Optiant - CPG Leaders Create Collaborative Platform for Best Practices

BOSTON (September 13, 2006) - Optiant, the leading provider of inventory planning and optimization solutions, held it’s first Consumer Packaged Goods Customer Forum at Gillette’s Boston facility on Sept. 7 and 8. The highly successful event served as a catalyst for top executives from CPG industry giants to network, impart information and share insights on their experiences within supply chain management.

Attendees of the event included Optiant customers such as P&G, Gillette, Sonoco and Kraft, strategic partners Infosys and industry analysts from AMR Research. The forum provided thought leaders from all attending companies with a collaborative platform to discuss roadblocks and strategic solutions to creating responsive and resilient supply chains with emerging inventory optimization tools.

“The success of this event hinged greatly on the perceived value to our existing and prospective customers, partners and industry analysts,” said Jonathan Colehower, Optiant’s CEO. “The immense positive feedback received from all attendees indicated that the forum encouraged shared experiences and learnings that will go a long way to advance knowledge for continued supply chain success.”

Overriding take-aways from the forum included best practices that address global supply chain strategies; such as moving toward more closely integrating inbound and outbound logistics and customer communication. Additionally, customers commented on preparing for these challenges by creating demand driven supply chains with a tighter link between demand and production.

Optiant also garnered constructive insights on how customers are using and benefiting from their PowerChain Suite of solutions. Customers further highlighted ways the PowerChain Suite can be extended to better help customers leverage supply chain data and reduce excess inventory.

“Receiving firsthand feedback on our solutions from customers is invaluable as we move forward with our product roadmap,” said Colehower. “We learned how our customers’ expectations are changing due to increasing competition and challenges in their marketplace and how we can tweak our solutions to better address these evolving needs.”

About Optiant

Optiant, the leading provider of inventory planning and optimization solutions, helps Global 2000 companies optimize bottom-line performance through the creation of the world's most responsive and resilient supply chains.

Optiant's solutions optimally balance resources, total costs, and customer service across the supply chain to deliver greater profitability, increased customer satisfaction, more efficient use of capital, and a resilient supply chain that fully handles uncertainty in supply and demand. Optiant has transformed supply chains for the world's leading manufacturers including Black & Decker, Gillette (a Procter & Gamble division), Henkel, HP, Imation, Intel, and Sonoco.

Delivering millions of dollars in returns, Optiant’s industry-focused solution certified for integration by SAP generates quantifiable business results within 90 days of implementation. The solutions are based on award-winning research from MIT and decades of experience dedicated to the identification and realization of supply chain efficiencies. For more information, please visit www.optiant.com.