Press Release

Ford Motor Company Rolls Out SageTree Inventory Monitoring and Alerting System for North American Parts Supply and Logistics Operations

March 25, 2002 at 7:57 AM EST
DEARBORN, Mich., IRVINE, Calif. and DAYTON, Ohio, Mar 25, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ --

Teradata and SageTree Implement Supply Chain Performance(TM) Suite Designed to Streamline Inventories and Improve Service Levels

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), SageTree Inc. and Teradata, a division of NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR), today announced that they have completed the implementation of SageTree's Supply Chain Performance(TM) Suite (SCPS) of applications to improve the flow of service repair parts through Ford's North American distribution network, thereby improving customer service and reducing costs. This marks an important milestone in the four-year contract among the companies to deploy a world-class inventory monitoring and alerting system.

Under the contract, SageTree and Teradata are providing software, services and support to Ford. The initial planning phase began in February 2001 and the system is now in daily use at each of Ford's eight North American Parts Distribution Centers, the main Parts Redistribution Center and the National Parts Depot.

Deployed on a Teradata Enterprise(R) warehouse already in use at Ford, the new inventory monitoring and alerting system provides a single point of reference for supply chain analysts and inventory planners. Every day the system monitors inventory, both standing and in-motion, throughout the distribution network. The internal supply chain model is then recalculated to determine the relative priority of each shipment in the system.

"SageTree and Teradata were chosen because we could deliver much more than basic supply chain event management," said Jerry Hill, president and CEO of SageTree. "Ford needed a solution that could handle large volumes of data and identify which shipments were most important to meeting service level and cost management objectives."

By replacing the traditional mechanism of manual shipment prioritization with an automated and dynamic method of prioritizing the flow of parts, the system drives the entire supply chain to ensure that the right parts are arriving at the right time to meet customer demand. Daily alerting and prioritization is delivered to operations and planning personnel notifying them of critical changes in demand and supply, and providing operational prioritizations to each step in the process -- ship points, transportation, receiving, loading and unloading, and the handling of parts in the distribution centers -- inbound and outbound.

"This system has helped Ford move to a proactive mode of operation," continued Hill, "enabling everyone in the organization to work as a team to satisfy customer needs while decreasing operational costs."

"Ford recognizes that their customers are core assets and is again demonstrating its leadership in the use of technology to achieve competitive advantage," said Mark Hurd, president of the Teradata Division of NCR Corp. "As a long-time Teradata customer, we are extremely pleased to see Ford use our technologies in such an innovative way."

"The success of our Supply Chain Performance Suite at Ford clearly demonstrates the power and viability of the concepts that have driven the development of this product," continued Hill. "SCPS effectively coordinates the lowest levels of labor and operations with the strategic objectives of the entire business in a way that allows even the largest enterprise to work in unison."

SageTree's SCPS is specifically designed to address the needs of global organizations by providing a holistic view of the entire supply chain, delivering granular, daily analysis, as well as historical perspectives and predictive intelligence. This unique combination of actionable analytics and decision support features enables companies to significantly reduce supply chain costs while improving customer service and profitability.

In June 2000, NCR entered into a strategic partnership with SageTree, investing $10 million in the Company. In January 2002, SageTree and NCR announced the expansion of that partnership to bring to market SageTree's Supply Chain Performance Suite under the branding of Teradata Solutions for Supply Chain Intelligence. At the same time, NCR increased its ownership stake in the Irvine, Calif.-based software company.

Incorporated in September 1999, SageTree is an outgrowth of a quality information system (QIS) created by Western Digital for its own manufacturing operation in 1997 on NCR's Teradata database. Western Digital, a long-time leader in the hard drive industry last quarter manufactured over 7.7 million hard drives from a single factory.

About SageTree

SageTree is an emerging leader in the enterprise applications market with a powerful suite of Supply Chain Management (SCM) applications that deliver a unique combination of value chain transparency, predictive analysis and operational event management to drive efficiency and profit optimization. The Company's products are flexible, scalable and readily adapted to existing systems for rapid implementation and a very short time-to-value. SageTree customers achieve substantial returns on their investment with a value chain management capability that reduces risk and dramatically improves market responsiveness. To learn more about the company and its innovative solutions, go to www.sagetree.com .

About Teradata Division

Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation, offers powerful analytical solutions that help businesses drive growth. Teradata solutions include the Teradata database, and analytical applications for customer relationship management, operations and financial management, business performance management and e-business. To learn more about Teradata Division and its solutions, go to http://www.Teradata.com .

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a leader in providing Relationship Technology(TM) solutions to customers worldwide in the retail, financial, communications, manufacturing, travel and transportation, and insurance markets. NCR's Relationship Technology solutions include privacy-enabled Teradata(R) warehouses and customer relationship management (CRM) applications, store automation and automated teller machines (ATMs). The company's business solutions are built on the foundation of its long-established industry knowledge and consulting expertise, value-adding software, global customer support services, a complete line of consumable and media products, and leading edge hardware technology. NCR employs 31,400 in more than 100 countries, and is a component stock of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. More information about NCR and its solutions may be found at www.ncr.com .

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is the world's second largest automaker, with 345,000 employees and manufacturing and distribution operations in more than 200 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Dearborn, Mich., the company's calendar year 2000 revenues were $170 billion. Ford Motor Company's automotive brands include Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo, Mazda, Aston Martin and Land Rover. Its automotive-related services include Hertz, Quality Care and Ford Credit. Additional information can be found on Ford's Web site at http://www.ford.com .

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SOURCE Ford Motor Company; SageTree Inc.; NCR Corporation

CONTACT:          Constance Griffiths of SageTree Public Relations,
                  +1-949-672-7891, press@sagetree.com; or Northam Barran, Teradata Division of
                  NCR Corporation, +1-770-623-7551, northam.barran@ncr.com
                  /Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/963250.html 

URL:              http://www.westerndigital.com 
                  http://www.Teradata.com 
                  http://www.sagetree.com
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