Integrates Strategic Design with Tactical Inventory Management to Power Demand-Driven Supply Networks

BOSTON (Sept. 27, 2005) - Optiant, the power behind hundreds of high-performing global supply chains, today announced the immediate availability of PowerChain® Planner 2.0, a workhorse solution that bridges the gap between sales, manufacturing and supply. With PowerChain Planner, Optiant's award-winning suite provides manufacturers with the industry's only comprehensive solution for designing and implementing world-class operational strategies that can quickly and easily adapt to changes in demand, business conditions and even highly unpredictable events such as labor strikes or weather-related catastrophes.

Developed and tested in dozens of deployments by Optiant's blue-chip customer base of Global 2000 manufacturers, the scientifically rigorous optimization solution can be seamlessly integrated with manufacturing execution systems, including SAP environments, via the recently announced SAP-certified PowerChain Connector. With the ability to drive the day-to-day engines of production, PowerChain Planner ties together the strategic stage, where decisions are made about where and how much inventory and associated inventory types should be placed to meet service level requirements, with the daily execution horizon that drives replenishment signals.

Supply chain planners, who represent the front lines of operational management, gain unprecedented ability to quickly and easily determine - and implement - optimal inventory levels, even for components with highly volatile supply and demand patterns. With PowerChain Planner, manufacturers can rely on a seamless flow of real-time information from up and down the supply network, to modify inventory levels for each SKU for maximum effectiveness, as frequently as needed.

"Freeing up our planners and product champions to focus on more strategic product-centric initiatives, such as new product introductions and end-of-life transitions, means we are making the most of every resource," said Peter Smith, director of supply chain planning processes at Mass.-based Cabot Corp., $1.9 billion chemical manufacturer. "With PowerChain Planner, we can plan and deploy inventories to better manage working capital while providing superior levels of customer service - a critical strategy to achieve our performance goals."

PowerChain Planner clears the path for manufacturers in consumer packaged goods, industrial manufacturing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and high-tech electronics to achieve consistent performance enhancements and fulfillment of crucial customer service levels without the risk of carrying excess inventory. Advanced features include:

• Granular inventory target analysis and optimization across the entire supply chain: Large amounts of raw materials and increased SKU proliferation represents a significant challenge to planners and product champions; with PowerChain Planner precise inventory targets for tens of thousands of SKUs ensure the right levels at each location to satisfy committed service levels.
• Advanced exception-based workflow: By flagging SKUs most prone to supply and/or demand fluctuations and undesired performance, PowerChain Planner gives supply chain planners an integrated warning system, allowing them to focus critical resources where their expertise is most required for resolution purposes.
• Automated demand profiling: PowerChain Planner draws on order histories, historical forecasts and sales projections to establish demand parameters across complex, real-world situations such as seasonal products, new product introductions and end-of-life products.
• User-generated decision-support metrics and reports: To support the sales and operations planning teams, PowerChain Planner provides reports summarizing inventory plans, demand changes and product profitability, comparing before and after scenarios.

"The ability to fine-tune inventory strategy based on real-world constraints is a critical differentiator for today's most competitive manufacturers," said Matthew Menner, senior vice president of Optiant. "With PowerChain Planner, we give our customers fast and effective answers, which allow them to build and refine agile supply chains that maximize the return on inventory investments."

Standardized, Easy Integration into All Planning Systems
PowerChain Planner can be integrated into any existing ERP or advanced planning system for easy transfer of key inventory planning data across the entire supply chain. PowerChain Planner shares its data model with all other Optiant solutions - including PowerChain Inventory, which addresses strategic supply chain configurations, and the new PowerChain Connector, which streamlines communication between the PowerChain Suite, ERP and planning and execution systems.

PowerChain Planner and the rest of the PowerChain Suite are available from Optiant and its worldwide partners

Optiant and PowerChain Suite are trademarks of Optiant, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Optiant is a pioneer in the emerging market of supply chain design and optimization. Optiant's flagship software solution, the PowerChain® suite, enables global organizations to design and configure optimal supply chains, solving real-world problems today. PowerChain determines cost-effective inventory placements and integrates supply chain strategy into sourcing and distribution processes for quantifiable results in less than ninety days. Optiant has proven that intelligent inventory policies improve customer service levels and provide rapid ROI by driving out millions of dollars of associated costs from complex supply chains. Our roster of blue-chip clients, including Global 1000 discrete manufacturers, utilizes Optiant's expertise to design competitive supply chains and innovative inventory policies. PowerChain solutions are built on patent-pending optimization technology based on more than ten years of leading-edge research and industry partnerships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Optiant is a privately held company headquartered in Boston, Mass., and can be reached at www.optiant.com or (781) 238-8855.