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gedas and IBM Team Up to Help Automakers and Their Dealers Improve Inventory Utilization and Reduce Cost

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., Oct. 3, 2005 -- gedas USA, Inc., and IBM announced today they are teaming up to provide automakers and their dealer networks a software solution that will significantly improve traditional parts inventory management by giving them real-time visibility into parts inventories within the OEM's supply chain. It will also expand automakers' ability to collaborate with their dealers at all levels of business in a faster, more cost-effective manner.

"This solution will help dealers enhance customer relations by ensuring they can have parts on hand when promised," says Dave Williams, gedas' Solution Center Director. "And, by reducing inventory levels and increasing turns, dealers -- and OEMs -- will gain incremental profit and revenue."

An added benefit, says Williams, is that dealers will be less likely to have to search for parts outside the OEM parts system, and both will compete more effectively with the independent aftermarket.

The core component of the solution, gedas' Parts On Demand product, is currently being used by more than 1000 dealerships in the United States, many of whom have reported 30 percent reductions in supply chain management costs and significant increases in profitability.

This is due, in part, to the solution's ability to extend an OEM's parts system to dealer service managers' desktop computers, allowing them to check on a specific part's availability, location of the inventory, order the part in real time and track delivery status.

Drawing on its quarter-century of experience in the automotive industry, gedas will integrate its proven Parts On Demand solution for inventory management and real-time visibility with IBM's WebSphere** Product Center to deliver a more integrated parts catalog and parts ordering solution.

WebSphere Product Center provides the ability to manage in one solution -- and in a central repository -- multiple parts catalogs, disparate part and product identification information such as price, make, and model, along with the data used for catalogs and price sheets such as graphics and illustrations. This will reduce errors and speed transactions.

An especially attractive feature of the WebSphere platform is that it is an open J2EE-based technology that integrates easily with existing SAP and other ERP platforms currently used by OEMs and their dealer networks.

The new Parts On Demand solution that gedas offers eliminates the need for dealer service and parts managers to make multiple phone calls to the OEM's warehouses or to local parts stores to locate a part for a customer. Instead, if a part is out of stock, the service manager can get online in real time and know exactly where the necessary part is, order it, and be able to tell a customer when to bring in their vehicle for service.

It will also allow OEMs to reduce inventory levels and dealers to reduce stockpiling of slow-moving parts. This, in turn, will help OEMs improve demand forecasting, increase turn rates and reduce operating costs. It will also give them a more accurate picture of inventory in their warehouses so they can make more timely adjustments to shipping and production levels.

The Parts On Demand solution is designed to comply with the automotive industry's Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR), which means greater business to business functionality to improve communications with trading partners.

Under their agreement, gedas and IBM will immediately begin marketing and selling this solution using the support of IBM's Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Partner Initiative.

About gedas

Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, gedas is an IT subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group with 22 years of experience, about 5,000 employees worldwide, and more than 50 locations in 13 countries. gedas is a global IT service provider with teams working around the world. gedas develops, implements and operates individual IT solutions that create value-adding potential for its customers. In the automotive and manufacturing industries, as well as in the field of logistics, gedas has assumed a leading position with its strong business process expertise and its unique brand of full-service solutions.

**Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.