Rutherford & Associates Launches eoStar 2009

Rutherford & Associates, developer of the industry-leading route accounting and management software for food and beverage distributors, recently announced the launch of eoStar 2009. This new release version of Rutherford's flagship product includes significant enhancements and new functionality to further enable beer and wine distributors to operate leaner and better meet customers' demands.

eoStar, first launched in 2003, is designed to effectively integrate the various functions of the food and beverage distribution business. It is built on an innovative platform that allows for advanced customization of the software to meet the diverse needs of distributors nationwide. eoStar 2009 builds upon these features and functions, taking it to the next level.

"As the beverage distribution industry continues to evolve, the demand is increasing for an easy-to-use and easily implementable solution that simplifies automation and enhances scalability," said Michael Rutherford, CEO of Rutherford & Associates. "eoStar 2009, along with our continued investment in our top-quality support and online wiki resources, reflects our continued commitment to provide innovation, flexibility, accuracy, and ease-of-use to our customers – our commitment to true partnerships."

Some of the most significant new functionalities of eoStar 2009 include:

• Coors POINT interface – allows distributors to upload forecasts to MillerCoors and download purchase orders from MillerCoors through an automated system versus doing this function manually and via fax.
• Tap brand and tap handle management – provides visibility and market penetration of products in tap and brand management at on-premise locations, auditing the distributor's brands and fully tracking competitive handle information over time.
• Management by Objectives (MBO) suite – automates the process of managing display, distribution, activity, and sales goals and auto-populates commission structures and payout, improving sales and margins and enabling distributors to be more efficient. It also allows sales representatives to see their completion percentages in real-time and managers to track their direct reports automatically.
• Qualified pricing and promotional support – intelligently manages qualified pricing and qualified promotions in an automated environment. It is ideal for distributors handling multiple lines of business, providing direct support for Red Bull and non-alcoholic shelf programs/promotions requiring qualification and authorization.
• Expanded support for smart phones – provides customer support for the most current Windows® Mobile® technologies, such as the HTC Touch-Pro™ and the latest Dell® Net Books.
• Enhanced delivery stop mileage analysis – automatically tracks mileage, expenses and time via mobile devices to provide drivers and management with accurate analysis. Distributors now have full visibility to the real cost of making that ‘out-of-the-way' delivery, finding new ways to improve performance, cost management, and profitability for those stops.
• Multi-warehousing dispatching – imports files from the Coors Web interface, allowing for multiple dispatches to take place simultaneously, and also splits the dispatch based on the warehouse settings, so that all the customer orders for an individual warehouse may be handled at one time.

eoStar manages distribution operations for industry-leading distributors nationwide. eoStar streamlines enterprises, and manages more than $1.5B in consumer packaged goods, predominately beer and wine, for distributors across North America. eoStar's mobile solutions have saved customers an average of 8 1/2 minutes per stop per day, when compared to their prior solutions.

J.J. Taylor, one of the top ten beer distributorships in the United States, has been using eoStar for three years. The company became a beta tester for eoStar 2009 and is already experiencing the benefits of the software's latest offerings.

"eostar 2009 allows us to run our operation on a flexible platform that easily integrates with other platforms," said Jay Martin, vice president operations of J.J. Taylor Distributing Florida, Inc. "It gives us the visibility we need to track our progress in real time to meet the demands of our customers and suppliers. eoStar is the backbone of our operations and as an industry leader, embracing and leveraging leading edge technologies, eoStar will continue to grow with our organization."

Rutherford & Associates is a MillerCoors Strategic Partner and a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner in business intelligence, data management solutions and ISV/software solutions.

About J.J. Taylor Companies
J. J. Taylor Companies, Inc. was founded in 1958 by John J. "Joe" Taylor. The Company services the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota and the Tampa/St. Petersburg area and Sarasota, Ft. Myers and Naples territories in Florida. With annual sales of more than $340M, the company employs 721 and distributes for such brewers as MillerCoors, Heineken USA, Guinness Import, INBEV, Summit, Pabst and Yuengling. The company's headquarters and training center are located in Jupiter, Florida. For more information, visit www.jjtaylor.com.

About Rutherford & Associates, Inc.
Rutherford & Associates brings more than 20 years of route accounting software experience to beer and wine distributors. Rutherford provides customers with the tools, training and resources they need to more effectively manage their inventory, mobile resources and assets to enhance revenue, reduce operating costs and improve customer service. In 2007, MillerCoors company named Rutherford & Associates a strategic partner, working closely with Rutherford on the technological roadmap and implementation to improve the MillerCoors distributor system. For more information, visit www.eostar.com or wiki-eostar.com

SOURCE: Rutherford & Associates