Preactor International, one of the world leaders in scheduling software for the manufacturing industry, has partnered with PQ Africa`s Sage Tetra division to launch its advanced planning and scheduling (APS) product in South Africa.
The latest release in the Preactor APS family of products debuted on the Sage Tetra stand at the recent SAPICS conference in Sun City. Preactor chairman and MD Mike Novels, in South Africa to co-host the launch and partnership with Sage Tetra, says: "For some time now we`ve been looking for an established business partner to launch the Preactor product not only in South Africa but in the rest of Africa as well.
"The majority of our 2,500 user sites are distributed in the UK, Europe and the US, and together with our aggressive marketing and pricing strategy we felt the time was right to introduce the product further afield," he says. "With its proven track record, PQ Africa group backing and close ties with one of our largest development partners Sage, the Sage Tetra division is in pole position to help us extend and extract the value we`re looking for in the South African and African markets."
For companies who require greater control of their operations and increased customer service while reducing costs, Preactor is a PC-based APS tool that provides the planner with an interactive decision support mechanism to balances demand and capacity.
"APS tools have traditionally only been available to large companies since the price tag (over US$50,000) and complexity of the application meant that ROI was unacceptably long. The new Preactor APS has added functionality that complements existing legacy software and provides full-featured APS functionality at less than half the market average."
Sage Tetra divisional manager Steve Morgan says: "Preactor is a proven world leader in its class that enables our clients to further optimise their operations, improving profits, productivity, customer service levels, work-in-progress, inventory and lead times.
"Of particular appeal for us was the production of real, measurable ROI, in line with our objective of helping our clients to achieve maximum competitive advantage in their market space."
Documented benefits reported by Preactor users include productivity increases of 15%, inventory reduction of 40%, work-in-progress reduction of 50% and delivery performance improvement of 60%. Performance statistics were measured across a wide range of industries, including automotive and aerospace, cosmetics and paints, electrical assembly and electronics, food and beverages, furniture and woodworking, injection moulding and extrusions, packaging, printing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
"Our installed market extends from 10-user companies to multi-national corporates, including Airbus and Coca Cola, although the typical market average is 150 to 200-user companies," says Novels. "To successfully manage this scalability, our partners need to not only know their sales environment, but be able to configure our product to their clients` exacting specifications. In the Sage Tetra division we`ve identified a partner with the skills and resources to meet these criteria, and in time develop its own Preactor reseller channel as a regional master reseller."
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