agron, inc. Implements PTC(R) FlexPLM(TM) to Increase Information Reuse and Improve Operational Efficiency

PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), The Product Development Company®, today announced that agron, inc., the accessory licensee for adidas America, is using PTC’s Retail, Footwear and Apparel PLM solution to manage its accessory product lines from design concept through product development and catalog creation. Using PTC’s FlexPLM, agron is able to improve access to product information across its multiple business groups in order to increase information reuse and improve operational efficiency. Agron’s legacy system had multiple distributed databases that resulted in data inconsistencies and inefficiencies. To improve overall accuracy and product development efficiencies, agron opted for a consolidation strategy that would control and manage all the information used by its product teams, catalog creation teams and ERP system in a single system to drive improved product development and marketing activities. Additionally, the desired solution would be rich with out-of-the-box capabilities and not require extensive configuration to achieve the desired results. Within 16 weeks of the purchase of the PTC software, agron began using FlexPLM as its scalable, web-based PLM platform that was accessible by various departments and business groups to manage agron’s entire accessory product development process, beginning with line planning and ending with providing product data and imagery for its product catalogs. In addition to using FlexPLM to manage the graphics placed in its catalogs, agron is also taking advantage of FlexPLM’s line planning capability to support line plan viewing and to be the gathering place for all its contributors in a line development effort. The agron accessory products are represented within line sheets and have detailed information that includes images, fabrics and development status. Ultimately, the new system from PTC enables agron to streamline product development and reduce the time to create and publish product catalogs. "Once we concluded that our current system could not support our growth, our executive management empowered a team to research PLM options and make a recommendation,” said Jeff Goldman, project manager, agron, inc. "We chose FlexPLM from PTC because it met our needs with the least amount of customization and because it is also extremely flexible and can scale to meet our future PLM needs.” Reducing the time from concept to consumer is a strategic imperative of many organizations in the retail, footwear and apparel industries. FlexPLM delivers an intuitive set of automated capabilities in a unified user environment to streamline communication, track milestones, pre-empt performance bottlenecks and provide instant visibility of all product development steps. It enables organizations like agron to accelerate product development by allowing internal and external participants to work together in a collaborative environment. "Agron’s PLM strategy covers every stage of the product lifecycle, including line planning, materials management and product catalog production, which is why they needed a powerful PLM solution that could be implemented quickly and is capable of supporting all these various requirements,” said Kathleen Mitford, vice president, vertical market strategy for retail, footwear and apparel, PTC. "FlexPLM was developed to deliver to organizations like agron a true enterprise-level solution that addresses the need for effective collaborative product lifecycle management.” About agron, inc. Agron, inc. is the exclusive accessory licensee for adidas America. adidas is a global designer, developer and marketer of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories with the mission to be the leading sports brand in the world. adidas America is a subsidiary of the adidas Group, a corporation that also includes sports brands Reebok, Rockport, and TaylorMade. For more information on adidas, please visit www.adidas.com. About PTC Solutions for Retail, Footwear and Apparel PTC® solutions for retail, footwear and apparel are designed to meet the product lifecycle management requirements of retailers, branded manufacturers and their suppliers. These web-based solutions are comprised of FlexPLM™ and provide configurable functionality and information visibility across the enterprise and its supply chain. PTC is a leading provider to top retail, footwear and apparel brands worldwide. About PTC PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) provides leading product lifecycle management (PLM), content management and dynamic publishing solutions to more than 50,000 organizations worldwide. PTC customers include the world's most innovative companies in manufacturing, publishing, services, government and life sciences industries. PTC is included in the S&P Midcap 400 and Russell 2000 indices. For more information on PTC, please visit http://www.ptc.com. Except for the historical information contained herein, matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These include: the success of our initiatives to facilitate our customer's understanding of the benefits of our PLM solutions for the Retail, Footwear and Apparel industry, including interoperability, quality, return on investment and value creation; our ability to continue to successfully develop and integrate the technology necessary to offer an integrated product development system for the Retail, Footwear and Apparel industry that adequately responds to evolving customer requirements including the system’s ability to facilitate global product development and control all aspects of the development cycle so that products are delivered to the marketplace quickly; our ability to achieve our growth objectives by extending our solutions to vertical industries, beyond the discreet manufacturing verticals traditionally served by PTC; and the success of our integrated solutions strategy initiatives; as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in reports filed by PTC with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. The announcement of any particular selection of PTC products is not necessarily indicative of the timing of recognition of revenue from such order or the level of revenue for any particular period. PTC and its logo, The Product Development Company, FlexPLM and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries