ATI Industrial Automation Earns 2007 Summit Award at Consona Customer Conference

Company Uses Intuitive™ ERP to Surpass On-Time Delivery Goal of 95 Percent Within Two Years; Wins Transformation Award
  

ORLANDO, INDIANAPOLIS and Apex, N.C., 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 ATI Industrial Automation (ATI), an Apex, N.C.-based manufacturer of robotic end effectors and Intuitive ERP customer, 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.

Since 1998, ATI has experienced rapid growth, and its previous ERP system was not keeping pace with the thousands of new products that were constantly being added to the company’s inventory. “It had a lot of limitations we needed to move away from,” said Dave Lora, information systems manager and software architect for ATI. “There were very few options for customization and integration. But the biggest problem was that people in the company were just fed up with it. We knew that we had to change.”

After investigating several other ERP packages, ATI chose Intuitive ERP, primarily for its powerful manufacturing and planning capabilities. Three years later, the company has realized the following returns:

• Grew revenue by 70 percent within the first two years of using the Intuitive solution.
• Reached unprecedented levels of on-time delivery and inventory control.
• Expanded its product set by 250 items per month on average.
• Significantly improved its ability to track its thousands of serial numbers, thereby improving quality control, inventory accuracy, and customer service.
• Helped purchasing personnel manage about 2,500 items each, which would not have been possible with the previous system.
• Created an ASP.NET intranet that allows employees to find important information quickly.

“Intuitive’s customization features and open architecture have enabled us to achieve a highly integrated information infrastructure,” said Lora. “Reducing the number of isolated systems and building new Intuitive-integrated systems has allowed us to eliminate duplicate data entry, reduce errors, and improve our data integrity. This solid infrastructure provides a competitive advantage that is very difficult for our competitors to imitate.”

“We are thrilled to honor ATI with a Summit Award for some absolutely tremendous achievements," said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona. "ATI 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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