| LAWRENCE, Mass. - January
17, 2004 – Aras Corporation, a provider of
practical Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
solutions for performance driven manufacturers,
today announced that Swingline®, the leader in
workspace productivity and a business unit of ACCO
Brands, Inc., will deploy Aras PLM to automate
their engineering change control, document
management and corrective action processes.
Swingline provides an award-winning line of
staplers and punch products for the business, home
and mobile office including the Jam-Free Optima™
Stapler, Speedgrip™ Electric Stapler and Light
Touch Heavy Duty Punch. “Our market is
increasingly dynamic and competition continues to
intensify so we needed a PLM solution that is both
affordable and flexible enough to easily adapt to
the conditions,” said Bruce Neapole, President of
Swingline. “Aras PLM provides the type of
practical business solution that drives our
strategic competitive advantage.”
Swingline will automate business processes
critical to new product development and brand
introduction providing dashboard visibility into
the portfolio of ongoing projects. Browser-based
progress reports are displayed in a single screen.
Status details are based on roll-ups that provide
the ability to drill down to the deliverables to
take action. The capability to communicate
specifications worldwide in a secure format over
the Internet drives down costs and reduces cycle
times while protecting competitive company
information.
“The flexibility of Aras PLM means we automate
our own proprietary competitive practices and can
easily change the solution to take advantage of
new opportunities in the market,” said John Lewis,
Vice President Operations at Swingline. “Aras PLM
gives us the ability to assure our stringent
quality levels in a cost effective manner by
coordinating our new product introductions and
international operations as we scale up production
volumes.”
Aras PLM includes business ready solutions with
unmatched flexibility providing customers with the
ability to modify applications without programming
for quick deployments that deliver rapid results
at a significantly lower Total Cost of Ownership
than conventional PLM systems.
“After an extensive review of PLM solutions,
Aras is the only one who met our business
requirements and our financial objectives,” Todd
King, Director, Performance Excellence at ACCO
Brands. “Aras’ unique combination of functionality
and flexibility allows us to implement a superior
solution globally in days rather than months.”
“Swingline’s reputation as a market leader is
reflected in their proactive management approach,”
said Rick Lucier, CEO of Aras Corporation. “We
look forward to supporting Swingline as they
continue to profitably grow their market share.”
About Swingline®
Swingline, a business unit of ACCO Brands, Inc.,
is a leading brand in workspace tools for the
business, home and mobile office. It manufacturers
such award-winning products as the Comfort Grip
Stapler, Performance Pro Stapler and Light Touch
Heavy Duty Punch. For more information, visit
http://www.swingline.com
About ACCO Brands
ACCO Brands is a subsidiary of ACCO World Corp.,
one of the world's leading office products
manufacturers and the office products business of
Fortune Brands Inc. (NYSE: FO), the consumer
products company. Headquartered in Lincolnshire,
Ill., with operations in the United States, Canada
and Mexico, ACCO Brands manufactures and markets
the category-leading brands of ACCO, Swingline,
Day-Timer, Kensington, Wilson Jones, MACO, Perma,
Apollo and Boone through office products
superstores, mass retailers, mail order and
business-to-business channels. For more
information, visit
http://www.accobrands.com
About Aras Corporation
Aras Corporation provides practical, affordable
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) business ready
solutions for performance driven manufacturers.
Visibility and actionable metrics focus resources
on continuous improvement and value-added
operations. The underlying Aras Innovator™
application framework is a next generation
model-based, service oriented architecture that
enables customers to deploy solutions quickly and
adapt easily without programming delivering a
Total Cost of Ownership far lower than
conventional enterprise systems. Customers include
CNT, Rolls-Royce, Freudenberg-NOK, and the U.S.
Army. Aras is headquartered in Lawrence, Mass. For
additional information call [978] 794-7643 or
visit
www.aras.com
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