webMethods And Manhattan Associates Deliver Integrated RFID Solution For Consumer Goods Manufacturing
webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM), the industry's first Web services infrastructure company, today announced an extended partnership with Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH), the global leader in providing Supply Chain Execution (SCE) solutions. This partnership provides customers in the Retail and Consumer Goods Manufacturing industry with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solution that is fully integrated with the industry's leading SCE solutions for faster time to market and greater operational efficiencies.
The integrated RFID solution by webMethods and Manhattan Associates gives customers an edge in deployment and maintenance of their RFID initiatives. The ability to gain out-of-box connectivity to Manhattan's warehouse management applications and other critical back-office applications renders cost advantages as well as operational advantages. For example, webMethods' integration capabilities enable joint customers to integrate data from RFID readers with their ERP applications, partners and warehouse management systems for end-to-end business process management.
"In addition to the benefits of RFID technology, which revolutionizes the way products are sold, purchased and tracked, an integrated RFID solution extends those benefits by connecting to back-end applications and trading partners," said Kareen Renaudin, vice president of Industry Solutions, webMethods, Inc. "The extended partnership with Manhattan Associates enables joint customers to reduce the time, cost and effort of implementing RFID technology."
RFID eliminates the line-of-sight requirements of current bar code systems and automatically provides basic yet, critical pieces of information about products, such as item number and item location. Integrating basic data points like these with a company's back-end enterprise systems allows them to achieve tremendous new business benefits, including better asset management.
"The benefits of implementing an RFID solution will be felt far beyond the four walls of the warehouse," said Tillman Estes, senior director, product management at Manhattan Associates. "This partnership will help our joint customers to extend the RFID information collected by Manhattan Associates' SCE solutions through webMethods' Integration Platform to core back-end systems, resulting in further visibility into the supply chain and the efficiencies that can be created by gaining this insight."
Today's announcement builds upon the existing relationship between Manhattan Associates and webMethods. As a participant in Manhattan Associates' independent software vendor (ISV) program, the companies have been working closely to develop integration points between their solutions to further the ease of integration for joint customers.
Current webMethods offerings like Item Synchronization will also help companies derive ROI from their corporate RFID strategies. Companies need to access accurate data about items, cases and pallets from their back-office applications before RFID solutions can fully deliver on its value. Therefore, building an integration infrastructure will help companies improve their return on investments from RFID projects by ensuring that product data is synchronized and managed throughout the automated supply chain.
About Manhattan Associates, Inc.
Manhattan Associates, Inc. is the global leader in providing supply chain execution solutions. We enable operational excellence through our warehousing and distribution, transportation and trading partner management applications. These integrated solutions leverage state-of-the-art technologies, innovative practices and our domain expertise to enhance performance, profitability and competitive advantage. Manhattan Associates has licensed more than 925 customers representing more than 1,400 facilities worldwide, which include some of the world's leading manufacturers, distributors and retailers. For more information about Manhattan Associates, visit www.manh.com.
About webMethods, Inc.
webMethods (Nasdaq: WEBM) is the industry's first Web services infrastructure company. webMethods' innovative integration, Web services, portal and analytic solutions enable more than 1,000 enterprise customers worldwide to run, measure and optimize their business. Recognized in 2003 as the fastest growing software company in North America by Deloitte, webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan. More information about the company can be found at www.webMethods.com.