SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

18 Jun 2007 14:30

Sopheon, the international software and services company,announced today that Church & Dwight Co., Inc., manufacturer of ARM &HAMMER(R) consumer, specialty and other products, has selected theAccolade product life cycle management (PLM) system to enhance thecompany's product innovation processes and strengthen its ability tomeet rigorous product delivery requirements. Church & Dwight isdeploying Accolade to users across brands and functions at itsheadquarters in Princeton, NJ, and at operating locations in Europeand Asia. £ Founded in 1846, Church & Dwight manufactures a broad range ofdeodorizing and household cleaners and laundry and personal careproducts. It is perhaps best known as the producer of ARM & HAMMER(R)baking soda. Other Church & Dwight consumer lines include Brillo(R)cleaning pads, OxiClean(R) pre-wash laundry additive, Xtra(R) laundrydetergent, Arrid(R) antiperspirants, CLOSE-UP(R) toothpastes andTrojan(R) condoms. Church & Dwight's adoption of Accolade will enablethe company to automate its global implementation of Stage-Gate(R)product-development process methodology. The Sopheon system's capacityto strengthen process governance is expected to reduce developmentcycle times and help ensure that new products meet the stringentscheduling and delivery requirements of large retail customers. £ Church & Dwight's choice of Accolade was based on such advantagesas the solution's ease-of-use, simple configurability and strongalignment with Stage-Gate(R). Another important consideration wasSopheon's ability to host the deployment, an arrangement that willminimize support demands on Church & Dwight's internal IT resources,allowing them to remain focused on other strategic priorities. £ "We compared Sopheon's system to five other PLM solutions," saidPaul Siracusa, executive vice president of global research anddevelopment at Church & Dwight. "Based on our requirements, we judgedAccolade to be the strongest both technically andfunctionally--excellent data integrity in a user-friendly environment.The fact that they could also provide a secure web-based hostingoption was key to helping us surmount one of our principalimplementation challenges and positions us to acceleratetime-to-value." £ "Many of our clients and prospects are large, dynamic, globalcompanies that are looking for ways to reduce pressure on internal ITresources," said Paul Heller, chief technology officer at Sopheon. "Inresponse to their needs, we have developed a hosting environment thatblends state-of-the-art security and protection of data withtechnology that allows the end-user to seamlessly and cost-effectivelyshift IT support responsibilities for Accolade implementation andmaintenance to us. More than a third of new Sopheon clients during thepast 12 months have opted for the hosted model because itsignificantly reduces the resources and time required to get toproduction status. This is an important trend, one that we arewell-prepared to meet." £ Accolade(R) is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc. £ Stage-Gate(R) is a registered trademark of the Product DevelopmentInstitute. £ All other registered trademarks are the property of Church &Dwight Co., Inc. £ About Church & Dwight £ Church & Dwight Co., Inc., engages in the development,manufacture, and marketing of a range of household, personal care, andspecialty products in the United States and internationally. Thecompany's household products include ARM & HAMMER(R) baking soda, ARM& HAMMER(R) Super Scoop Clumping Cat Litter, OxiClean(R) pre-washlaundry additive, ARM & HAMMER(R) and Xtra(R) laundry detergent, Nice'n Fluffy(R) liquid fabric softener, and other cleaning products. Thecompany's personal care products include Trojan(R) condoms, Nair(R)depilatories, First Response(R) home pregnancy and ovulation testkits, Arrid(R) antiperspirants, ARM & HAMMER(R) toothpastes, andSpinbrush(R) battery-operated toothbrushes. Church & Dwight'sspecialty products include sodium bicarbonate for use in industrialand agricultural markets. The company was founded in 1846 and is basedin Princeton, New Jersey. For more information, please visitwww.churchdwight.com. £ About Sopheon £ Sopheon (LSE:SPE) is an international provider of software andservices that help organizations improve the business impact ofproduct innovation. Sopheon's Accolade system automates and governsthe innovation process, enabling companies to increase revenue andprofits from new products. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of theLondon Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. For moreinformation, please visit www.sopheon.com. Copyright Business Wire 2007