BigMachines Captures Best of Show at 2002 APICS International Conference and Exposition

BigMachines today announced that BigMachines 5, the company's flagship front-end business solution for engineered-products manufacturers, was named Best of Show at the 2002 APICS International Conference and Exposition in Nashville, Tenn. APICS, the educational society for resource management professionals, recognized BigMachines 5 as the best product on the exhibit floor. The award was based on the dramatic process improvements and cost savings achieved by BigMachines' customer LIGHTNIN, a leading manufacturer of industrial fluid mixers and agitators and a unit of SPX Corporation.

The 2002 APICS International Conference and Exposition is an annual three-day event that brings together resource management professionals and leading technology experts in the manufacturing and service industries from around the world. Best of Show was one of three categories in the first annual APICS Poster Presentation Pavilion Competition, where companies had the opportunity to highlight products, new techniques, and document successes. APICS attendees were involved directly with the judging process, voting on the best entry within the Solutions Provider , Industry Advancement , and Best of Show categories.

"We were delighted that APICS attendees and exhibitors selected BigMachines as Best of Show," said Godard Abel, founder and chief executive officer of BigMachines. "The recognition further illustrates the important role that the BigMachines lean front-end solution is playing at LIGHTNIN and other engineered-products manufacturers looking beyond back-end systems to achieve the immediate savings and operational efficiencies associated with streamlining front-end sales and business processes."

BigMachines 5 is a comprehensive front-end sales and services automation solution. LIGHTNIN implemented BigMachines 5 to automate the company's selling processes, reduce costs and cycle times, and improve transaction quality. Today through the use of BigMachines 5, LIGHTNIN has dramatically streamlined its quote and order processes, reducing quote-to-order cycle times by 50 - 80 percent, improving on-time performance over 15 percent, and reducing front-end costs by 2 - 4 percent of sales.

According to 2002 APICS President, L. Drew Rosen, Ph. D., Jonah, "The APICS Poster Presentation Pavilion provided conference attendees with the opportunity to recognize the exhibitors for their significant contributions to the resource management industry. We were thrilled to receive such a strong caliber of entries."

About BigMachines, Inc.
BigMachines, Inc., founded January 1, 2000, (www.bigmachines.com) provides software and services to help manufacturers of complex products streamline their selling and customer service processes from inquiry-to-order. BigMachines Lean Front End (LFE) solution digitizes selling processes and captures an organization's tribal knowledge to provide online product selection, configuration, quoting, and ordering capabilities for new products and aftermarket parts and services. BigMachines LFE easily integrates to existing business systems and provides in-depth sales reporting capabilities. Many leading manufacturers, including Crane Co., SPX Lightnin, and Conair have implemented BigMachines LFE to substantially reduce selling costs and improve customer service.