Fourth Shift Previews e-Business Applications and Honors Companies Achieving Manufacturing Excellence
The new Fourth Shift vice-president of "e", Keith Vincent, gave users a preview of e-business products already in use at several customer sites and soon-to-be in general release by Fourth Shift. The Fourth Shift e-business product line includes self-service hubs supporting buying and selling capabilities, automatic inventory replenishment, and enhanced connectivity tools.
Many in attendance were excited about the new products. "I'm excited to hear about the e-business things happening at Fourth Shift because that will help us to drive our customers' success using the web," said Walter Cromer of Computational Systems Inc. "We'll be able to better service our suppliers, customers, and sales force over the Internet," explained Joe Wilmoth, Heraeus MTD. "The ability to communicate with our suppliers through e-business is going to be a key ingredient to our success," agreed Bruce Perry, APW Electronic Solutions.
"These products will give midsize manufacturers a sophisticated e-business capability at a tremendous value. This is the type of value we are delivering with Complete Care by Fourth Shift," said Vincent.
At a breakfast roundtable held at the event, every Circle of Excellence member in attendance indicated they had or would be implementing e-business solutions. The Fourth Shift Circle of Excellence program recognizes companies that have achieved exceptional on-time delivery rates, high productivity levels, and the ability to meet rapidly growing customer demands using Fourth Shift products and services. These companies are continually striving to improve their operations and view e-business solutions as key to their ability to strengthen supply chain management.
The newest member of the Circle of Excellence, Zinga Industries Inc., manufactures hydraulic system components. Given Zinga's competitive market, it is critical that Zinga meet customer demands and deliver products on time. Within three months of implementing Fourth Shift, the company reduced lead-time by two weeks. In less than a year, Zinga Industries Inc. improved on-time deliveries from 62% to 90% and reduced the average lead-time from eight weeks to two weeks. As a result, Zinga grew 16% in an industry that is down 10%. "Fourth Shift allows us to get our arms around our inventory, locate our inventory, produce our inventory to order, and to forecast. This has resulted in higher customer satisfaction and better cost controls," said Jack Landon, President of Zinga.
"Fourth Shift Complete Care is a company-wide commitment to our customers' success. It is rewarding to watch our growing customer base leverage our products and services and achieve manufacturing excellence as a result. The Circle of Excellence continues to be a significant measurement of customer satisfaction and the productivity benefits gained from using Fourth Shift," said Fourth Shift CEO, M.M. Stuckey.
About Fourth Shift
<%=company1%> is a Minneapolis-based global application software company that provides e-business solutions through its Enterprise Resources Planning and Complete Care software suite of products and a host of consulting and technology services. Fourth Shift software is licensed by more than 3,700 customer sites in 60 countries and is translated in more than a dozen languages. Licensees include some of the fastest growing manufacturers and global enterprises from the Global 2500. The company maintains close strategic relationships with leading information technology vendors, including Microsoft, Micro Data Base Systems (mdbs) and IBM. Fourth Shift is a Microsoft certified Solution Provider Partner.