Aerospace Company Significantly Improves Operations with Lilly Software's VISUAL Easy Lean; McWilliams Forge Sees Significant Results One Month After Implementation.

HAMPTON, N.H. -- Lilly Software Associates, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise and supply chain solutions for manufacturers and distributors, today announced that McWilliams Forge, a leading provider of aircraft and engine parts to the aerospace industry, has seen a 25 percent reduction in lead times, an increase in its already strong on-time delivery performance, and a dramatic overall improvement in its shop floor operation after implementing VISUAL Easy Lean.

"Our customers are jet engine and aircraft builders, and their schedules change weekly, sometimes daily," said Peter McWilliams, Vice President Manufacturing, McWilliams Forge. "Before Easy Lean, we had a real hard time getting our shop floor managers the right information. They wasted a lot of time working on the wrong jobs. We needed a powerful tool that would eliminate confusion on the shop floor and allow our people to make better decisions. One month after implementation, we began to see things turn around."

The Lilly Software Throughput Improvement Services Team worked very closely with McWilliams and his staff. As a result, after only three weeks of implementation and training, McWilliams' people embraced the new system. Now, even when a manager is absent from the shop floor, the operators know exactly what the priorities are because it's printed right on the reports that Easy Lean provides each day. "In the old days, you were probably working on the wrong job 40 percent of the time," said McWilliams. "Easy Lean gives you the ability to always be working on what needs to be worked on, and that just says it all for us. Our managers have really bought into the system because it makes their lives so much easier."

Based on a "pull" versus "push" scheduling method, VISUAL Easy Lean helps companies dramatically reduce lead times, increase on-time delivery performance, improve productivity and profitability, and enhance customer service. Manufacturing companies around the world have experienced remarkable results almost immediately after implementing the solution. "If you ask me whether or not Easy Lean will help other companies reduce their lead times, boost their on-time delivery, and improve their shop floor operation,'" said McWilliams, "my answer is 'yes, yes, yes.'"

About Lilly Software Associates

Lilly Software Associates, Inc. provides a complete line of enterprise and supply chain solutions for manufacturers and distributors. The VISUAL Enterprise(TM) suite of products helps companies capture and analyze real-time data about all their business processes using ERP, Project Management, Business Performance Management, Quality Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Warehouse Management System capabilities. From award-winning software to strategies in Lean Manufacturing and TOC, Lilly Software offers companies the tools they need for higher productivity and profitability.

Most VISUAL(R) applications run on Windows(R) 98, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP, UNIX(R), LINUX, Novell(R), using Gupta(TM) SQLBase(R), Microsoft SQL Server(R), or ORACLE(R) relational databases.

Lilly Software has received many industry awards for its products, service, and financial growth since its inception. Most recently, the company has been voted one of the Top 10 Best of Breed solutions for manufacturing by readers of Consumer Goods Technology, listed in Software Magazine's Top 500, selected as a Top 100 Logistics Information Technology Provider in Inbound Logistics, listed in the Top 100 Application Vendors in Supply Chain e-Business, included in MSI's Top 100 for its eighth year, and ranked as one of Start magazine's Hottest Companies.