Ironclad Upgrade: A.G. Barr Goes Live With QAD Enterprise Applications

Jan. 5, 2011 - PRLog -- QAD Inc. (NASDAQ- QADA, QADB), a leading provider of enterprise software and services for global manufacturers, announced today that A.G. Barr p.l.c. –  one of the UK’s largest independent manufacturers of carbonated soft drinks, whose brands include IRN-BRU, Rubicon, Strathmore and the Barr range of carbonated products – has deployed QAD Enterprise Applications to improve user efficiency and reduce operational costs across its supply chain.

A.G. Barr is a rapidly growing business serving the UK market with over 1000 employees working across its 12 sites. The company maintains four production plants in Scotland and one in Wales.  A.G. Barr’s IRN-BRU is a Scottish institution – its sales lead all soft drink brands in Scotland and is based on a complex, century-old recipe the company guards like a state secret.

A QAD customer since 1997, A.G. Barr has upgraded to the latest version of QAD Enterprise Applications, with its QAD .NET User Interface, to meet the ever-changing needs of its customers and employees in the highly competitive and fast-moving food and beverage manufacturing market segment.

A.G. Barr is utilizing QAD Enterprise Applications to automate its workflows and provide industry best practice processes supporting lot traceability and streamlining communication with its suppliers. The company views QAD Enterprise Applications’ market leading .NET User Interface as a key component to its employees’ successful use and adoption.

“We have successfully gone live on the latest release of QAD Enterprise Applications and anticipate the new user interface will help us quickly realize the benefits from this upgrade,” said Alex Short, finance director at A.G. Barr. “In the coming months, we will continue to work towards reducing our IT footprint and complexity and, we plan to extend our use of QAD Enterprise Applications with the QAD Trade Management (QAD TrM) and QAD Fixed Assets modules.”

QAD TrM will enable A.G. Barr to more effectively plan, manage and track trade (promotional) investment activities and provide the information that the company will need to analyze and monitor promotional programs.

“We are focused on developing technology solutions that truly impact our customers’ business needs,” said Steve Gardner, vice president sales & marketing, EMEA region, QAD.  “It’s critical that we continue to provide our customers throughout the world with manageable applications that complement their existing business processes and lead to increased efficiency across the board, including improved cost savings.”

For more information about QAD Enterprise Applications, visit www.qad.com.

About A.G. Barr
A.G. Barr has been in the business of making, moving and selling soft drinks for more than 130 years. The company has successfully developed its business through a combination of building its existing brands, including IRN-BRU and Rubicon, through new product development, acquisition and developing its expertise in franchise brand management. For more information about A.G. Barr, visit http://www.agbarr.co.uk.

About QAD
QAD is a leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturing companies specializing in automotive, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, industrial and life science products. QAD applications provide critical functionality for managing manufacturing resources and operations within and beyond the enterprise, enabling global manufacturers to collaborate with their customers, suppliers and partners to make and deliver the right product, at the right cost and at the right time. For more information about QAD, telephone +1 805-566-6000, or visit the QAD web site at www.qad.com.

"QAD" is a registered trademark of QAD Inc. All other products or company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to Investors:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, evolving demand for the company's software products and products that operate with the company's products; the company's ability to sustain license and service demand; the company's ability to leverage changes in technology; the company's ability to sustain customer renewal rates at current levels; the publication of opinions by industry and financial analysts about the company, its products and technology; the reliability of estimates of transaction and integration costs and benefits; the entry of new competitors or new offerings by existing competitors and the associated announcement of new products and technological advances by them; delays in localizing the company's products for new or existing markets; the ability to recruit and retain key personnel; delays in sales as a result of lengthy sales cycles; changes in operating expenses, pricing, timing of new product releases, the method of product distribution or product mix; timely and effective integration of newly acquired businesses; general economic conditions; exchange rate fluctuations; and, the global political environment. In addition, revenue and earnings in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software industry are subject to fluctuations. Software license revenue, in particular, is subject to variability with a significant proportion of revenue earned in the last month of each quarter. Given the high margins associated with license revenue, modest fluctuations can have a substantial impact on net income. Investors should not use any one quarter's results as a benchmark for future performance. For a more detailed description of the risk factors associated with the company and the industries in which it operates, please refer to the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2010 ended January 31, 2010.

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Founded in 1979, QAD has been recognized as a leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software applications for global manufacturing companies. Today, QAD enterprise applications leverage advances in Internet and enabling technologies to provide critical functionality for managing manufacturing resources and operations within and beyond the enterprise, enabling global manufacturers to collaborate with their customers, suppliers and partners to make and deliver the right product, at the right cost and at the right time.

QAD enterprise applications are focused and optimized for select manufacturing industry segments: automotive, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, industrial and life sciences.