Les Schwab Tire Centers Purchases ACOM Solutions, Inc.'s EzPayManager/400 Solution for Payroll, Accounts Payable

PRINEVILLE, Oregon--June 2, 2005--Les Schwab Tire Centers, a privately owned, $1.3 billion tire production and automotive aftermarket retailing enterprise headquartered in this Central Oregon community, has purchased ACOM Solutions, Inc.'s EZPayManager/400 check and electronic payment solution and will cut over its existing payment operations to the new solution in early-to-mid summer, it was announced today by Controller Scott S. Tibbs and ACOM Vice president James R. Scott.

Les Schwab Tire Centers has used ACOM's EZeDocs/400 electronic document solution in its tire production center for more than two years to produce a variety of reports on plain paper using stored electronic form templates instead of paper forms. The documents include Cubiscan truck loading reports, work order item processing lists, batch audit reports, store order reports, and several tally reports, among others. EZeDocs/400 was purchased to upgrade the professionalism and clarity of the company's "home-grown" reports, Tibbs said, noting that all of the documents currently generated by EZeDocs/400 are for internal use.

The new payment solution replaces a process in which check files from the company's financial management software are transmitted to a production printer that decodes the file and prints the checks on preprinted check forms. In the ACOM process, the check forms are recreated and stored as electronic form templates and when checks are printed, the payment file is formatted, merged with the appropriate electronic template and spooled out to a Xerox Phaser 4500 MICR-enhanced laser printer for production on blank fold-and-seal security check stock.

Les Schwab Tire Centers generates approximately 500 three-part accounts payable checks and as many as 25,000 expense checks per month, Tibbs said. The manufacturer-retailer employs some 7,200 people, for whom it issues more than 5,000 payroll checks per month, including 3,000 for employees of its 300+ stores. About 70 percent of the headquarters staff of 800 employees opt for direct deposit, as do more than half of the store employees.

A committed iSeries shop, Les Schwab Tire Centers houses eight iSeries computers in its operations center, running Infinium Financials software on a Model 825, where the ACOM payment software also is scheduled to reside. iSeries Model 170s in the company's stores are connected to headquarters over a frame relay connection with dial backup.

"We've looked to ACOM as a technology partner for several years, and when we required some technical support that another vendor could not provide, ACOM was able to help," Tibbs said. "So when it came time for us to upgrade our forms and more recently our payment processes, they were an easy choice."

Similarly, Tibbs had no hesitation in purchasing the Xerox Phaser 4500 laser printer MICR-enhanced by ACOM.

"ACOM is a known leader in MICR, and Xerox recommended them," he said.

Tibbs projects that the conversion of the accounts payable and payroll conversion processes will take about four-five weeks, with ACOM's professional services team working with the company's internal programming staff.

ABOUT LES SCHWAB TIRE CENTERS

Headquartered in Prineville, Oregon, Les Schwab Tire Centers prides itself on customer service, selling automobile and truck tires, batteries and accessories and performing alignment, brake, and shock work at nearly 400 company-owned stores in Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington as well as another 82 dealer-owned stores. Founder and Chairman Les Schwab was reared in a logging camp and went to school in a converted boxcar. In 1952 he bought a tire shop that grew into Les Schwab Tire Centers. The firm is owned by Schwab and his family, and its expansion plans involve opening about 20 stores a year. For information, call 541-447-4136, Fax: 541-416-5208 or visit www.lesschwab.com.

ABOUT ACOM SOLUTIONS, INC.

Now in its 22nd year of business, ACOM is a leading software organization with offices and solution partners worldwide. The company develops, markets and implements advanced modular software systems for general business and medical e-document management, e-payment management, B2B e-commerce management and e-purchasing management. Its award-winning solutions integrate seamlessly with enterprise applications such as ERP and CRM to optimize back-office and B2B processes. ACOM maintains corporate headquarters in Long Beach, California and iSeries division headquarters in Duluth, Georgia, and it has regional offices located in several major U.S. cities. For more information, visit www.acom.com/iseries .