Geac Computer Corporation Limited.
Bruuns Bazaar Extends its Use of Geac Collaboration Software
Studley, England (ots/PRNewswire)
- Leading Fashion Retailer Handles Launch of 1000 New Products a Year With Geac PLM Software
Bruuns Bazaar www.bruunsbazaar.com, the Copenhagen-based high fashion retailer, has extended its investment in collaborative product development software from Geac(R) (TSX: GAC ; NASDAQ: GEAC). The software from RunTime, Geac's specialist division serving the apparel and footwear industry, will now been extended to be used by designers and product developers at its head office in Copenhagen. The product lifecycle management (PLM) software is now the cornerstone to its ability to launch 1000 new products a year.
Bruuns Bazaar's products include high fashion clothing, casual jeanswear, shoes and accessories - including eyewear and fashionable mobile phone accessories. It has 15 stores throughout Western Europe, including outlets within leading retailers like Selfridges.
The retailer has been using Geac software to handle product development since 1999. Tight integration between its PLM system and its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from Navision (now part of Microsoft) means there is no need to re-do manual work. This enables the company to spend half of its time developing new products and the other half selling - ensuring the company is ultimately effective.
One of the essential elements of the PLM system is QuestPDM. This is used by designers to facilitate a whole, structured collaboration process to ensure that nothing is missed and that products are planned on time. It helps designers and product developers to work in a very structured way, allowing them to focus on being "creative in making garments, rather than making systems", according to Teis Bruun, one of the founders and current CEO of Bruuns Bazaar. He said: "The templates within the Quest system can save vast amounts of time. When you consider a third of our products are based on previous designs, such as men's shirts, you don't need to start from scratch every time. When you're launching 1000 brand new products every year you need ultimate efficiency whilst getting the designs absolutely right. After all, a retailer is only as good as its last collection. Therefore the effectiveness of our product development process is absolutely crucial."
Efficiency savings are possible as the library functionality within Geac's system enables designers to save complete drawings, materials, designs, prints and other design properties in a transparent way. Designs are converted into PDF format and sent by e-mail, for example, to Bruuns Bazaar's production facilities in Asia, India, West and Eastern Europe. Once complete they are handled by its new distribution centre in Glostrup, Denmark.
Teis Bruun, said:
"We knew we had to have a solid system in house and I am very pleased that the choice we made back in 1999 was the right one. Geac had the best system back then and it has continuously kept the momentum in the development of this system. By extending the system to provide complete PLM functionality we can embrace our global design and product development community. This has ensured that we can continue to expand our business without worrying about our backend systems."
Steen Waever Poulsen, international sales & business development manager for Geac's RunTime business, concluded:
"In order to manage collections successfully retailers need to keep totally focused on their design work, order fulfillment and logistics operations, without worrying about the supporting technology. Launching 1000 successful new products every year is a colossal task, and we're delighted that our systems support Bruuns Bazaar in this vital quest."
About Geac
Geac (TSX: GAC, NASDAQ: GEAC) is a global enterprise software company that provides best-in-class technology products and services to help organizations do more with less in an increasingly competitive environment, amidst growing regulatory pressure, and in response to other business issues confronting the CFO. Geac RunTime, which has hundreds of customers in the fashion and apparel industry, develops and sells software for the design and pre-production phases of the manufacturing process, product data management, customer relationship management and sales force automation www.runtime.geac.com
Corporate information is available at http://www.geac.com or through e-mail at info@geac.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements of Geac's intentions, beliefs, expectations and predictions for the future. These forward-looking statements often include use of the future tense with words such as "will," "may," "intends," "anticipates," "expects" and similar conditional or forward-looking words and phrases. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees. They are only predictions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and they may differ materially from actual future events or results. Geac undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained herein. Important factors that could cause a material difference between these forward-looking statements and actual events include, among other things: our ability to increase revenues from new license sales, cross-sell into our existing customer base and reduce customer attrition; whether we can identify and acquire synergistic businesses and, if so, whether we can successfully integrate them into our existing operations; whether we are able to deliver products and services within required time frames and budgets to meet increasingly competitive customer demands and performance guaranties; risks inherent in fluctuating international currency exchange rates in light of our global operations and the unpredictable effect of geopolitical world and local events; whether we are successful in our continued efforts to manage expenses effectively and maintain profitability; our ability to achieve revenue from products and services that are under development; the uncertain effect of the competitive environment in which we operate and resulting pricing pressures; and whether the anticipated effects and results of our new product offerings and successful product implementation will be realized. These and other potential risks and uncertainties that relate to Geac's business and operations are summarized in more detail from time to time in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and with the Canadian Securities Administrators. Please refer to Geac's most recent quarterly reports available through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov and through the website maintained by the Canadian Securities Administrators and the Canadian Depository for Securities Limited at www.sedar.com for more information on risk factors that could cause actual results to differ. Geac is a registered trademark of Geac Computer Corporation Limited. All other marks are trademarks of their respective owners.
Contact:
Nina Wainwright, Citigate Dewe Rogerson, Tel: +44-(0)1604-232223,
nina.wainwright@citigatedr.co.uk; Richard Moore, Geac, Tel:
+44-(0)-1527-496189, Richard.moore@geac.com; Investor Contact: Alys
Scott, Geac, Tel: +1-781-672-5980, alys.scott@geac.com