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PS Industry Solutions to Sell Manufacturing Cost Planning System to Ford

17 April 1998

PS Industry Solutions To Sell Award-Winning Software To Ford Motor Company

    LAKELAND, Fla., April 17 -- PS Industry Solutions has signed
a global agreement to supply the Ford Motor Company with its award-
winning KAPES, Knowledge Aided Planning and Estimating System.  PS Industry
will provide Ford offices in the United States and Europe with the KAPES
system running on a client/server network using NT(TM) and Win95(TM)
workstations.
    KAPES is a Manufacturing Cost Planning system that allows users to
replicate the total cost structure of purchased components at every level of
the supply chain.  This system was named 1997 IT Product of the Year at the
Manufacturing Industry Achievement Awards based in the UK.
    Although KAPES was originally designed as a manufacturing process planning
system, its range has extended to include the ability to cost process plans
and estimate labor and materials.  KAPES brings powerful software tools and a
database of best manufacturing practices, times and costs.  The system can
generate cost estimates based on a component's country of origin by using a
cost model integrated into the software.  These plans and cost estimates can
then be used for negotiation purposes or joint value management exercises.
    More than 50 percent of parts and components in the automotive industry
are purchased from suppliers.  The ability to understand and control the costs
of these parts is a critical issue for manufacturers.  Original Equipment
Manufacturing's (OEM) supply organizations can have their cost estimators
check a supplier's quotation to address any cost variance and ensure that it
represents value for money.  The result is an extremely powerful tool with the
potential to save OEMs millions of dollars, which can improve bottom line
performance.
    Spurred by increased global competitiveness, companies are exploring every
opportunity to minimize expenses and reduce their internal cost structures.
As a result, the KAPES customer base is expanding rapidly, currently including
companies of all sizes in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Far East.
Industries served by KAPES include automotive, aerospace, and complex make-to-
order manufacturers.
    System requirements for KAPES are UNIX(TM) or Microsoft NT on the server
and Win95 or NT clients.  KAPES is written to operate on Oracle(TM) and
Progress(TM) families of relational databases.
    PS Industry Solutions is a PS Group BV company, one of Europe's leading
suppliers of information technology to the manufacturing industry.  The
company is known for its work in the fabrication and make-to-order markets, in
which it has established an unrivaled reputation for the quality of its
products and services.

SOURCE  PS Industry Solutions