STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 11, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Intentia International AB (publ) (XSSE:INTB), a global leading provider of collaboration solutions, today signed a contract with TAL Apparel Limited, a leading apparel manufacturer based in Hong Kong. At the same time Intentia announces a strategic partnership with TAL's parent organization TAP Group. The contract includes software licenses and implementation services for Intentia's Movex Fashion collaboration solution and is valued at over USD 4.5 million, including more than USD 2 million in software licenses. Movex will be implemented across all operating units in the group starting with its Hong Kong headquarters and followed by a rollout to all production centers in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.
The TAP Group's presence in the fashion and apparel industry is so significant that the company currently produces one out of every eight men's dress shirts bought in the United States. TAP specializes in the manufacture of quality men's and women's wear, tailored suits, rainwear and outerwear, which it distributes to department stores, chain stores, top labels, catalogue shoppers and retailers. TAP's customers include Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Debenhams, Dillards, Giordano, Hugo Boss, JC Penney, Liz Claiborne, Nautica, Ralph Lauren, Talbots and Tommy Hilfiger, among others.
Over the years TAP has progressively developed a customized in-house ERP system. Although individual aspects of the system supported its organization well, it faced challenges integrating key business processes and critical information across its operations. Thus, a key driver for TAP was to have an end-to-end fully integrated solution that had the focus and strong functionality required in the fashion and apparel industry. Additionally, it knew it needed a solution that supported other vital aspects of the business such as capacity planning, production scheduling and inventory management.
TAP's decision to partner up with Intentia to set up a world class collaborative solution is completely consistent with its reputation for service reliability and quality through the continuous adoption of new and innovative technologies.
"Intentia's Movex solution is broad in scope covering crucial aspects to serve the needs of today's modern businesses. They are a leading player in the enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and the advanced planning and scheduling arenas, just to name a few. Not to mention that Intentia is also the only software provider which has a 100 percent pure Java solution," said Dr. Harry Lee, managing director of TAP Group.
"Admittedly, apparel specific ERP solutions are hard to find in the marketplace. Intentia has proven to have a competitive edge in this arena with a solution that has been developed from scratch to fit the requirements of the fashion and apparel industry," Dr. Lee continued. "In fact, we especially appreciate their industry best practices application approach and foresee that down the road this partnership will result in a wealth of information and knowledge being exchanged both ways."
The partnership is aimed at radically streamlining all of TAP's business processes and increasing efficiency levels by implementing the full suite of Intentia's Movex Fashion solution. Intentia's Java technology allows Movex to deliver future-proven solutions that will protect TAP's business investments for generations of hardware changes to come, in addition to delivering superior cost of ownership, configurability, performance, scalability and ease of software upgrades. The contract was won after an extremely stringent and lengthy evaluation. The implementation project is scheduled to kick off this month (December 2001).
Designed specifically for the fashion and apparel industry, Movex Fashion will provide TAP with complete support for customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, business performance measurement, value chain collaboration and supply chain management.
"We recognize TAP as the industry leader for the adoption of new and innovative technologies and a clear leader in its market place. We are honored to partner with a world class leader renowned for its strategic vision. With Intentia, we are confident that TAP will be able to take these technological advancements to a whole new level to expand market reach, reduce operational costs and improve customer satisfaction," said David Hope, regional director of Intentia Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
"Our partnership with TAP is a strategic one and it is a key milestone in Intentia's corporate history," Hope continued. "It is evidence of our commitment to and focus on the fashion and apparel segment and supports our continued expansion in Asia. We are extremely proud of this new partnership," concludes Mr. Hope.
About the TAP Group
TAP was established in 1947 when its founder, C.C. Lee, started the very first spinning mill in Hong Kong. He subsequently set up a number of textile mills, some of which handled fabric finishing. In the late 1950s he extended the textile operations into garment making. In 1962 all of these operations were grouped under one holding company and merged with Jardine's finishing mill to form Textile Alliance Limited (TAL). The group underwent reorganization in the 1980s and the garment manufacturing section split away from the other sections to form TAL Apparel Ltd. (TAP).
TAP was one of the first companies in the garment industry to adapt to using supply chain management (SCM) techniques. Using dedicated private networks, TAP has, since the early 1990s, been working closely with its customers on such SCM processes as sales forecasts, inventory management, production capacity scheduling, delivery and productivity. This led to a very successful relationship with JC Penney, and the two companies decided to become each other's major partner. By mid-1995 TAP was able to replenish stock for JC Penney within one week from the date the order was placed -- a significant reduction from its standard six-month turnaround.
With assets of more than USD 500 million, TAP owns and operates garment manufacturing plants in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Mexico. The company has approximately 20,000 employees. Its customers include department stores, specialty stores, branded labels, catalogue buyers and retailers throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. One out of every eight men's dress shirts bought in the USA is produced by TAL.
The company's customers include Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Debenhams, Dillards, Giordano, Hugo Boss, JC Penney, Liz Claiborne, Nautica, Ralph Lauren, Talbots and Tommy Hilfiger.
For more information, please visit TAP's Web site at www.tapgroup.com
About Intentia
Intentia is one of the world's leading suppliers of collaboration solutions. Our vision is to become the leading global collaboration solutions vendor by supplying our customers with tomorrow's solutions today. Intentia offers a one-stop shop for all collaboration needs within numerous industry segments. We develop, implement and maintain our own solutions to produce the highest possible level of customer satisfaction. The Intentia Solution consists of applications covering customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise management (ENM), supply chain management (SCM), business performance measurement (BPM), e-business and value chain collaboration (VCC). Intentia has more than 3,200 employees and serves over 3,400 customers in the manufacturing, maintenance and distribution industries via a global network spanning some 40 countries. Intentia is a public company traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (XSSE) under the symbol INT B.
Visit Intentia's Web site at www.intentia.com
About Movex Fashion
Movex Fashion is the integrated collaboration application specifically designed to manage the complexity of today's fashion industry. Whether you produce or distribute; whether you specialize in apparel, footwear, home textiles or accessories, Intentia's solution provides complete support for the entire enterprise, ensuring the most cost-effective processes requiring minimum intervention in synchronizing demand and production.
Movex Fashion is the choice of fashion companies that value multi-company, multi-division, multi-lingual, and multi-currency functionality. Movex Fashion handles everything from forecasting through financials-advanced planning and scheduling through e-business and supply chain management.
Movex Fashion is currently helping more than 200 companies all over the world, companies that range from high fashion to consumer packaged goods. Our customers include companies from an array of fashion industry segments, from underwear to outerwear, from coated textiles to piece dyed knitted fabrics -- companies across the entire spectrum of this complex industry.
For further information about Movex Fashion, please visit http://www.intentia.com/fashion
About Intentia Asia Pacific (Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan)
Intentia is a global technology leader that provides e-collaboration solutions within the enterprise software market. Intentia has well over 150 customer sites in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, supported by our principal offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Intentia also supports five dedicated business partners and one joint venture in the region.
More than 200 Movex professionals are responsible for Intentia's regional customers in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Intentia's mission in this region is to offer its world leading e-collaboration solution with local support and a commitment to satisfy the particular requirements of business practices in the region.