WEST CHESTER, Pa. and WESTMONT, Ill. - May 17, 2004 - Prescient, a leading provider of supply chain planning solutions for consumer products suppliers, and Silvon Software, Inc., a provider of analytic applications for business performance management, today announced a strategic partnership that will combine Prescient's award-winning retailer-centric demand planning solution with Silvon's business analytics software. Prescient customers will benefit from greater visibility into retail demand data and Silvon users will be able to add Prescient's supply chain planning solutions to support collaboration programs with trading partners.
In the United States, Prescient and Silvon already share multiple clients, including AAi.FosterGrant, Riviana Foods and Zondervan Publishing House. Joint clients will be able to take advantage of a completely integrated solution combining advanced supply chain planning with performance measurement and monitoring. In addition, Silvon's strong global presence will augment Prescient's international sales operations.
"Like many consumer products suppliers, at FosterGrant we base our forecasts on consumer demand information pulled from various retailers' collaboration hubs, including Wal-Mart's RetailLink and Target's Partners On Line," said Martin Temple, Director of Information Technology, AAi.FosterGrant. "Prescient and Silvon give us the ability to pull consumer point-of-sale (POS) data from these systems and aggregate it into one corporate forecast and analytic solution. This consolidated view of consumer demand enables us to operate a more efficient supply chain and better meet the needs of our retail partners."
An increasingly competitive retail environment dominated by Wal-Mart has forced competing mass-merchandise, grocery and chain-drug retailers to differentiate themselves with new programs and initiatives in the battle for consumer loyalty. The current retail business climate puts pressure on suppliers to develop greater packaging options, offer lower prices and participate in a variety of collaboration programs such as vendor-managed or co-managed inventory programs.
Prescient's retail-centric collaboration approach alleviates this pressure by empowering suppliers like AAi.FosterGrant to collaborate with each of their retail partners based on their unique requirements without compromising their own business objectives or incurring additional costs.
Silvon's technology platform and data repository complement Prescient's retail-centric solution by enabling users to analyze, access and store, retail-level data like POS data Ñ product information collected by retailers when products are scanned through checkout. Prescient clients can now leverage detailed analysis of POS data not only to generate more accurate demand plans, but also to measure their success based on the supply chain performance metrics for which retailers are holding them accountable.
"The ability to monitor, measure and act on real-time retail and consumer information is a critical component of our approach to retailer-centric supply chain planning," said Jane Hoffer, president and CEO of Prescient. "Silvon fulfills the measurement and monitoring capabilities that have been part of our retail-centric product roadmap from the outset."
As part of the partnership, Silvon can now extend its supply chain planning capabilities with Prescient to offer advanced capabilities, including inventory optimization, vendor-managed inventory and advanced-line sequencing. Leveraging the Prescient suite, Silvon's customers will be able to create stronger and more influential collaborative relationships with their trading partners, ultimately improving the profitability of their retail relationships.
"Prescient is the right partner to deliver this functionality because its approach to the retail-supplier relationship is so closely aligned with our customer-centric vision," said Mike Hennel, president and CEO, Silvon. "Prescient and Silvon share a focus on helping suppliers improve their relationships with retailers through increased visibility and actionable information, starting at the retail store shelf and continuing each step back along the supply chain to the manufacturing plant floor."
About Silvon Software, Inc.
Silvon Software is a global, supply chain-focused enterprise performance management solutions provider headquartered in the western Chicago suburb of Westmont, Illinois. Since 1987, Silvon has focused on software-based analytic application solutions for manufacturing, wholesale distribution and retail organizations. Silvon's solutions are predicated on the fact that a better business understanding will empower the move toward an optimized supply chain. Silvon's clients benefit from improving business practices and profitability by leveraging analytic information on customers, suppliers, and operational performance. The Silvon Stratum product suite offers robust analytic applications, as well as planning, forecasting, closed-loop processing and exception management functionality. The company's products are currently installed at more than 1,500 businesses worldwide. For more information, visit www.silvon.com.
About Prescient
Prescient empowers consumer products manufacturers and distributors, enabling them to maximize their relationships with retailers and trading partners. Prescient gives suppliers the ability to adapt to each of their customers' changing business and compliance needs while improving their own decision-making across the entire supply chain. The company's supply chain software and services incorporate greater visibility into real-time demand and point-of-sale information, delivering more accurate demand, replenishment and production plans to ensure higher service levels without the financial burden of excess inventory. Household brand names like The Dial Corporation, Domino's Pizza, Binney & Smith (Crayola Brand), AAi.FosterGrant and Wyeth Consumer Healthcare rely on Prescient. For more information, go to www.prescientsystems.com.
Pat Hennel
Silvon Software, Inc.
Phone: 630-655-3313
pat.hennel@silvon.com
Tim Boivin
TechImage (for Silvon Software)
Phone: 847-279-0022 (x229
tim.boivin@techimage.com