CAMPBELL, CA, Apr 24, 2024 – Centric Software is pleased to announce that the sports brand JOOLA has selected their product lifecycle management (PLM) solution, Centric PLM. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, buy, make, price, allocate, sell and replenish products such as fashion, outdoor, luxury, multi-category retail, grocery, food & beverage, cosmetics & personal care and consumer electronics to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Founded in 1952 in Germany, JOOLA is a globally recognized indoor and outdoor table tennis equipment brand that has sponsored 3 Olympic Games. JOOLA designs and manufactures both hardline goods such as tables, rackets and balls, as well as softline products such as apparel, footwear and accessories. Since 2022, JOOLA has embraced the fast-growing sport of pickleball and expanded into a range of products for pickleball players.

Now headquartered in the US, JOOLA is working hard to grow the brand internationally and wanted a PLM solution to better organize product development data and free up resources.

“We launched the pickleball business in 2022, and we’ve seen tremendous growth since then,” says Richard Lee, CEO of JOOLA. “We’re launching new products left and right, so we definitely need more data organization to make sure we are tracking everything properly.”

Austin Kim, product manager at JOOLA, adds, “There’s a lot of cross-team collaboration, especially for design, so that transfer of information and data management can get tricky. User errors happen, and it’s hard to keep everything updated.”

JOOLA conducted extensive PLM research and due diligence, ultimately selecting Centric PLM based on its industry reputation, market leadership and usability. JOOLA will implement Centric PLM for its global operations.

“Our teams are already pretty well-versed in Centric,” says Sunny Le, director, Softline Products at JOOLA. “We’re excited to start using it, as we’re going to be living in it every day. Along with streamlining processes and organizing data, it’s also going to be beneficial from a labor standpoint as we’ll be able to use resources more efficiently. It will make it really easy for us to work more collaboratively.”

“The Centric team answers any questions we have and provides solutions around best practices,” concludes Kim. “We have had a wonderful time working with them.”

“We are delighted that JOOLA has placed their trust in Centric to build a digital foundation for growth,” says Fabrice Canonge, president of Centric Software. “We look forward to working closely with JOOLA to drive more efficient product development, expansion and innovation.”

About JOOLA

Established in Germany in 1952, JOOLA has dominated the professional table tennis scene in the United States for over 15 years. Partnering with North American Table Tennis (NATT) early on, JOOLA established a strong presence through the North American Tour and NATT‘s flagship event, the North American Teams Championships. Each event in the Tour generally drew in 200 to 300 participants and showcased about 30 JOOLA tables, while the Teams event exposed the brand to nearly 1000 players, who competed on about 150 JOOLA tables. With each successful event, JOOLA grew its fan base and eventually became the most visible table tennis brand in US table tennis.

JOOLA later served as the Official Table Sponsor of USA Table Tennis’ (USATT), the national governing body for table tennis, major tournaments from 2012 until 2019. This included the US Open and US National Championships.

In 2019, Sport Squad, Inc., the US-based distributor and licensee of JOOLA for the North American and Brazilian market., announced its acquisition of JOOLA Tischtennis GmbH. Established in 2006 and based in Rockville, MD, Sport Squad, Inc. was founded by Richard Lee out of a love for table tennis. Sport Squad eventually expanded to include 4 different brands dedicated to offering interactive and immersive games and gaming equipment. It is the parent company to JOOLA, iPong, Sport Squad, and Hit Mit. In 2022, JOOLA launched JOOLA Pickleball and immediately took the sport by storm as the sponsor of pickleball world #1 Ben Johns and a partner of USPPA.

For more information, visit joola.com.

About Centric Software

Silicon Valley-based Centric Software provides an innovative product concept-to-customer platform for producers, brands and retailers of all sizes in the food & beverage industry, food service and grocery retail sectors. Centric Software works closely with customers to achieve more efficient project management and safer product development, execute a competitive retail and product strategy, increase agility, speed time to market and get closer to consumers, resulting in maximized revenues and margins.

Centric Software is a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, the world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock-up and PLM solutions.

For more information, visit www.centricsoftware.com.

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CAMPBELL, CA, Apr 24, 2024 – Aviko, Europe’s largest producer of potato products, went live with Centric Software’s product lifecycle management (PLM) solution to support growth and manage product specifications. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell food & beverage and consumer products to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Founded in 1962, Aviko has expanded to become one of the top five worldwide producers of chilled, frozen and dried potato products. Aviko operates in more than 110 countries and produces 25% of all french fries in Europe.  Aviko is backed by Dutch parent company Royal Cosun and is on a growth trajectory.

Aviko’s plans include strengthening their leadership position in Europe and expanding market share all around the world. Extending their product portfolio with value-added potato products is also part of the mix and they needed a robust PLM solution to achieve those goals.

