Announcing Cost-Effective Engineering Change Automation Software

Portland, Oregon, November 06, 2003 -- Acuity Incorporated today announces the broad availability of I-PROCESS®, a Web-based process automation tool that enables customers to electronically route and approve engineering processes such as change notices, requests and orders. I-PROCESS provides manufacturing companies with a cost-effective way of managing and automating their engineering change processes, which continue to remain a time consuming manual process in most small to mid-sized companies today.

"It's not what it is, but what it isn't", says Paul Stevens, Director of I-PROCESS business development, Acuity Incorporated. "The alternative to I-PROCESS is to invest in full-blown PLM in order to handle change as part of a greater solution. I-PROCESS is a focused solution that addresses the change issue in a way that is easy to implement and use. There really is nothing else like it in the marketplace today."

Users can log on and use the system from any web-enabled personal computer, making changes happen when and where decisions are made. I-PROCESS comes, out of the box, with the tools necessary for managers and administrators to define, track and initiate new processes, making the need for additional software or services unnecessary.

"I-PROCESS accelerates and automates the engineering change process, at a reasonable cost.", says Laila Hirr PE, PLM Consultant, Portland Oregon

I-PROCESS provides the following "out of the box" functionality:

·   Process authoring -- I-PROCESS provides the ability to define and implement new processes out of the box;
·   Customizable templates -- common or recurring processes are easily initiated from the easy-to-use templates;
·   Process Archiving -- changes are stored in the system for later reference;
·   Web-based -- anyone can use I-PROCESS from the web browser they know how to use today;
·   Rapid Implementation -- typical installations are up and running in a few days;
·   Document Handling -- I-PROCESS will make available the right documents to the right people at the right time.