Released on = July 7, 2006, 9:20 am

Press Release Author = Hellen Budaya-Pileski

Industry = Software

Press Release Summary = Manufacturing Journalist Thomas R. Cutler Profiles Fourmark
and Shoplogix

Press Release Body = Real-time shop floor technology by Shoplogix is profiled by
manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler in the current issue of Manufacturing &
Technology.
According to Cutler's article, Fourmark Inc. is a contract manufacturer of custom
injection molding and related services to a variety of industries including food
packaging and consumer goods, cosmetics and construction. The company operates a
25,000- square-foot facility in Oakville, Ontario from which it serves markets in
Canada and international customers.
Fourmark was in an enviable position; due to demands of existing and new customers,
they needed to increase the number of injection molding machines in their plant to
improve their capacity. But this rapid growth meant that they began to lose control
of their production output. They needed a way to monitor machines on the plant floor
to capture the data they needed to understand how machines were operating, and how
well each shift was performing. While the company looked at monitoring solutions
other companies in the industry were using, they wanted something different.
According to Adam Cruikshank, president of Fourmark, "One of the biggest selling
features for Plantnode was its remote access via an Internet connection. While I'm
away traveling, I can still be on top of what's happening in the plant."
This lean manufacturing mechanism by Shoplogix is an intelligent embedded
application that integrates with existing production equipment on the plant floor.
Manufacturing gained the ability to perform multiple activities such as data capture
and measurement, performance analysis, machine alerts and reporting on a
machine-by-machine, job-by-job, plant-by-plant or multi-plant basis. The technology
has proven effective in improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), predictive
and preventive maintenance, and quality initiatives across all industries.
Fourmark is now able to track the custom injection equipment, analyzing cycle times
versus expectations. By capturing downtime information related to things like color
changes and mold setups, and analyzing their scrap rates, the company has been able
to identify areas for improvement. This has resulted in a reduction in mold setup
times by 30%, and has increased overall plant output by 5% to 10% to date.
ABOUT SHOPLOGIX
Shoplogix develops integrated web-based software solutions that optimize plant floor
operations. Shoplogix solutions improve productivity, efficiency, and total
operational performance by allowing companies to make real-time decisions that
impact profitability while actively engaging employees in the process.

Shoplogix Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, with
offices across North America. The company serves a growing base of Global 2000
companies to set new standards for production performance and efficiency in
industrial environments.


PLANTNODE
Plantnode is a hybrid web-based software application designed on an open platform to
integrate with existing production equipment, analyze real-time performance, and
evaluate machine productivity. Plantnode's built-in intelligence goes beyond raw
data collection to provide a fully integrated production and performance management
application; differentiated by the ability to compare real-time data against planned
estimates. Plantnode is proven to increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
and enables machine level visibility on a 24x7 basis with automatic escalations and
interactive processes to drive higher levels of operational efficiency, quality, and
performance.


PLANTNODE NETWORK
Plantnode Network is an enterprise web-based software application that consolidates
and analyzes operational data for all Plantnode enabled equipment providing a
complete and accurate view of production performance. Plantnode Network's
distributed design provides true enterprise scalability to evaluate real-time
performance on a plant-wide, multi-site, or global basis.



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

Contact Details = Shoplogix
www.shoplogix.com
Hellen Budaya Pileski
hbudaya-pileski@shoplogix.com
Manager, Marketing Communications
905-469-9994 Ext.120