Electrolux Licenses Sopheon's Accolade Solution for Enterprise-Wide Deployment; World's Leading Producer of Home Appliances Will Implement System to Enhance and Manage Innovation Processes.MINNEAPOLIS & LONDON -- Sopheon, an international software and services company, announced today that Electrolux, a global appliance manufacturer, has selected Sopheon's Accolade as its innovation process and product portfolio management solution. Electrolux will deploy the Sopheon system under an enterprise-wide agreement that covers company locations throughout Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific region, encompassing all product areas including Major, Floor Care and Small Appliances Small appliance refers to a class of home appliances that are semi-portable or which are used on tabletops, countertops, or other platforms. Such items are contrasted with major appliances, which are typically fixtures that cannot be easily moved. . Access will initially be provided to approximately 1400 users. Sopheon said that the licenses and services order is among the most financially substantial in its history. Specific terms were not disclosed. Electrolux is the world's leading producer of home appliances for kitchen and cleaning use. Its products are sold in more than 150 countries under such well-known brands as AEG-Electrolux, Electrolux, Frigidaire and Eureka. Electrolux has stated publicly in recent months that product development is one of its core processes and that innovation is key to its ability to sustain its position of market leadership. Since year 2000 Electrolux has almost doubled its investments in product research and development. Electrolux's adoption of Accolade is part of a broad initiative by the company to change the way it develops new products. Electrolux will use Accolade's capabilities to help it more effectively prioritize investments in new product ideas and to guide its resource support for enhancements to existing products. The company expects Accolade to help strengthen the alignment between innovation strategies and day-to-day development activity, and to enable improved global collaboration among cross-functional teams In business, a cross-functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. It may include people from finance, marketing, operations, and human resources departments. responsible for conception and development of new products. Electrolux will also benefit from Accolade's capacity to integrate with Microsoft technology, allowing the company to extend the use and value of the Microsoft systems deployed throughout the company's worldwide operations. Sopheon partnered with Arthur D. Little Arthur D. Little, Inc. is the world's first management consulting firm. Founded in 1886 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who discovered acetate, and co-worker Roger Griffin, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Arthur D. Little pioneered the concept of contracted technology research. , the global management consulting Noun 1. management consulting - a service industry that provides advice to those in charge of running a business service industry - an industry that provides services rather than tangible objects firm, in pursuing the Electrolux opportunity. Electrolux, Sopheon and Arthur D. Little will work together to implement the new system. "We measure innovation by the amount of business and shareholder value it generates," said Johan Hjertonsson, director of Electrolux's consumer innovation program. "Our goal is to continue to lead our industry in revenues and profits from innovation by supplying the market with a steady stream of premium, new-to-the-world products that consumers want. We chose Sopheon's solution because it will help us make the right front-end decisions on which product ideas to invest in, and enable us to increase the speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the processes we use to move those product ideas from the drafting table to the marketplace. Accolade is the most complete tool we've found for supporting the business of innovation." "The Electrolux name is synonymous with synonymous with adjective equivalent to, the same as, identical to, similar to, identified with, equal to, tantamount to, interchangeable with, one and the same as innovation in the appliance industry," said Mike Connolly Mike Connolly (1914 - November 18, 1966) was an American magazine reporter and primarily a Hollywood columnist. A Chicago native, Connolly attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was the Daily Illini's city editor in 1937 and 1938. , European director for Sopheon. "And their strategies for maintaining their position of innovation leadership are clearly drawn. Accolade's capabilities are perfectly matched with Electrolux's requirements for increasing the visibility and coordination of its global product development efforts." Sopheon Accolade(R) is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc. AEG-Electrolux, Electrolux, Frigidaire, and Eureka are registered trademarks of the Electrolux Group. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners. About Electrolux The Electrolux Group is the world's leading producer of powered appliances for kitchen, cleaning and outdoor use, such as refrigerators, washing machines (storage) washing machine - An old-style 14-inch hard disk in a floor-standing cabinet. So called because of the size of the cabinet and the "top-loading" access to the media packs - and, of course, they were always set on "spin cycle". , cookers, vacuum cleaners vacuum cleaner, mechanical device using a draft of air to remove dust, loose dirt, or other particulate matter from dry surfaces. It is especially useful on highly textured surfaces, such as carpets and upholstery, that are difficult to clean by wiping or brushing. , chainsaws, lawn mowers, and garden tractors. Every year, customers in more than 150 countries buy more than 55 million Electrolux Group products for both consumer and professional use. In 2005, Electrolux had sales of SEK SEK In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Swedish Krona. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 129 billion and 70,000 employees. About Sopheon Sopheon (LSE LSE - Language Sensitive Editor :SPE SPE - Software Practice and Experience ) is an international provider of software and services that help organizations improve the business impact of product innovation. The Sopheon Accolade(R) product innovation process and portfolio management system automates gate- or phase-based product development processes and provides strategic decision support that allows companies to increase revenue and profits from new products. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange London marketplace for securities. It was formed in 1773 by a group of stockbrokers who had been doing business informally in local coffeehouses. and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com. |
|
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion