News & Events

• Factivity Announces Preactor Partnership with Resource Management Systems
• LEAN to GREEN…Free Technology to Help Ohio Manufacturers Make Jump to Renewable Energy Industry
• SAP and FACTIVITY Product Interface for Control and Monitoring of Shop Floor Activity
• Factivity Named To Top Five World Reseller List by Preactor International
• Factivity Announcement: Factivity and RMS Enter into Alliance
• PPG Scheduling Proves Effective and Profitable

Factivity Announces Preactor Partnership with Resource Management Systems
Leading IS Solutions Provider Joins Forces with World Leader in Finite Scheduling Software

A leader and innovator in information systems solutions for manufacturing companies, Factivity is pleased to extend its Preactor reach into Europe through a new partnership with Resource Management Systems. Resource Management Systems tailors Preactor production scheduling software to manufacturers' specific needs.

Cleveland, Ohio (PRWeb) June 15, 2009 – Scheduling and planning on the shop floor has just gotten a lot more streamlined and wide-reaching thanks to a new partnership between Factivity and Resource Management Systems (RMS). The alliance extends Factivity's visibility, tracking and control capabilities across the globe. A leader in Preactor training and installation services in the U.S., Factivity is now uniquely positioned to provide Preactor services in the UK and Europe. RMS, a world leader in finite scheduling software, brings 14 years of experience and expertise as a Gold Solutions Provider to the partnership. Its Preactor solution integrates seamlessly with Factivity's Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to provide up-to-the-minute shop floor management and machine monitoring. For more information on the partnership between these two industry leaders, visit http://www.factivityrms.com/.

According to a "Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry" article, "An effective manufacturing execution system can help drive quality and productivity improvements." More concretely, it can provide the following tangible benefits:

• Process and training improvements that result from the early detection of problems can "increase yield by more than 10 percent."
• "Minimizing non-value-added activities such as paperwork, rework and redundant checks can boost throughput by almost 40 percent and slash cycle time by nearly 25 percent."
• "MES-related process improvements can also reduce field failures by almost 70 percent."

By joining forces, Factivity and RMS can now offer the largest breadth of Preactor and add-on MES product offerings, support services and technical staffing in the world. The world's leading range of PC-based scheduling and planning systems, Preactor is a fully interactive, easy-to-use decision support tool that is designed to balance demand with capacity. It provides managers with the ability to model and plan for the complexities of the real world on the factory floor.

"Resource Management Systems first impressed us in 2006 when they were awarded the title of UK Partner of the Year 2006 by Preactor International. It just so happens that's the same year we received top honors at the Annual Preactor North American Conference," explains John Leibert, President of Factivity. "Since then, they've continued to impress us, so when an opportunity to collaborate with them presented itself, we jumped at it. We look forward to this collaborative opportunity to expand our reach to Europe and the UK."

PRESS RELEASE

LEAN to GREEN…Free Technology to Help Ohio Manufacturers Make Jump to Renewable Energy Industry

Cleveland-based factory floor tech company, FACTIVITY, offers free software to support local job creation, retention and environmental sustainability

Cleveland, OH (January14, 2009) — Inspired by Governor Strickland's commitments to Ohio job creation and retention along with environmental sustainability, FACTIVITY Inc., a pioneer in paperless factory floor technology solutions since 1985, is offering its software for free to Ohio manufacturers who want to be lean and green.

"Companies are struggling to figure out where to invest resources in 2009, said John Leibert, President of FACTIVITY, "First fuel costs, now the struggling economy has brought sustainability to the forefront of every manufacturer's agenda. Sustainability will continue to drive business strategy, corporate value and new products in 2009 and we are looking to support that growth locally."

This month, the Governor pointed to energy as being at the core of Ohio's economic and environmental health; in short, the state's future. This inspired Leibert to ask how Factivity could contribute to that future in his home state. Starting this month and throughout 2009, FACTIVITY will provide its software without licensing fees to any Ohio-based manufacturing company that supply parts and products to the renewable energy industry or who manufacture energy efficient sustainable products. Fees normally can range from $25,000 to $175,000 based on the number of "seats on the factory floor."

