Food & Beverage and Manufacturing Companies Entrust Sage ERP X3 to Power the Growth of Their Businesses

IRVINE, CA--(Marketwire - May 25, 2011) - Sage North America announced today the addition of new customers to the Sage ERP X3 family. Allied Metals and Rudy's Tortillas have come to rely on Sage ERP X3's ability to handle the complexities of their business operations and processes. As part of the Sage ERP portfolio, Sage ERP X3 is a full-service enterprise management software system for mid-market businesses designed to meet the demands of the most elaborate business processes, while remaining cost-effective, quick to implement and simple to use.

Rudy's Tortillas is a growing 65-year-old family-owned company based in Dallas, TX that sells its food products to restaurant chains in 35 states. After using different systems to manage accounting, customer service and purchasing, Rudy's CFO knew it was time for a change.

"There was zero integration between the systems, and as a result we were lacking the meaningful data necessary to run a successful business," recalls Chuck Langenhop, CFO for the company. "We could not easily tell what stock we had on hand or what we needed to produce based on customer demand. There were delays in finalizing monthly financial statements and cost analysis was a time-consuming process.

"We found that a robust ERP solution with built-in process manufacturing capabilities is the exception, not the rule. But, with Sage ERP X3, we found a reliable system that could support the needs of discrete manufacturing without requiring a third-party add-on for batch management. We like the look and feel, we appreciate the end-to-end integration, and we recognize that it is widely used in the food industry," explains Langenhop.

Initially, employees were concerned that a new system might negatively impact the authenticity of tortilla-making. However, after experiencing Sage ERP X3's out-of-box capabilities and the resulting collaboration between business processes, the staff can see that the plant is now more organized. This has freed up time for employees to concentrate on doing what they do best: making high-quality tortilla products.

Michigan-based manufacturer and distributor of high purity metals Allied Metals looked to replace its legacy accounting software and chose Sage ERP X3 for its appealing combination of technology and functionality packaged at a competitive price. From its international headquarters in Troy, Michigan, to its facilities in Belgium, Germany, Japan, and France, Allied Metals is committed to obtaining, processing, and distributing the highest quality materials available to best serve its global customers. Since implementation, Allied Metals has gained visibility into production, improving purchasing decisions and customer service.

"Our business model revolves around delivering the best products at the lowest possible cost to us and our customers," says John Deradoorian, president of Allied Metals. "We continually analyze our inventory costs to help us identify areas of waste or loss. Sage ERP X3 fully supports that analysis and the required precision which alerts us immediately when we have an issue to address or problem to solve."

"As products move through our system, we have real-time insight into our production that we did not have before," says Greg Hirsch, CFO for Allied Metals. "Access to this information allows us to make informed purchasing and production decisions, and it enables customer service staff to provide up-to-the-minute information in response to customer inquiries."

Sage ERP X3 was recently included in Gartner's 2010 Magic Quadrant for ERP for Product-Centric Midmarket Companies* addressing the needs of product-centric companies with between 100 and 999 employees, and with annual revenue between US$50 million and US$1 billion.

The extensive heritage and ecosystem of Sage ERP enables Sage to offer cost-effective, end-to-end solutions that are simple to use and span the diverse needs of mid-sized businesses across virtually every industry. As one of the largest selections of scalable, integrated ERP software solutions available, the Sage ERP portfolio includes Sage ERP Accpac, Sage ERP MAS, and Sage ERP X3. Sage ERP is designed to work the way each business needs it to, providing the necessary tools to help businesses select, plan, and implement their ideal mix of solutions. Together with over 5000 channel partners, Sage is committed to delivering an extraordinary experience to its more than 3.2 million customers in North America.

"Our goal is to understand businesses' needs and to provide the most effective solutions to specifically meet these," said Laurie Schultz, SVP and General Manager for Sage Business Solutions' mid-market ERP. "This deep understanding of our customers has helped drive the positive momentum of Sage ERP X3 in the upper mid-market space in North America. Businesses in the life sciences, chemicals, hard goods manufacturing, food & beverage, and wholesale distribution markets benefit from Sage ERP X3's deep functionality in these specific verticals. We offer flexibility, mobility, and simplicity in both use and implementation -- and the success of Rudy's Tortillas and Allied Metals are testaments to the benefits of Sage ERP X3."

About Sage North America
Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and related products and services, principally for small to medium-sized businesses. Sage North America employs 3,900 people and supports more than 3 million small and midsized business customers. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989. Sage has more than 6 million customers and 13,600 employees worldwide. We operate in over 24 countries covering the UK, Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, India and China. For more information, please visit the website at www.sagenorthamerica.com. Follow Sage North America on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/SageNorthAmerica, and Twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/sagenamerica.

*Gartner, Inc., Magic Quadrant for ERP for Product-Centric Midmarket Companies, C. Hestermann et al, December 17, 2010. (1) Source: Gartner, Market Share: ERP Software, Worldwide, 2008 - By Chris Pang, Yanna Dharmasthira, Chad Eschinger and Koji Motoyoshi.