Rowmark LLC Earns 2007 Summit Award at Consona Customer Conference

Company Uses DTR™ ERP to Double Sales, Decrease Inventory, and Eliminate Shortages; Wins Transformation Award
  

ORLANDO, INDIANAPOLIS and Findlay, Ohio, Oct. 16, 2007—Consona Corporation (Consona), a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for the enterprise, announced at its premier customer conference, Consona Connect, that Rowmark LLC, a Findlay, Ohio-based DTR ERP customer and premier provider of custom extruded and laminated decorative plastics, as well as custom thermoforming, die cutting and fabrication, is the 2007 recipient of the software provider’s Transformation Award.

The Transformation Award, part of Consona’s annual Summit Awards, honors a customer that has been able to either reinvent its business or achieve a strong return on investment in a relatively short period of time. Recipients of the award submit both qualitative and quantitative data that illustrate how the solution has impacted the customer’s business model or overall business performance. Award recipients display significant business improvements and changes, such as unprecedented customer satisfaction levels, the introduction of new products and services, or increased sales.

Rowmark LLC started out as a division of drainage pipe manufacturer Hancor, Inc. When Rowmark broke away from the parent company, the company experienced a great deal of hiring and turnover and, in the following four years, most of the people who were involved in the initial implementation of the company’s business system, DTR ERP, were gone. Procedures and controls were not maintained as the company focused on production and growth. Suddenly, Rowmark was faced with an alarming number of customer complaints about shipping errors and increasing inventory.

According to Rowmark’s CFO Kurt Ohlrich, replacing the DTR system was not the issue; it was a matter of re-implementing the system to address Rowmark’s problems. With the help of DTR’s support and consulting teams, Rowmark embarked upon a serious initiative to turn things around and, after a phased approach to continuous improvement over a period of five years, the company had:

• Reduced finished goods inventory by 10 percent during a doubling of sales while improving customer service.
• Increased inventory accuracy from 70 percent to more than 99 percent.
• Improved customer fill rates from 80 percent to 99.7 percent.
• Channeled 70 percent of orders through EDI and significantly reduced errors.
• Eliminated product shortages and backorders.

“We’ve had great support from the DTR team,” said Ohlrich. “They have provided training and great advice as we’ve gone through this process, and we’ve taken advantage of the checkup service to keep things operating at top efficiency.”

“We are thrilled to honor Rowmark with a Summit Award for some absolutely tremendous achievements," said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona. "Rowmark sets a standard for the commitment it takes to gain maximum return on a business system investment. The growth and success this company has achieved with our support reminds all of us at Consona why we're in business."

About Consona Corporation
Consona Corporation (Consona, formerly known as M2M Holdings Inc.) is a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for the enterprise. Consona is dedicated to becoming a valued business partner by helping each and every customer continuously improve business processes over time. Toward this mission, Consona invests in the people, processes, technology and tools needed to provide its customers with a unique combination of customer care; product fit; a broad range of consulting, IT and business services; and industry expertise. Consona serves more than 4,500 customers worldwide and across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, financial services, health care, high tech, and local government. Battery Ventures and Thoma Cressey Bravo jointly own Consona. For further information, visit www.consona.com, e-mail info@consona.com, or call (888) 8 CONSONA.

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