Leading Global Garment Manufacturer TAL Drives Fashion Planning and Operations with Lawson Software

Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN) today announced that TAL, a leading garment manufacturer based in Hong Kong, successfully implemented the Lawson M3 Fashion Planning Workbench and the Supply Chain Order solutions. As two key components of the Lawson solution for the fashion industry, these enterprise applications are designed to help TAL achieve shorter planning and production lead times, respond faster to market trends and improve inventory management. TAL is one the largest and most successful fashion apparel producers in the world producing approximately 55 million garments each year. TAL owns 4.2 million square feet of production floor area in 12 factories worldwide, and creates one in every seven dress shirts sold in the United States. TAL has been using the Lawson M3 Enterprise Management System since 2002 in its factories in seven countries to help minimize production peaks and valleys. To achieve that, the company identified medium- to long-term planning as one of the critical processes for its operation, because it needs to match production capacities across all factories with orders that it expects six to nine months in advance. TAL also wanted to achieve higher visibility in material requirements planning, because most of the company’s products are made-to-order, requiring specific materials for specific orders. The company selected the Lawson Fashion Planning Workbench and Supply Chain Order solutions to help improve production and material requirements planning. The Lawson M3 Fashion Planning Workbench helps TAL balance production load across its multiple sites and assists with planning at the style/color level. This gives TAL the ability to better plan capacity across the company’s various production sites and simulate load based on possible operational and business changes. "We used to rely on Excel spreadsheets for mid-to-long-term capacity planning but it was time consuming, not integrated and susceptible to human error,” said Delman Lee, director of technology for TAL. "With Fashion Planning Workbench, whether it is the sales team loading orders or the planners balancing capacity, all changes are immediately updated for everyone to see. We also saved time. For 200,000 orders, we used to take eight hours to download and sort date with Excel, but it can be done in 30 minutes now.” Implemented at 10 of TAL’s production sites, the Lawson M3 Supply Chain Order solution helps TAL plan and manage order chains by linking orders with supply chain data. This helps the company manage issues related to changes along the supply chain. The solution is designed to help improve delivery accuracy, reduce inventories, eliminate manual work and allow more agile management of supply chain issues. "With Supply Chain Order, if we change the quantity of a customer’s order, all other related material requirement orders are taken care of. We estimate that this gives us 80 percent savings in time spent on these tasks,” added Lee. "While requirements and expectations in the garment manufacturing industry have increased, one thing that hasn’t changed is the drive for lower costs and increased efficiency,” said David Hope, regional managing director for Lawson in Asia and Japan. "With Lawson M3 Fashion Planning Workbench and Supply Chain Order, garment manufacturers have a great deal of flexibility and automation that allows them to become more efficient, more responsive to market trends, and to reduce total costs.” With Lawson M3 Fashion Planning Workbench and Supply Chain Orders, TAL is better positioned to manage seasonal peaks and valleys for production. "If TAL’s goal of having a flat production cycle is achieved, the projected saving will be US$3 million a year,” added Lee. "But the benefits don’t just stop there. If we achieve an evenly loaded plant, where we plan for an even line of normal working hours, we can increase the overtime limit, which means an opportunity to take more orders.” About Lawson Software Lawson Software provides software and service solutions to 4,000 customers in manufacturing, distribution, maintenance and service sector industries across 40 countries. Lawson’s solutions include Enterprise Performance Management, Supply Chain Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, Manufacturing Resource Planning, Enterprise Asset Management and industry-tailored applications. Lawson solutions assist customers in simplifying their businesses or organizations by helping them streamline processes, reduce costs and enhance business or operational performance. Lawson is headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., and has offices around the world. Visit Lawson online at www.lawson.com. About the TAL Group TAL was established in 1947 when its founder, C.C. Lee, started the very first spinning mill in Hong Kong. He subsequently set up a number of textile mills, some of which handled fabric finishing. In the late 1950s he extended the textile operations into garment making. In 1962 all of these operations were grouped under one holding company and merged with Jardine's finishing mill to form Textile Alliance Limited. The group underwent reorganization in the 1980s and the garment manufacturing section split away from the other sections to form TAL Apparel Ltd. TAL was one of the first companies in the garment industry to adapt to using supply chain management (SCM) techniques. Using dedicated private networks, TAL has, since the early 1990s, been working closely with its customers on such SCM processes as sales forecasts, inventory management, production capacity scheduling, delivery and productivity. For more information, visit TAL’s website at www.talgroup.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that contain risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements contain statements of intent, belief or current expectations of Lawson Software and its management. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The company is not obligated to update forward-looking statements based on circumstances or events that occur in the future. Risks and uncertainties that may cause such differences include but are not limited to: uncertainties in Lawson's ability to realize synergies and revenue opportunities anticipated from the Intentia International acquisition; uncertainties in the software industry; uncertainties as to when and whether the conditions for the recognition of deferred revenue will be satisfied; global military conflicts; terrorist attacks; pandemics, and any future events in response to these developments; changes in conditions in the company's targeted industries; increased competition and other risk factors listed in the company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lawson assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release.