SCHAUMBURG, Ill., STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 31, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Intentia International AB (publ) (XSSE:INTB) (Other OTC:IAINF) today announced that Stiefel Laboratories, Inc., "gone live" with Intentia's collaborative enterprise solution, Movex, at its factories in Ireland, Singapore and Brazil. Implementation is now under way for shared services across two continents.
Stiefel's Movex system, which runs on an IBM iSeries platform, has been implemented in phases, based on a contract originally signed in December 1998. Implementation began at Stiefel's pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Sligo, Ireland, which went live just prior to Y2K. Production sites in Brazil and Singapore have gone live more recently. The company is currently engaged in an 18-month project to implement Movex financial management, logistics and administrative applications to provide information consolidation and deliver shared services across multiple locations in Europe and Asia.
Stiefel plans to upgrade its Irish operations to Movex version 12 as part of the conversion to the Shared Services Center across Europe. The company will upgrade additional business units to version 12 according to a time frame that maximizes the returns for each unit.
Stiefel's ongoing initiative to standardize its global manufacturing and distribution network on Movex is expected to provide greater visibility and efficiency across its worldwide operations, as well as assure compliance with the many regulatory agencies that exist in the countries where it operates.
Headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, Stiefel develops, manufactures and markets medically approved products for the treatment of skin disorders. It has more than 30 wholly owned subsidiaries around the world, including manufacturing facilities in six countries and research & development centers on three continents. According to Pat Smith, the company's Corporate MIS Director, the decision to standardize its operations on Intentia's Movex system was fueled by Stiefel's rapid growth -over 15 percent compound annual growth over the past twenty years- and its complex and diverse distribution channels in over 100 countries.
"The worldwide pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated and extremely competitive," Smith noted. "Companies are under severe pressure to wring greater efficiency from their operations, while at the same time ensuring compliance with increasingly stringent government regulations in regard to electronic record keeping and quality control. We selected Intentia as our technology partner because of its wide experience in these areas, as well as the flexibility, scalability and industry-specific functionality of Movex."
Smith added, "Intentia's Implex methodology has been a critical success factor in our plant implementations, enabling us to complete projects on time, within budget and with a strong focus on measurable business benefits and ROI."
Stiefel International Division CFO Michael T. Cornelius, the chief architect of the company's shared services strategy for Europe and Asia, expects that the large-scale implementation will deliver significant returns. "Using Movex, we have already realized a 20 percent inventory reduction in our Ireland plant," he said. "We anticipate that consolidating our financial, logistical and administrative information systems across our multinational sites will generate sizeable reductions in operating expenses, while increasing information visibility and productivity across the enterprise."
Linus Parker, president of Intentia in the Americas, commented: "We are delighted that Stiefel Laboratories made the decision to join the Intentia community of customers doing business on a global scale. Throughout this major undertaking, Stiefel's corporate management can rest assured that they will have the support and assistance of our own worldwide network of consultants and technical support personnel to assure their continued success."
About Stiefel Laboratories, Inc.
Founded in 1847, Stiefel Laboratories is the world's largest independent pharmaceutical company specialized in dermatology. Its wholly owned global network is comprised of more than 30 subsidiaries including manufacturing plants in six countries and R&D facilities on three continents. Stiefel supplements its R&D by aggressively seeking acquisitions of dermatological product lines and companies around the world. To learn more about Stiefel, visit www.stiefel.com
About Intentia
Intentia is one of the world's leading suppliers of collaboration solutions. Our vision is to be-come the leading global collaboration solutions vendor by supplying our customers with tomor-row's solutions today. Intentia offers a one-stop shop for all collaboration needs within numer-ous 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 Ex-change (XSSE) under the symbol INT B.
Visit Intentia's Web site at www.intentia.com