LVSI, INFORMANCE FORM ALLIANCE TO HELP MANUFACTURERS ACCELERATE IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES

Deep domain process management, visual factory and EMI expertise for lean manufacturing.

EAST WINDSOR, CT and REDWOOD CITY, CA — May 8, 2007 — Lean Value Solutions International (LVSI), a leading process management consulting firm, and Informance International, a leader in Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) solutions, announce a partnership to deliver comprehensive manufacturing improvement solutions to companies eager to accelerate improvement initiatives, drive operating strategies and obtain actionable insight for operational performance. The new relationship leverages Informance’s leading manufacturing intelligence technology and domain expertise combined with LVSI’s lean manufacturing expertise to effectively deliver high value solutions for lean manufacturing. Consumer goods, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, medical device, industrial, and many other types of manufacturing firms will benefit from the combination of proven EMI technology and deep domain industry expertise as they strive for the highest levels of productivity.

LVSI has a long history and deep expertise in delivering world-class process improvement for the lean enterprise and lean manufacturing in a wide variety of industries. LVSI will leverage Informance’s manufacturing intelligence and patented analytics to enable their Global 1000-class clients to achieve, sustain and build on process improvements in plants and throughout the manufacturing facility network.

"Maintaining competitive advantage depends on a manufacturer’s ability to sustain and build on improvement gains," comments Sunil Singh, CEO of Informance. "The LVSI – Informance combined offering ensures they target improvement efforts wisely and have the real-time metrics visibility and analytics to support those efforts."

According to LVSI CEO, Tom DeForge, "In a lean environment, the companies that can quickly and precisely identify opportunities to improve operations, while involving their entire team – from enterprise leaders to plant staff – and use real-time, precise metrics and analytics to empower their teams are far more likely to achieve corporate manufacturing goals and realize their strategic vision. And, they can do this faster than anyone else! This is why we are so excited about Informance solutions and our relationship with them"

To illustrate the importance of real-time reporting of performance metrics and the importance of a structured improvement initiative, Informance recently published a benchmark study analyzing efficiency of best-in-class manufacturers compared to average and laggard companies. During the study, researchers found that best-in-class manufacturers and their workforce had greater visibility to key metrics and more frequent measurement of those metrics. As a result, best-in-class identified 99.5% of operating losses against their key performance metrics and have processes to quickly react to key performance indicators (KPIs) that deviate from acceptable levels. The researchers found that KPI reporting propagated throughout each plant enables a much more agile and proactive enterprise. To read the executive summary of this report, visit www.Informance.com/FoodPack.

About Lean Value Solutions International
Lean Value Solutions International (LVSI) has helped hundreds of clients design and implement lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, lean office and lean service programs. With deep domain process improvement expertise in manufacturing and non-manufacturing business processes, LVSI helps clients set up the lean infrastructure from discovery to design and through implementation and measurement. To learn more, visit www.LVSIllc.com