Applied Textiles Selects V3 Systems' Enterprise Supply Chain Execution --SCE-- Suite.

Business Editors, High Tech Writers

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 2002

Supply Chain Optimization Leader Applied Textiles Chooses

the V3 System to Manage Suppliers, 3PLs and Manufacturers

of Textile Inventory

V3 Systems, the recognized leader in providing innovative enterprise supply chain execution and warehouse management applications for automating business processes and providing supply chain visibility across global distribution networks, today announced that Applied Textiles has selected V3 Systems' enterprise Supply Chain Execution (SCE) suite to manage and optimize the inventory and inbound/outbound shipping of textiles, as well as its logistics planning and load optimization services.

Focused on improving logistics at every link in the supply chain, Applied Textiles provides supply chain management services including inventory planning, warehousing, fabric processing and yield management services for the commercial textile industry. Supply chain synchronization technology, as defined in the textile industry through the joint industry project for Demand Activated Manufacturing Architecture (DAMA), is an important component to supporting their customers' goals of reducing cost in the contract textile industry.

"In all of our supply chain research in the soft goods industry," said Jim Lovejoy, DAMA project director, Textile Clothing Technology Corp. (TC2), "the principles of supply chain visibility and collaboration have always improved supply chain performance when applied using information technology tools that are adaptable and provide appropriate security."

By selecting the V3 System and its unique "SNAP" configuration technology, Applied Textiles gains a wide variety of functionality, including components that manage receiving, multi-owner inventory management, order management, RF-directed picking and packing, shipping, billing, query and reporting, and multi-tiered Web-based supply chain visibility. Additionally, V3 Systems will extend to Applied Textiles the capabilities of its "intelligent Supplier Relationship Management System" (iSRM). V3 Systems' iSRM will enable Applied Textiles to address the critical requirements of supplier-owned inventory (SOI) and collaborative commerce initiatives across the entire contract textile demand network. The iSRM application has been designed to manage all aspects of the inbound supply chain, inclusive of execution, visibility, data integration and event notification to dramatically reduce inventory and latency in a multi-level supply chain.

"We selected V3 Systems not only for their innovative technology, but even more so for the strength of the strategic partnership we have entered into with them," said John L. Schroeter, president, Applied Textiles. "Applied Textiles and V3 Systems will jointly market our comprehensive services and technology to the textile industry with the objective of compressing time, increasing inventory velocity and visibility, and offering unprecedented levels of customer service."

Applied Textiles' facilities store over three million yards of fabric and move hundreds of thousands of yards each week. In addition to offering traditional warehousing, finishing and cutting services for its textile customers, Applied Textiles is also an Internet-powered supply chain optimizer. Using the V3 System, Applied Textiles will be better able to act as a lead logistics service provider to manage 3rd party logistics across multiple users' inventories and facilities, as it provides details for all textile movement, including piece tracking, ownership, value-add processing, packaging, custom labeling and bar coding. Using order and inventory information, as well as process management, provided by the V3 System, Applied Textiles can also serve its clients with highly accurate transportation management services, as it calculates route and load optimization to meet clients' cost and service requirements.

With the implementation, Applied Textiles will use V3 Systems' inherent Web-based supply chain visibility and event management functionality, the "V3 Dashboard," to allow anyone with a secure login to view supply chain information, key performance measurements and the disposition of shipments from anywhere they have access to a Web browser. The V3 Dashboard is a highly encrypted Web-based product that provides for secure deployment of the V3 System information over the Internet. The V3 Dashboard offers custom multi-level views for authorized users at any management or floor levels. The information displayed on the V3 Dashboard is accessed directly from the system database and the system history database.

"Supply Chain Execution suppliers who offer Supply Chain Event Management and Supply Chain Performance Management solutions have been growing far faster than the market as a whole," said Steve Banker, director of supply chain solutions, ARC Advisory Group. "V3, who has strong solutions in these areas, has been one of the fastest growing SCE suppliers."

The V3 System uses a Microsoft(R) SQL Server 2000 database, which can be deployed globally over the Internet and securely accessed on multiple levels through a user's browser. By offering these innovative enterprise distribution and warehouse management applications, V3 Systems delivers one the world's most sophisticated Microsoft-centric SCE solutions. Combined with its unique "Business Partner Program" that establishes strategic, revenue generating partnerships with its logistics service provider clients (3PL), V3 Systems offers highly configurable, scalable from very small to very large facility, support solutions to meet the needs of the fast growing outsourced logistics industry.

"Applied Textiles is blazing a new path for the contract textile industry," said Richard Sherman, chief marketing officer, V3 Systems. "The textile industry has been one of the early adopters of collaborative commerce, recognizing the benefits of supply chain optimization technology as early as 1994 as demonstrated by the DAMA project. Applied Textiles' leading-edge thinking and the availability of technology such as that offered by V3 Systems are fulfilling the promise of the DAMA vision. We expect many companies in the textile industry will embrace Applied Textiles as a lead logistics services provider."

About Applied Textiles

Applied Textiles, based in Byron Center, MI, is a comprehensive textile provider that offers services focused on improving the supply chain within the commercial textile industry. By employing the concepts of "consolidation and postponement," Applied Textiles ensures that fabric is held in a "common state" until it is determined exactly what treatments and services its customers require. This "just-in-time" delivery eliminates the need for multiple inventories and assures the lowest costs for warehousing and transportation. Applied Textiles has pioneered a revolution in the way the textiles industry provides the best service to its customers, as Applied Textiles provides traditional warehousing, finishing and cutting services for its fabrics customers, as well as services and technology focused on improving logistics at every link in the supply chain. With its unique approach, Applied Textiles has eliminated unnecessary steps in customer transportation, warehousing, processing, cutting and shipping systems. Indeed, Applied Textiles advanced logistical services have created a better, faster and more cost-effective way of doing business. To learn more about Applied Textiles, visit www.applied-textiles.com, or call [phone].

About DAMA

The Demand Activated Manufacturing Architecture (DAMA) project is a collaborative research consortium working to reduce inefficiencies in the supply chain that links the U.S. fiber, textile, sewn products and retail industries. Industry members, National Laboratories, textile universities and industry associations are finding new methods and technologies to manage supply chain partnerships. DAMA is a project managed by the Textile Clothing Technology Corp. (TC2), a premier source of assistance to the sewn products industry for improving business systems and manufacturing resources. TC2 serves as a resource for fiber, textile, retail, apparel and sewn products companies. Staff presents seminars, provides consulting services, conducts research and operates a team-based manufacturing facility. For more information about TC2 and the DAMA project visit www.tc2.com.

About V3 Systems, Inc.

V3 Systems is the recognized leader in providing innovative enterprise supply chain execution and warehouse management applications for automating business processes and providing supply chain visibility across global distribution networks. Technology from V3 Systems turns demand into revenue by optimizing logistics, warehouse management, manufacturing and enterprise distribution processes. Responding to an industry demand for Web-delivered enterprise applications and collaborative commerce, V3 Systems offers both traditional server-based supply chain execution solutions and flexibly priced, hosted solutions with the capability to deploy secure inventory and demand management functionality across multiple locations and business partner networks. V3 Systems provides global service and support for its solutions from locations in North Carolina, Texas, California, Florida, Singapore and Australia. For more information about V3 Systems supply chain execution solutions visit www.V3Systems.com or call [phone].