Correct Craft Accelerates Quality Leadership with AIMS Manufacturing Lifecycle Management Release 5 Software

Business Wire, August 19, 2008

AIMS 'Best Practices in a Box' Helps Boating's Best Get Better

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Advanced Integrated Manufacturing Solutions, Co. (AIMS), www.aimsco.com announced today that Correct Craft (www.nautiques.com), manufacturer of the premium Nautique boat brand, has implemented the AIMS Manufacturing Lifecycle Management (MLM) Framework Release 5 to ensure the company's continued top tier quality performance, including maintaining J.D. Power and Associates' highest ranking for customer satisfaction.

AIMS, a leading provider of lifecycle operations management solutions for the discrete manufacturing value chain, released MLM 5 in July, empowering manufacturers with the ability to harness 'best quality lifecycle operations practices in a box.'

"AIMS MLM 5 goes well beyond simply enabling quality visibility," Perry Smith, CEO of AIMS, said. "We're empowering the quality function to positively impact a company's risk management portfolio and improve processes that depend on manufacturing, from supply chain, to sales, to shipping and service. Correct Craft, with their laser focus on customer satisfaction, was ideally positioned to take advantage of new quality best practices provided through AIMS MLM to fuel their drive toward six sigma across the enterprise."

Correct Craft has developed a corporate culture that fosters an uncompromising pursuit of quality, receiving the J.D. Power and Associates award for 'Highest Customer Satisfaction with Ski and Wakeboard Boats Six Times in a Row, Tied in 2008.'

Matt McGinnis, Quality Manager for Correct Craft, stated unequivocally, "Our goal is to be the #1 quality boat builder in the entire industry as ranked by J.D. Power and Associates. AIMS MLM enables us to leverage the quality efforts we've made throughout the manufacturing process and across disciplines for continued improvement and excellence. Beyond automating our existing processes, AIMS' integrated analysis tools enable us to drive new continuous improvement activities that were not feasible with our previous manual quality system."

Correct Craft uses AIMS MLM 5 for inspection, data collection and analysis, replacing a paper process with tablet PCs and wireless connectivity. Alerts route immediately to designated personnel whenever there is a quality concern. Correct Craft monitors top concerns by line, model, station and operation at any part of the day, in real time. Integrated visual quality data collection and issues analysis enable rapid identification of specific areas for improvement and greatly enhance root cause identification and elimination.

Correct Craft uses the quality improvement software in a hosted model, where AIMS is responsible for infrastructure and software updates. With MLM 5 deployed as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Correct Craft was able to implement very quickly, using less IT personnel and infrastructure resources.

"The AIMS MLM system captures the information we need, gives us the capability to access and utilize the information, and is easy to configure and use," McGinnis continued. "It has all the analytics we need to incorporate best practices right now. We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly we replaced our paper-based inspection aids and reporting with AIMS automated tools. This was accelerated further by our adoption of the hosted deployment model, which has delivered both performance and reliability."

Correct Craft's President/CEO Bill Yeargin added, "AIMS built-in best practices let us take our continuous improvement program to a new level within one month of production use. New capabilities and the resulting improvements, combined with the implementation speed, software value, and reduced IT costs, resulted in our subscription essentially paying for itself within three months of signing the purchase order."

About AIMS: AIMS improves manufacturing operations for quality-focused customers including BMW, Hatteras Yachts, Sea Ray Boats, and Boston Whaler (all Brunswick Corporation companies - NYSE:BC), Thomas Built Buses (Daimler/Freightliner), Honda Power Equipment and Spartanburg Steel Products. AIMS Manufacturing Lifecycle Management (MLM) deployments scale from hosted SaaS to on-site plant, division, and enterprise-wide installations. AIMS MLM provides browser-based interfaces to diverse manufacturing lifecycle operations, including custom orders and quotations, production process progress tracking, material and resource usage, supplier quality, corrective actions, defective material, in-process quality, pre-delivery inspection, field service, event notification, status display, standard reports and report writer, and offline operation with Web service-based synchronization. For more information, please visit www.aimsco.com or contact AIMS by email at sales@aimsco.com.

About Correct Craft: Celebrating 83 years of excellence in the marine industry, Correct Craft, Inc. is the producer of the Nautique line of boats. Correct Craft is known for delivering superior quality product, cutting-edge technology and exceptional service experiences. To see the complete line of Nautique boats, visit www.nautiques.com.