Distinction Software Introduces Blend and Pack Scheduling Feature to Improve Manufacturing Efficiencies.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 1998--

SCOPE Module Helps Manufacturers Produce More Economical

Batch Sizes, Reduce Finished Products Inventory and Achieve

Greater Yields

Distinction Software Inc., a leading provider of supply chain planning solutions for the manufacturing industry, today introduced its Blend and Pack Scheduling module, designed to help manufacturers produce more economical batch sizes, reduce finished products inventory and achieve greater plant yields.

Blend and Pack Scheduling is an option to Distinction's popular SCOPE(R) Finite Capacity Planning application. The new feature is designed to assist batch process manufacturers who need to synchronize the production and packaging of multiple finished products from a common intermediate product or formula.

"After years of product wastage, storage expense and planning complexities, the manufacturing planner finally has a tool to help produce optimum blend and pack scheduling," says Tom McKaskill, Ph.D., president and CEO of Distinction Software.

For example, products such as soft drinks, fruit juices, lubricants and cleaning fluids are often blended or mixed in large vessels, then bottled or packed in a variety of container sizes and often across several branded labels. Blend and Pack Scheduling aligns both the blending and packing operations so that optimum batch sizes are produced, providing the most economical overall manufacturing schedule.

With traditional blend and pack scheduling, the best strategy was to plan a batch (or blend) of product to be packed in the same package, usually for just one label. The basic scheduling rule was one blend, one packaged product. Blend and Pack provides a batch consolidation schedule enabling a batch of intermediate product (the blended or finished product right before it's packaged) to fulfill the demand of multiple finished products. This allows the planners to package a group of products in sequence, eliminating costly set-up and changeovers, and also reducing intermediate product inventory and storage costs.

"Distinction Software really understands the blend and pack environment," says Matt Carder, director of materials management for Zep Manufacturing, Co. and one of the first implementers of the SCOPE module. "I'm impressed with how SCOPE handles all the nuances in this very complex area of manufacturing." Zep produces industrial and institutional cleaning products, and has a line of commercial cleaning products now found on the shelves of the Home Depot.

Blend and Pack Benefits

With Blend and Pack, manufacturers can now gain a number of efficiencies, including:

-- Creation of economic batch sizes. The system's "batch

consolidation calculation" is set to always generate the most

efficient batch sizes. The result is the least overall production

and inventory cost. At the same time, plant yield improves with

the reduction in the number of batches, and the enhanced

sequencing. -- Reduced changeovers. Making economic blend batches instead of

batches aligned to each package reduces the number of batches,

eliminating changeover times. In addition, synchronized packaging

of a common blend allows the operation to be sequenced, further

reducing changeover time. -- Reduced wastage. Wastage often occurs in "heel and line loss" for

each blend. By reducing the number of blends and by eliminating

temporary storage and extra handling, wastage is reduced. -- Stable production cycles. By aligning the blend and packaged

items to achieve minimum equal days of supply - the period which

the demand will be supplied from production - the planner can

place the blend into a regular manufacturing cycle. -- Improved inventory planning. Inventory replenishment can be

designed to favor high volume items in driving blend production.

Lower value items or lower volume items may have longer days of

supply to ensure that they do not trigger another blend batch.

Blend and Pack Scheduling is available now with pricing starting at $20,000.

SCOPE, Distinction's premier interactive software suite, simplifies the supply chain planning process by combining graphics, work flow and decision support with products that require a minimal investment of time and systems support. The SCOPE suite of applications solutions includes: Demand Forecasting, Account Management, Event Management, Inventory Policy, Purchase Planning, Finite Capacity Planning and Scheduling, and Constrained Distribution Planning.

Distinction Software, headquartered in Atlanta, is the leading provider of supply chain planning solutions, based on Microsoft technology, for the manufacturing industry. The company's application suite -- SCOPE -- is recognized as the premier supply chain planning software solution designed for mid-sized manufacturing enterprises. For more information, contact Distinction's web site at www.distinction.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: SCOPE is a registered trademark of Distinction Software, Inc. All product names used are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.