JRG On-Demand Supply Chain Planning Announces Rapid Adoption in the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry

Business Wire, March 7, 2005

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Major CPG Manufacturers Carvel, Farbest and Westfarm Choose JRG; New Multi-Plant Rollouts at Pilkington, See's and Weetabix

JRG, provider of the first on-demand supply chain planning solution for the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry, today announced strong customer momentum and new, concrete return-on-investment (ROI) numbers from existing CPG customers. JRG's solution helps manufacturers Build-to-Consumption -- connecting their factories directly to retailers in order to increase perfect orders, reduce inventory, and lower production cost. JRG is delivered as an online, hosted service, greatly reducing the IT impact, risk and cost associated with traditional enterprise supply chain software.

JRG is starting off 2005 with three new CPG customers (Carvel, Farbest, and Westfarm) and two recent multi-plant expansions within their customer base (Pilkington, Weetabix). Many of these customers have bought or implemented multi-factory solutions, including Carvel, Pilkington, See's Candies and Weetabix. All customers show strong, rapid ROI numbers.

"With JRG, we have dramatically improved scheduling of our day-to-day operations," said Scott Wheeler, Monterey Gourmet Foods Chief Financial Officer. "Given that we're in the fresh foods business it's extremely difficult to plan and predict what our demand is going to be. JRG lets us respond flexibly to changes in demand and run our operations much more efficiently -- reducing changeover costs, material wastage, and unplanned labor."

Monterey Gourmet Foods is one of JRG's live early adopters, having achieved $400,000 in annual savings based on more efficient production. Wise Foods, another early, live customer, reduced its finished goods inventory by 40%, cut order-to-production time by 50%, and achieved $750,000 in revenue from one just-in-time promotion. Other live JRG customers include Ghirardelli, Pilkington, See's Candies and Weetabix.

"For us, 100% fulfillment is an imperative that will only grow in importance as we continue to expand outside of our Direct Store Delivery (DSD) system," said Tim Shanley, Vice President of Manufacturing at Carvel. "We've decided to implement JRG across three plants to replace the time consuming, manual process of scheduling by spreadsheet. Besides the obvious scheduling improvement this solution brings, our people's time can now be better spent focusing on operational and quality improvements. In addition, we expect JRG to help increase efficiencies, and reduce labor costs by lowering our overtime needs." Carvel is a 70-year-old company and the leading manufacturer of uniquely-shaped ice cream cakes. It distributes and sells its products in over 8,000 supermarkets and 500 Franchise stores around the country.

Weetabix, one of the world's largest cereal manufacturers, exports to more than eighty countries, with plants in the US and Canada. The Company recently went live with JRG to reduce inventory requirements. "We needed a better way to build closer to demand, thereby reducing inventory in an effort to stave off or forestall additional warehouse space," said Paul Whitehead, Weetabix Plant Manager. "Following the implementation of JRG for manufacturing planning and execution, we've seen reduced inventory and changeover levels as well as the elimination of manual data entry and reliance on a single person with scheduling knowledge. In year one, we expect to reduce inventories by 25 percent."

The JRG Difference

Created by production planners for production planners, JRG on-demand supply chain planning delivers next-generation, on-demand capabilities for executing Build-to-Consumption strategies:

--Demand-driven -- Senses changes in demand and allows the factory or enterprise to respond accordingly. The result is improved perfect order performance, reduced inventory imbalances, and lower production cost.

--Adaptive & predictive -- Using patent-pending technology, the JRG system eliminates the need for costly software customization by "learning" all key supply chain dynamics, functions and processes -- getting smarter over time. The service also incorporates forward-looking performance management to meet future supply chain requirements and retailer demand.

--On-demand -- JRG is delivered as an online, hosted service. The low IT impact, risk and cost, as well as the short implementation period, make JRG an easy decision.

About JRG (www.jrgsystems.com)

JRG provides on-demand supply chain planning for the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. The Company's solution helps manufacturers Build-to-Consumption -- connecting their factories directly to retailers in order to re-plan production based on actual retailer demand continuously, as opposed to monthly. JRG's hosted, managed solution allows manufacturers to increase perfect orders, reduce production costs and streamline inventory with significantly lower IT impact, risk and cost than first generation enterprise supply chain software -- implementations are live in 10 weeks or less. JRG customers include major food & beverage, pharmaceutical & auto parts manufacturers. The Company was founded in 2001 and is based in San Mateo, CA. For more information, visit www.jrgsystems.com.