Impol Selects Quintiq Company Planner for Aluminum Production

Advanced planning & scheduling for optimization of inventory, delivery performance and lead times

Slovenska Bistrica/'s-Hertogenbosch, June 14, 2006 – Impol plc located in Slovenia, one of Europe’s leading aluminium manufacturers, has announced that it has selected the Quintiq Company Planner. The Quintiq planning solution will support the company in its efforts to optimize its production processes and thus improve customer service. Using the support provided by the Quintiq implementation, which will be integrated into the existing ERP system, Impol plans to reduce inventories, improve delivery performance and shorten lead times. Leading up to the Impol decision, Quintiq had studied Impol requirements on site and provided the aluminium manufacturer with an overview of the improvements that could be achieved with the Quintiq solution.

Impol produces a wide variety of specialised products used by manufacturers in the automotive, transport, construction and electrical industries and other sectors. With some 400 customers throughout Europe and the USA, in 2005 Impol processed and sold 150,000 tons of aluminium and aluminium-alloy products such as sheets and strips, cut blanks, foils, extruded profiles and sections, extruded and drawn bars and tubes.

The processing of aluminium products requires the planning of the various production flows such as casting, rolling, extruding, and drawing to be both flexible and transparent. The Quintiq Company Planner maps each planning action including specifications, delivery due dates, constraints and shifting bottlenecks, as well as planners’ decisions and their consequences. With the Quintiq solution it will be possible to increase productivity and reduce inventories by optimizing resource utilization, improve the delivery performance by reducing lead times and guarantee delivery dates. The superior planning and optimization of the production process are also expected to result in significant cost reductions.

The Quintiq Company Planner creates transparency throughout the entire production chain. The solution provides Impol with the ability, based on customer demand and forecast orders, to perform order acceptance and due date determination (Available-to-promise (ATP)) and allocate products across multiple production routes. Planning decisions can be visualized for better coordination between planning and production. The Quintiq solution takes changes in production, e.g. shutdowns and maintenance work, into account and allows real-time reporting and analysis of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). In addition, it saves time in developing or adapting plans and offers the modelling of “what if?” scenarios.

“We chose Quintiq based on its excellent reputation and experience in the aluminium industry,” explains Jernej Čokl, President of the Board, at Impol. “The technology can be adapted flexibly to our requirements, including the special types of orders we receive and the necessary production processes. We also plan to implement the Quintiq Company Scheduler in the next step.”

“Our software enables Impol to realize high asset utilization, accurate and reliable order acceptance and promise low production and transportation costs, shorter cycle times and superior customer service,” says Victor Allis, CEO and cofounder of Quintiq. “Impol´s decision to implement Quintiq confirms our expertise in Advanced Planning & Scheduling solutions for the aluminium industry. Other customers in this sector include Alcan, Alcoa, Hydro, Corus Voerde and Novelis.”

About Impol
Impol plc with headquarters in Slovenia offers a wide variety of specialised products used by manufacturers in the automotive, transport, construction and electrical industries and other sectors. The Slovenian company produces sheets and strips, cut blanks, foils, extruded profiles and sections, extruded and drawn bars and tubes. With some 400 customers throughout Europe and the USA, in 2005 Impol processed and sold 150,000 tons of aluminium and aluminium-alloy products. Impol founded in 1825 employs 975 workers in production facilities in Slovenia, Serbia and a sales office in the USA. Please visit www.impol.com for more information.

About Quintiq
Quintiq offers a standard software solution to virtually any planning, scheduling and supply chain optimization problem. Its breakthrough technology empowers companies with flexible solutions, enabling them to solve their daily planning puzzle and optimize it fully, delivering bottom line value. Please visit www.quintiq.com for more information.

For further information please contact:
Quintiq
Martijn van Gils
Marketing Director
Tel. +31 (0)73 6910739
E-mail: martijn.van.gils@quintiq.com