Blue Agave Vice President Selected to Speak at APICS

Will Provide Insight into the Challenges and Opportunities Manufacturers Face, and Strategies to Succeed in a Real-Time, Retail-Driven World

CAMBRIDGE , Mass. (October 12, 2004) — Patrick Sim, vice president of industry solutions for Blue Agave Software, Inc., will present 'Mastering Performance Management for a Real-Time, Retail-Driven World' at APICS tomorrow. Sim's presentation will provide consumer goods suppliers with useful tips on how to increase visibility and improve responsiveness to their retail customers, to drive mutually beneficial decisions that strengthen margins and reduce supply chain costs without sacrificing service.

Sim will break down today's market pressures and discuss the immense need for immediately actionable information to meet retailers' growing demands. He'll also share the real-world story of how a major consumer goods supplier tapped real-time technology to reduce inventory by more than 25 percent, prevent more than $1 million in lost revenue in the first six months alone, and drive $1 million in top-line sales that would have otherwise been lost.

WHO: Patrick Sim, vice president of industry solutions, Blue Agave Software, Inc.

WHAT: ‘ Mastering Performance Management for a Real-Time, Retail-Driven World'

WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 from 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. PT

WHERE: APICS – The Convention Center in San Diego , CA

“The realities and pace of today's retail environment put tremendous pressure on consumer goods suppliers, who struggle to improve service levels, while keeping costs down,” said Sim, who has spent nearly 25 years specializing in the supply chain, and leveraging IT to improve operational performance. “Traditional, retrospective reporting is no longer enough. Innovative manufacturers are utilizing next-generation performance management strategies that leverage real-time, actionable data in order to make better decisions in the short timeframes that the market demands.”

Blue Agave's solution, Active Performance Management (APM), represents a breakthrough in the application of real-time operational intelligence to managing the supply chain, giving consumer goods suppliers unprecedented ability to sense and respond to developing issues, driving resolution within the critical window of opportunity. The platform dramatically improves the ability to keep up with retailers' growing demands for 100 percent fill rates, near-perfect on-time delivery and ever-lower prices. With APM's predictive detection and response capabilities, companies can immediately optimize business performance, satisfy customers and capture new revenue.

Blue Agave will also participate in the Consumer Goods Technology conference, October 26-29 in Orlando , FL.

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Active Performance Management is a trademark of Blue Agave Software, Inc. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.

About Blue Agave Software

Blue Agave Software helps consumer goods suppliers raise operational performance and maximize revenue opportunities by improving response to sudden and often unexpected shifts in supply, demand and logistics. Its Active Performance Management suite delivers millions of dollars in incremental revenue and cost savings, and helps companies meet service requirements by proactively resolving the most common operating challenges, such as stock-outs, late orders, excess inventory and material shortages. The software identifies and recommends actions for operational anomalies, monitors key aspects of business performance against company targets and provides root-cause analysis to successfully drive continuous improvement. Blue Agave is a privately held company headquartered in Cambridge , Mass. and can be reached at www.blueagavesoft.com or (617) 621-3400 .

Company Contact:
Susan Barr
(617) 621-3400 x210
sbarr@blueagavesoft.com