July 1, 2002 

 

Global Beverage Group, Numeric Computer Systems, Inc. and RouteTek Announce expedium

a Strategic Alliance in DSD

HAUPPAUGE, NY (July 1)--Global Beverage Group (GBG), Waterloo Ontario, Numeric Computer Systems, Inc. (NCS), Hauppauge New York and RouteTek Corporation, Dallas Texas are pleased to announce expedium, an alliance creating the industry's most comprehensive suite of products supporting direct store delivery (DSD) and direct to home processes within the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry.

The breadth of products and services include web-based host & route accounting solutions, wireless and traditional mobile solutions, route, plant and truck optimization, equipment, vending service and fleet management, business intelligence, sales force automation and ERP/SCM integration.

Under terms of the agreement, expedium founders will share existing advanced technologies, co-develop future products and create a centralized marketing and sales department. The founders will maintain their existing industry focused professional services organizations responsible for the support, implementation and ongoing enhancement of products and services. Expedium will leverage and expand partnerships with ERP vendors, equipment suppliers and international distributors to ensure the most comprehensive, cost effective solutions available to CPG companies worldwide.

The new alliance creates the only worldwide organization in the DSD market with sales and support coverage in North, Central and South America, Puerto Rico, Israel, Cyprus, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

The products are designed to streamline the Order to Cash process for manufacturers and wholesalers that provide direct delivery of products to stores, offices and homes. Collectively, expedium serves over 300 customers running 50,000 routes in more than 20 countries around the world.

"Companies operating in multiple categories in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Industry will have access to products that address their specific needs, all utilizing a common web based host technology. The FMCG industry needs choices and flexibility to compete and survive" states Robert Hochberg, President of NCS, Inc. "The product suite of expedium will be integrated to a single host ensuring interoperability with back-office solutions, third party and internally developed systems.  This will make industry initiatives like Scan Based Trading and Data Synchronization easier to implement."

"I am extremely excited about this initiative and the positive impact it will deliver to our combined customer base" stated Ted Hastings, CEO of Global Beverage. "Our joint customers and the DSD market as a whole, will benefit from this alliance through an increased product offering from each of the founding companies, faster time to market for new products and overall cost reductions obtained through a higher degree of product integration. Additionally through sharing technical resources and reducing redundant development costs we will drive innovation faster in a more cost efficient way. Technological advancement is a necessity for our customers to maintain a competitive edge."

Bill Hampton, President/CEO RouteTek, "Improved products, increased customer contact and global reach are only some of the benefits of this alliance. Equally as important in this partnership is that each founding company will maintain its own identity and resources to serve its customers with an in-depth knowledge of their specific markets. They will also benefit however from DSD process improvements common to all segments of the FMCG industry brought about by expedium."

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Contact Information

The expedium companies include:

GBG, based in Waterloo, Ontario     1-877-445-7711 www.globalbeveragegroup.com

NCS, based in Hauppauge, NY         1-800-321-7822 www.ncssuite.com

RouteTek, based in Dallas, TX       1-214-540-4000 www.routetek.com

 

Paul Winkler

720-529-1916

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