"The concepts of sustainable manufacturing are founded on the principles of lean manufacturing," said Leibert. "It focuses on improving production performance, improving cost control and enhancing customer service." FACTIVITY's "paperless" production control system provides visual control, rate-based measurements, problem identification and process improvement and often eliminates factory-floor documentation used for production control, quality tracking and ISO-9000 controlled documentation distribution.

"We have seen tremendous improvement in companies that use our solution, says Leibert. "It seems like a worthwhile contribution in helping Ohio move forward in the replacement of automotive-based production with newer growth-oriented manufacturing. We have serviced the manufacturing industry for over 25 years from coast to coast, Europe and Mexico. This is an exciting time for all us and we want to do everything we can do to keep Ohioans working."

PRESS RELEASE

SAP and Factivity Product Interface for Control and Monitoring of Shop Floor Activity
SAP users eliminate delays with new tool

CLEVELAND Manufacturing software pioneer FACTIVITY Inc., has come to an agreement with SAP Integrator Gesix to provide factory floor capabilities through the FACTIVITY touch screen based, intuitive factory floor system. This lean manufacturing execution system extends the capabilities of SAP for control and monitoring of activities on the factory floor. FACTIVITY is fully integrated with SAP through the GESIX Integration Engine. It delivers the ability to communicate effectively with increased floor visibility and a minimum of implementation costs.

Just as SAP turns supply chain activity into real-time business information, the FACTIVITY product turns factory activityinto actionable management information. Its open systems design delivers real-time information to individual work centers, supervisors and management.

The benefits of this product integration include:

• Improved visibility into production, work orders and jobs currently on the floor
• Real-time management alerts to user-defined problems, such as poor efficiency, too much scrap or non-conformance to quality requirements
• Work scheduling capabilities: FACTIVITY improves job sequencing by using finite sequencing logic to line-up work in all work centers based on finite capacity and user-defined rules
• Highly accurate shop floor accounting with no operator data entry
• Better visibility and labor tracking
• Document and communication control, including paperless messaging on the shop floor and access to critical documents such as CAD drawings, set-up instructions and video clips.

“This product is flexible, scalable and easy to implement” states, Rob Wilson the Gesix FACTIVITY Product Manager in North America.  “The SAP Interface Engine used to enable FACTIVITY leverages the functionality developed for our Gesix Ezy Solutions tools, which have been installed at over 100 companies around the world.  The relationship with FACTIVITY complements our offering of RF wireless inventory management solutions for production and distribution for SAP.”

About FACTIVITY Inc.
FACTIVITY Inc. develops implements and supports software products for manufacturing companies.  The current focus of the company is on FACTIVITY, a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) with modules for APS Finite Scheduling, Time & Attendance, Shop Floor Management, Machine Monitoring and more.
For more information on FACTIVITY, please visit www.FACTIVITY.com or call 216-514-5141.
FACTIVITY™ is provided by and is a trademark of Factivity Inc.

ABOUT Gesix Inc.

Gesix has offices in Australia, UK and USA. Since its inception in 1998, Gesix has specialized in providing solutions to assist clients realize business benefits from their investment in SAP software. Gesix provides solutions that extend SAP in areas such as production, materials management, warehouse management, finance and accounting. 

PRESS RELEASE
FACTIVITY Named To Top Five World Reseller List by Preactor International
Manufacturing software company broadens reach and emphasis.

Cleveland based Factivity Inc. made the exclusive list of worldwide top resellers of the Preactor sequencing product for factory floor use this past June at the week-long World Reseller Conference in Chippenham, England. The Conference is designed to improve the communications between Preactor Sales and Service organizations around the globe and provide a forum for synergy among the companies participating.

