As an important part of our efforts to take the BuyDesignT Product Customization Management System to a broader market, TDCI has established an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Partner Program. BuyDesign is the natural evolution of the web-based configuration and sales applications originally developed as part of the MAC-PAC ® XET solution.

"Extending sales of BuyDesign to companies using other ERP solutions expands the TDCI customer community, and fuels increased investment in product development for all of our products," states TDCI President, Dan DeMuth. "This bolsters support for the MAC-PAC XE product for years to come."

Partners in this program will integrate BuyDesign with their own solutions, and sell BuyDesign to both new and existing customers. The first two partners in this program are:

• Technology Group International (TGI), a mid-market ERP solution provider headquartered in Toledo , Ohio . TGI's product is Enterprise 21.
• Tectura Corporation (Tectura), Microsoft's largest global partner for Microsoft's Axapta and Navision Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product lines

This means that BuyDesign solutions are now pre-integrated with a growing number of ERP products as well as MAC-PAC XE .

BuyDesign Enhances Partners' ERP Solutions

TGI has already integrated BuyDesign Control Center as the optional configuration component of TGI's Enterprise 21 ERP solution and the first customer implementation is currently under way. "BuyDesign enables us to offer our customers an advanced configure-to-order solution within the framework of Enterprise 21," states Scott Smith, TGI President. "It provides state-of-the art configuration functionality while being easy to integrate. We are already seeing a great deal of interest in this new capability." In addition to embedding BuyDesign Control Center into the core Enterprise 21 solution, TGI will also sell Sales BuyDesign to provide customers with 24x7 web-based sales and service capabilities for customized products.

Similarly, Tectura will offer TDCI's BuyDesign Control Center configuration software integrated with both the Axapta and Navision products as part of solution sets aimed at to-order manufacturers. "We are seeing a growing number of companies who want to improve their ability to offer customized products with their next generation ERP system," states Kathy Nohr, Tectura Sr. Vice President. "BuyDesign provides advanced configuration capabilities that fit perfectly with the make-to-order functionality of the Axapta and Navision products to help them achieve that." Tectura will also sell Sales BuyDesign as an optional application with both ERP solutions.

Comprehensive Product Customization Management Capabilities

BuyDesign is a comprehensive 'product customization management' solution that bridges the gaps between existing engineering, sales, and manufacturing processes to dramatically streamline the entire life-cycle of customized products. It provides the capabilities to:

• Simplify the product configuration process for customers and sales people, and help them better visualize their exact product.
• Automate generation of the configuration-specific drawings and information needed by manufacturing to rapidly produce the product, as well as the drawings and other documents needed by customers, sales channels, and/or support personnel.
• Synchronize development and maintenance of all the information required for highly customizable products, including engineering designs, configuration controls, pricing, and product information.

As a component of MAC-PAC XE , BuyDesign is integrated with core manufacturing and distribution applications, and extends the robust configuration capabilities of Expert Configurator (EC) to the Internet using a common ruleset.

For more information about BuyDesign as a component of MAC-PAC XE , contact Shelley Horn at 614-781-2325 ext. 119 or shorn@tdci.com .

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