VISUAL Jobshop Fills Gap for South African Manufacturers Seeking An Affordable Manufacturing Solution.

Business/Technology Editors

HAMPTON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2001

Brown Manufacturing Systems, a reseller of VISUAL Jobshop(R), Lilly Software Associates' integrated small manufacturing solution, has recently sold six systems in South Africa.

Phil Brown, President of Brown Manufacturing Systems, attributes the sales success to market demand and a quality product. "From a sales point-of-view, VISUAL Jobshop fills a definite gap in the South African marketplace for a well-structured manufacturing control system dedicated to the small- to medium-sized manufacturer," explains Brown. "VISUAL Jobshop's intelligent and proven design incorporates features that can fulfill a range of production strategies. It offers capabilities that the average job shop requires, and, most importantly, it offers them at a price they can afford."

VISUAL Jobshop provides customizable reports, drill-down capabilities, and easy-to-learn Windows(R) features that help small manufacturers easily manage operations from engineering through shipping. It allows companies to continue using their existing accounting package, such as Quickbooks(R) Pro, Pastel(R) Software, and Peachtree(R), while offering complete sales, work order scheduling, job costing, purchasing, and inventory management capabilities.

"We have long recognized the need for a globally available manufacturing package for the large volume of small and start-up companies within the one-to-five user range," says Scott Rich, Vice President of Marketing, Lilly Software Associates. "The smaller manufacturer has many of the same requirements as the larger manufacturer but typically must look to locally developed solutions with limited growth potential or try to develop work-arounds with general purpose accounting, spreadsheet, and database applications. The recent South African sales help to validate our assumptions about the need for a true manufacturing package from a global supplier. Now, as these companies grow and look for more functional capabilities, Lilly Software can help them scale their system to other VISUAL Enterprise solutions."

The six recent South African customers include: Steelcore Heavy Equipment of Edenvale, Transmission Components Pty Ltd. and Spartan Sheet Metal Works of Spartan, Agram Pty Ltd. of Honeydew, RGR Technologies of Johannesburg, and Services Algoa International of Angola. Each company had been looking for a solution to improve its manufacturing efficiency and gain more control over its business processes when the search ended with VISUAL Jobshop. When asked specifically why they were persuaded to buy Jobshop, the companies cited similar reasons for their purchase, including the application's ease of use, quick implementation, versatility, and affordability, as well as the fact that the product was backed by Lilly Software's company reputation.

"The system is easy to learn, understand, and operate," says Brown. "Beneath the surface of Jobshop's Manufacturing Window(R), lies a wealth of readily available, critical information relating to materials, labor and routings, resources, purchasing, start and finish dates, and planned to actual costing comparisons. Jobshop also provides infinite capacity and optional finite capacity scheduling, which highlights information about potential bottlenecks and allows companies to make more profitable operating decisions. With VISUAL Jobshop, management gains access to information that helps them avoid potential problems, optimize production, and increase profitability."

Brown Manufacturing Systems looks forward to working with its new customers and to helping other small manufacturers take advantage of the benefits of VISUAL Jobshop.

"VISUAL Jobshop has what it takes to provide companies with all the critical production information necessary to improve their business efficiency," says Brown. "The price is right, and it's in our hands to convince the small business community that Jobshop is right for them."

Designed for one to five concurrent users, VISUAL Jobshop is available worldwide through a network of resellers. For more information about VISUAL Jobshop or to find a reseller in your area, visit www.lillysoftware.com/jobshop or write to [e-mail].

About Lilly Software Associates

Lilly Software Associates, Inc. (LSA) provides a complete line of enterprise and supply chain management solutions for manufacturers and distributors. With its easy-to-use graphical nature, the VISUAL suite of products helps companies capture accurate, real-time data about their business processes using ERP, APS, MES, Quality Management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), E-Business Relationship Management (ERM), Warehouse Management System (WMS), and Transportation Management System (TMS) capabilities. Most VISUAL applications run on Windows NT(R), UNIX(R), LINUX, VMS, Novell(R) or OS400 using SQLBase(R), Microsoft SQLServer(TM), ORACLE(R) or DB2(R)/400 relational databases, and are certified for both iSeries and Netfinity servers. In 1998 and 1999, Inc. Magazine ranked LSA as one of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the US. In 2000, Lilly Software was recognized by start magazine as one of the Hottest Companies for its third consecutive year, and made the lists for both Software Magazine's Top 500 and Manufacturing Systems' Top 100 Software Companies. More information about Lilly Software and its products is available on the Web at www.lillysoftware.com.