(EMAILWIRE.COM, October 25, 2002 ) In a time of surging, well-publicized food recalls and increasingly stringent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quality control regulation, food, beverage and other consumer goods companies require a new generation of technology to enable them to better manage inventory control, quality assurance and product recalls across their networks.

There have been nearly 400 food-related recalls in the first eight months of 2002, and more than 1,800 recalls across all food, drug and other products. Recent regulatory changes, in response to the threat of bio-terrorism, include a new law mandating that by the end of 2003 the FDA create requirements for food companies to improve product tracking up and down their supply chain1. These requirements will necessitate greater supply chain visibility and product control for most consumer goods companies.

In response to these new requirements, RedPrairie has delivered a comprehensive set of supply chain solutions that enable consumer-focused companies to meet their brand protection and inventory control challenges, driving out costs and significantly decreasing a company's risk from product quality issues. RedPrairie's consumer-related customers include such leaders as: ConAgra Foods; Foster Farms; Hershey Foods; Keebler; Kellogg Company; Kimberly-Clark; Labatt; Procter & Gamble; Schering-Plough; Swiss Colony; The Quaker Oats Company; and Unilever HPC.

According to Larry Hilgert, Manager of Warehouse Information Systems, Logistics Capabilities and Technologies for Quaker Food and Beverages, "With RedPrairie, we can accomplish in minutes brand protection processes that use to take days. RedPrairie systems enable us to control inventory and protect our brands across a large and complex distribution network."

John Jazwiec, RedPrairie Company Results Leader, commented, "The greatest asset of consumer-focused companies is their brands. These companies have huge amounts invested in inventories. RedPrairie is helping leading consumer companies significantly improve their management of brand and inventory assets across the supply chain with tools unavailable from anyone else in the marketplace."

RedPrairie's capabilities for Brand Protection and Inventory Control Include:

The industry's most comprehensive data model to manage the complex inventory control attributes of consumer-focused companies.
Real-time visibility to inventory by lot, batch and pallet anywhere across the extended network, enabling companies to reduce inventory levels and improve control and deployment.
Tools to automate quality assurance and product recall processes across the network, providing a level of control previously unachievable and enabling these functions to be completed in a fraction of the time.
Integrated warehouse management functionality that provides out of the box support for complex consumer-focused industry requirements.
Collaborative solutions that enable visibility and control of inventory across the supply network, including at the contract manufacturers and co-packers prevalent in consumer industry supply chains, enabling these third parties to operate as if part of the consumer company's own network.
Powerful integration technology and certified adapters to SAP, Oracle and other leading ERP solutions that enable RedPrairie logistics solutions to easily complement existing enterprise applications.
ARC Advisory's Director of Supply Chain Steve Banker said, "Visibility and process control are increasingly important components of supply chain excellence. RedPrairie has delivered supply chain process management (SCPM) solutions that support the growing needs of consumer-focused companies to manage inventory and execution processes across their networks. We expect demand for these types of solutions to increase based on external market forces and their ROI." >About RedPrairie Corporation.

RedPrairie delivers superior logistics results by driving out more logistics costs than anyone in the industry, and enabling customers to consistently achieve their supply chain objectives. This is accomplished through an integrated suite of DigitaLogistix™ solutions that provide the industry's leading transportation, productivity, and distribution management capabilities, enhanced with action-oriented components for real-time control and performance measurement. These solutions are deployed through an end-to-end value delivery system (the RedPrairie Approach) that ensures results achievement. RedPrairie delivers measurable results for customers in many markets, including high tech and electronics, consumer goods, food and beverage, third party logistics, retail and wholesale, service parts, and make-to-order manufacturing. Customers include Compaq Computer, Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Panasonic, Georgia-Pacific, Eveready, Unilever, Exel, General Electric, Amazon.com, and many others.

For additional information, call 1.888.624-8448, or access www.RedPrairie.com.

1 FDA, Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Section 306).

RedPrairie and DigitaLogistix are trademarks, and DLx is a registered trademark of RedPrairie Corporation.
(c) 2002 RedPrairie Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Produced for RedPrairie Corporation

Contact:


J.J. Berrall
Public Relations Manager
RedPrairie Corporation
262-317-2410
jj.berrall@RedPrairie.com



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RedPrairie Corporation
Joseph Nchor
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