpenIngres is the multi-platform relational DBMS designed for mission-critical business processing. Offering the leading capabilities of distributed database technologies, including replication, query optimization and active data management, CA-OpenIngres is ideally suited for advanced data warehousing and mobile computing applications.

CA-MANMAN/X provides a multi-platform, enterprise-wide business management solution, managing the entire product life cycle, from engineering design through customer delivery. With its modular client/server architecture, CA-MANMAN/X provides a high level of flexibility for customizing accounting, manufacturing, customer service, and purchasing to support diverse manufacturing methodologies used in today's businesses.

Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), with headquarters in Islandia, NY, is the world leader in mission-critical business software. The company develops, licenses and supports more than 500 integrated products that include systems and database management, application development, manufacturing and financial applications. CA has 9,000 people in 130 offices in 36 countries and had revenue of $2.6 billion in its 1995 fiscal year. CA can be reached by visiting its homepage on the worldwide web (http://www.cai.com).

Harden Industries is an international manufacturer of decorative solid brass bathroom fixtures and accessories. Founded in 1982, the California-based company sells and distributes its products throughout the world. Starting with $5,000 and three people, Harden presently employs 150 people who are comprised of 18 ethnic groups and has manufacturing facilities in Los Angeles, Southern California and Taiwan, with sales offices in Taiwan and Japan. Harden's management staff actively promotes the corporate philosophy of educating by participation in many different civic organizations, industry associations and national business groups. The objective of Harden Industries is to continue to promote and develop an environmentally friendly and socially responsible corporation, concerned with the overall welfare of the community at large. -0-

All referenced product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Computer Associates, Islandia

Michael Kornspan, (516) 342-2463