Brookshire Grocery Company Selects SAP Solutions To Reduce Costs And Streamline Operations

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that Brookshire Grocery Company will implement mySAP Business Suite to integrate operations at its corporate headquarters, 152 retail locations, and six manufacturing facilities. Brookshire anticipates that the implementation will help improve the productivity of staff members -- or "Partners" -- by eliminating redundant processes, giving store managers access to timely, accurate information and more effectively managing operational and manufacturing processes. The project will replace legacy systems with an integrated financials, manufacturing, HR and payroll solution. The announcement was made at the National Retail Federation (NRF) show, being held Jan. 11-14, 2004, in New York.

Brookshire's goal for the project is to implement an integrated financial, human resources and manufacturing management system that provides necessary tools, reporting and security to meet its current business needs while offering flexibility for growth. The "Partners" SAP project includes mySAP Financials, mySAP Human Resources (mySAP HR) and SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) to provide functionality for the sharing of timely and up-to-date data, flexibility to handle new business opportunities, analysis tools to enable better decision-making and the ability to close and issue financial reports faster. Manufacturing capabilities will provide a collaborative environment to enable higher product margins, increased overall manufacturing capacities and in-depth planning processes.

"mySAP Business Suite will enable us to meet our objective of a real-time integrated system, allowing us to better manage our store network, distribution centers and manufacturing operations," said Tim King, vice president and controller, Brookshire Grocery Company. "SAP solves our need to receive timely, critical data for managing the financial, human resources and manufacturing aspects of our business. SAP's ability to address the unique needs of retailers as well as the ability to be a long-term business partner were key factors in our selection."

The rollout will provide Partners with easy-to-use and flexible online report viewing and distribution capabilities, as well as drill-down and query capabilities. Drawing on the capabilities of the SAP NetWeaver integration and application platform, the solution will integrate Brookshire's internal business and allow for simple interfacing with business partners and suppliers, including those on non-SAP systems. SAP provides a stable technology platform for growth and offers flexibility to respond to retail and manufacturing market changes.

Brookshire's system will be implemented in three phases, beginning in 2004, and will be fully operational by 2006. The first phase supports financials and reporting functionality from mySAP Financials and SAP Business Information Warehouse. Brookshire Partners will access the system through SAP Enterprise Portal.

"mySAP Business Suite will enable Brookshire to increase productivity, minimize overhead and streamline financial reporting," said Bill McDermott, CEO and president, SAP America. "SAP provides a full range of solutions for the retail industry and unique flexibility to handle both retail and consumer product manufacturing operations. mySAP Business Suite provides a solid enterprise solutions platform that will allow Brookshire to address supply chain management, customer relationship management and additional strategic functionality over time as the business grows."

About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software solutions. Through mySAP Business Suite, people in businesses around the globe are improving relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations, and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains. The unique core processes of various industries, from Aerospace to Utilities, are supported effectively by SAP's 23 industry solution portfolios. Today, more than 20,500 customers in over 120 countries run more than 67,500 installations of SAP software. With subsidiaries in over 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at www.sap.com).