To Increase Plant Floor Productivity Kal Tire Deploys Shoplogix® Plantnode™ on an Enterprise Scale

Oakville, Ontario, Canada -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/03/2006 --According to John Mullin, Senior VP, Supply Chain at Kal Tire, “Within the first day of deploying Plantnode we identified measurable increases in our tire production and gained insight into key processes. With increased visibility into operations we have seen dramatic workflow improvements, accurate production counts and an increase in tire production.”

Shoplogix, a leading developer of intelligent performance management software, is pleased to announce that Kal Tire, a leading independent tire dealer and Canada’s largest retreader of commercial truck, industrial and OTR (Off-The-Road) tires, installed Shoplogix Plantnode to increase plant floor productivity by increasing operational visibility, raising operator awareness and providing real-time reporting to management. Kal Tire has engaged in an enterprise wide deployment of Plantnode units across 13 of the company’s Bandag truck tire retread plants. Taking a collaborative approach, Shoplogix and Kal Tire identified critical points in production and automated key processes to improve operational efficiency.

Kal Tire was able to improve workflows and reduce work-in-process with better coordination and more accurate measurement of pace and completion times at each independent operation. Accurate monitoring coupled with a clear understanding of the pace of production allowed for greater machine availability for the next stage in the manufacturing process.

Mr. Mullin added, “The reduction of manual processes along with real-time reporting has made production more consistent and more predictable so we are better able to meet our customer’s demands.”

Kevin Dwyer President & CEO of Shoplogix asserted, “Kal Tire’s decision to implement a Shoplogix solution and deploy nation wide is the result of a comprehensive pilot project that substantiated our ability to impact profitability and deliver business value in a short period of time. These results are consistent with what we have seen across other businesses that have elected to pilot Shoplogix software. Based on our success at Kal Tire we hope to establish Plantnode as the de facto standard within the tire industry.”

ABOUT KAL TIRE
Kal Tire is a leading independent tire dealer and Canada’s largest retreader of commercial truck, industrial and OTR tires. Unmatched in the industry, Kal Tire is distinguished by a commitment to exceeding customer expectations with the best technical skills, quality products, competitive prices and exceptional service available anywhere. For over 50 years, Kal Tire has provided True Service to customers throughout Western Canada. With over 200 locations, Kal Tire covers a market that includes British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and parts of Quebec.

ABOUT SHOPLOGIX
Shoplogix develops integrated performance management software that optimizes plant floor operations. Shoplogix solutions improve productivity, efficiency, and total operational performance by allowing companies to make real-time decisions that impact profitability while actively engaging employees in the process.

PLANTNODE
Plantnode is a hybrid web-based software application designed on an open platform to integrate with existing production equipment, analyze real-time performance, and evaluate machine productivity. Plantnode’s built-in intelligence goes beyond raw data collection to provide a fully integrated production and performance management application; differentiated by the ability to compare real-time data against planned estimates. Plantnode is proven to increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and enables machine level visibility on a 24x7 basis with automatic escalations and interactive processes to drive higher levels of operational efficiency, quality, and performance.

PLANTNODE NETWORK
Plantnode Network is an enterprise web-based software application that consolidates and analyzes operational data for all Plantnode enabled equipment providing a complete and accurate view of production performance. Plantnode Network’s distributed design provides true enterprise scalability to evaluate real-time performance on a plant-wide, multi-site, or global basis.

Shoplogix
www.shoplogix.com
Hellen Budaya Pileski
hbudaya-pileski@shoplogix.com
Manager, Marketing Communications
905-469-9994 Ext.120