The conference consists of presentations and discussions ranging from Case Studies to demonstrations of new product functionality. One of the highlights was the Heijunka Scheduling presentation by Marcus Block using Preactor to help coordinate sequencing and provide LEAN manufacturing at a Toyota Production Plant.

The entire conference highlighted the use of Preactor products around the world. Preactor is implemented in over 2500 companies in over 500 sites worldwide. It is integrated with virtually every ERP sold today as well and many "legacy and home-grown" ones. The implementation of Advanced Scheduling logic continues to provide a quick return on investment.

During the conference, Mike Novels, the Managing Partner of the company recognized additional Reseller contributions including Best Case Study. FACTIVITY's Case Study at Juzo was one of the finalists. You can find the details of this Case Study at http://www.factivity.com/success-juzo.htm. The award highlighted the solution of the combined products of Preactor with the Factivity touch screen based factory floor MES system for data collection and real time visibility and status of production jobs.

FACTIVITY and RMS have entered into an alliance to broaden the support efforts for their respective Preactor Business Units. RMS, a UK based company, has been successfully selling, installation, and supporting Preactor for over five (5) years. RMS is one of most successful resellers of Preactor in the world with installation in both the UK, Europe, and the United States. They are partnering with FACTIVITY, one of the top resellers of Preactor Software in the US, so both companies can provide a larger band wide of training and installation support services on both sides of the Atlantic. Once again this year, FACTIVITY' Preactor Business Unit received top honors at the Annual Preactor North American Conference.

PRESS RELEASE
PPG Scheduling Pilot Proves Effective and Profitable

Atlanta, GA. When Amy Lee, Senior Systems Analyst at PPG Aerospace / PRCDeSoto Int. was assigned a finite scheduling project for the Aerospace's US ASC's in Atlanta, her goal was to solve the problem on time and on budget. The Atlanta division of PPG which specializes in packaging adhesive, sealants and coatings primarily for the aerospace industry was entering 60-100 orders per day manually on an Excel spreadsheet. There was no way to manipulate the schedule and it was costing the company overtime. The factory was in need of a fi nite scheduling application to give them visibility of the facility planning decisions. Ms Lee comments, "For ASC Atlanta, improving the scheduling process of the facility needed to decrease repackaging labor costs (in overtime and temporary expenses) and increase ontime delivery." It also needed to enable the factory to provide accurate delivery information to customers and perform "what-if" scenarios for rush orders and capacity planning.

With fast installation as another prime objective, Janet Castens, Operations Manager on the project, wanted a straightforward application with simple architecture. The solution they decided on was the Preactor product installed and supported by FACTIVITY, a leader in the development of factory fl oor technology with over 20 years in the factory software market. Castens comments, "We did not have visibility on the fl oor and we wanted a solution that was both fl exible and easy to understand."

Both Castens and Lee agree that utilizing the PPG Project Methodology was also a component of the successful Preactor installation and deployment. States Lee, "It assured business and IT commitments upfront, it supplied a detailed agenda and task list for the project to follow and it guaranteed the entire process and data fl ow was mapped out before the project began. This allowed us to be up and running in approximately two (2) weeks."

In addition, Ms. Castens commented that FACTIVITY personnel were both prompt and professional. "We threw a customization at them and FACTIVITY technical staff was able to turn it around in a week."

Today, with Preactor, the order information is automatically pulled in from QAD's MFGPRO ERP system directly via the FACTIVITY interface saving the facility planner approximately 2 hours a day at current 2006 business levels. The scheduling overtime has been reduced from four hours to one hour per day. The Preactor product has an easy to use drag and drop scheduling board which produces a realistic schedule with What-If capability.

This was a first installation site so it was basically a pilot install for all of the other Aerospace factories. States Ms. Lee, "Since it has gone so well and the site appears to have met their savings goals the current plan is to target the next several ASC locations for installation of Preactor with FACTIVITY' installation assistance."

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