Compliance and Traceability in Manufacturing

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - January 8, 2008) - Through the analysis of over 650 manufacturing executives, Aberdeen Group's newest benchmark report, "Compliance and Traceability in Manufacturing," has found that Best-in-Class companies are able to respond to a non-conforming shipment at an average speed of 36 minutes, which is almost two days ahead of their competitors. Putting these findings in context, Mehul Shah, a Manufacturing Research Analyst with the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), states that, "Best-in-Class performance is differentiated by adoption of MES and QMS capabilities which acts as foundational blocks for building an efficient traceability and genealogy program. Additionally, Best-in-Class manufacturers are also linking these applications with enterprise solutions so that information regarding product and process traceability is further linked across the supply chain and with customer orders, enabling Best-in-Class companies to quickly, decisively, and effectively respond to non-conformance incidents."

For the purposes of this study, Aberdeen evaluated and classified manufacturers based on four key performance indicators: On Time Delivery, Response time to non-conforming shipments, First Pass Yield (FPY) and Products manufactured in compliance. Best-in-Class manufacturers are defined as the top 20% of performers in a weighted average across the aforementioned four KPIs and results show that Best-in-Class manufacturers perform at:

--  98 % Products in Compliance
--  95 % First Pass Yield
--  36 Minute Response Time to Non-conforming Shipments
--  96 % On-Time Delivery
    

The "Compliance and Traceability in Manufacturing" report identifies specific capabilities manufacturers need to adopt to realize the above performance:

--  Implement technologies with core track and trace capabilities (such as
    MES and QMS), with a specific focus around key modules such as Non
    Conformance/Corrective and Preventive Action (NC/CAPA), process
    traceability, Statistical Process Control (SPC), supplier score cards among
    others.
--  Invest in interoperability between applications across your own plants
    and across the supply chain nodes.
--  Establish Corrective Action Board (CAB) as a cross functional team
    with ownership and responsibility for developing and implementing
    enterprise wide initiatives (programs) around track and trace. Ensure the
    CAB is sponsored and funded by the executive leadership team.
    

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Lawson, Plexus Online, Visiprise, Camstar and Eyelit, Inc. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4138.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2007 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
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Contact Information: Media Contact: Mehul Shah Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5212 Mehul.shah@aberdeen.com