Released on = July 7, 2006, 10:02 am

Press Release Author = Matthew Marotta

Industry = Industrial

Press Release Summary = Thomas R. Cutler Manufacturing Journalist Profiles Datacraft
Solutions' Customer Follett Ice

Press Release Body = Kanban, in its most simplifying role, is a visual signal (or
cue) that something needs to be replenished. More specifically, lean manufacturers
today use digital kanban by Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) to
drive a process to make, move, or buy the appropriate parts. Thus, digital kanban
becomes one of the fundamental building blocks of a pull (or consumption based)
replenishment system.

According to Matthew Marotta, founder of Datacraft Solutions, "Follett has worked
internally with pull systems for many years. One of the major objectives was to
remove excess inventory from the work cells and drive them back to a central
location where they would await demand. With the decrease in available floor space
and internal success with pull, digital kanban seemed to be a natural progression."

Senior Purchasing agent, Jeff Craig, with Follett Ice developed a "wish list" for
the digital kanban system based on our years of experience in manufacturing,
planning, and procurement. The selection of Datacraft Solutions' Signum digital
kanban product revealed a short evaluation process according to Craig: "The
evaluation process took us about two and a half months in all. The components of
evaluation were to first understand the product. What will the product do and just
as important, what it won\'t do. Next, we asked the question, is this product useful
to our organization? We then spoke an actual user. Seeing the system up and
running was a major component to my recommendation. We then needed to evaluate our
ability to support this implementation from a people resource perspective. And
last, can we make a favorable business case for this product where Follett is able
to achieve an acceptable return on our investment?"

Specific return-on-investment data by Follett Ice as a result of the Datacraft
Solutions' implementation include $150K inventory reduction

Web Site = http://www.datacraftsolutions.com

Contact Details = Datacraft Solutions
www.datacraftsolutions.com
Matthew Marotta
mmarotta@datacraftsolutions.net
800-819-5326