Aviko’s legacy PLM was reaching its end of life and upgrading the system would have been costly and time-consuming. The PLM was heavily customized, functionality was limited and Aviko needed a solution that supports their growth and development.

“We needed a modern solution to support our growth plans, manage product specification processes and enhance customer service in multiple markets and regions,” says Maaike Renssen-Alberts, project manager at Aviko. “We specifically looked for a solution to automate manual work and to meet the demands of operating in 110 markets.”

After an extensive vendor evaluation process, Aviko chose Centric PLM to improve management of technical product data throughout the lifecycle and support the product packaging development process.

Centric PLM is now used by several teams at Aviko including quality, regulatory, packaging, commercial operations, innovation and procurement.

With the new PLM system, Aviko is streamlining all product related data. This makes it easier and quicker to access, update and share information about ingredients, additives, semi-finished products, packaging materials and products across the company’s departments and production plants.

Centric PLM also plays an important role in end-to-end packaging development, as the system holds all relevant labeling information for specific regions and channels to ensure quick generation of compliant labeling briefs. With PLM’s single data source, cross-functional teams will have full visibility of project progress, bolstering efficiency and internal collaboration on packaging and labeling briefs, artwork proofing and managing and sourcing packaging items.

“With Centric PLM’s ‘single source of truth,’ we can streamline notifications and changes in formulation, recipes and regulations across markets to ensure regulatory compliance and launch new product variations more quickly. We can also store supplier data, claims, certificates and contracts in one place,” explains Renssen-Alberts. “Aviko has entered a new and improved era of software user experience — PLM’s modern, easy-to-use and intuitive interface is making life easier for all of our teams.”

“We are thrilled that Aviko has chosen Centric Software as a digital transformation partner,” says Chris Groves, CEO of Centric Software. “We are delighted to be partnering with such an iconic and innovative company on their journey of growth across multiple markets.”

About Aviko

Aviko was founded by 32 potato growers in 1962 and has since grown to become a global player. In 2002 Aviko became part of Royal Cosun, a modern, future-oriented cooperative with over 8,400 growers. As Europe’s largest producer of potato products in out-of-home and one of the top five global market leaders, Aviko connects people, cultures and tastes by bringing joy to tables all over the world. With a portfolio of more than 100 distinctive potato products, Aviko operates in more than 110 countries. Aviko’s 2,500 colleagues are driven by the large potential of our products and the impact they have on quality, service, innovation and sustainability in our chain: ‘from farm to fork’.

For more information, visit corporate.aviko.com.

About Centric Software

Silicon Valley-based Centric Software provides an innovative product concept-to-customer platform for producers, brands and retailers of all sizes in the food & beverage industry, food service and grocery retail sectors. Centric Software works closely with customers to achieve more efficient project management and safer product development, execute a competitive retail and product strategy, increase agility, speed time to market and get closer to consumers, resulting in maximized revenues and margins.

Centric Software is a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, the world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock-up and PLM solutions.

For more information, visit www.centricsoftware.com.

MUNICH, Germany, Apr 11, 2024 – The Supervisory Board of Siemens AG confirmed a five-year contract extension for president and chief executive officer Roland Busch from April 1, 2025. The move is a mark of support for the strategy of Siemens as a leading technology company, with the current Managing Board driving three years of record financial performance and the further strategic development of the company.

Additionally, it was announced that the Supervisory Board plans to extend the contract of Cedrik Neike, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Digital Industries, for five years from June 2025, when his current contract is set to renew.

“Siemens has the right strategy and the right leadership team to support future growth and success, building on a track record of outstanding operational execution and technology leadership. Roland Busch has successfully led a strong team with impressive results. He is driving the transformation journey of Siemens in a dynamic market environment. Roland can continue to deliver on his strong aspiration to accelerate digitalization and sustainability for customers and improve people’s lives through technology all over the world,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of the Supervisory Board.

“Cedrik Neike has led the transformation of Digital Industries: solidifying leadership in industrial automation and software, while creating strong customer impact and shaping a winning culture as a role model leader of Siemens’ largest business,” Snabe added.

“Over the last three and a half years, Siemens has achieved remarkable success as a leading technology company. We have delivered record performance in exceptional times. Our innovations are enabling customers to master their digital and sustainability transformations and we are expanding our partnerships to create even more value for customers,” said Roland Busch, president and CEO. “I deeply appreciate Team Siemens for their commitment and dedication. And I am grateful to the Supervisory Board for their trust in me. It is a privilege to lead this great company,” Busch added.

About Siemens AG

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, to cleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, the company creates technology with purpose adding real value for customers. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its customers to transform their industries and markets, helping them to transform the everyday for billions of people. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a globally leading medical technology provider shaping the future of healthcare.

In fiscal 2023, which ended on September 30, 2023, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €77.8 billion and net income of €8.5 billion. As of September 30, 2023, the company employed around 320,000 people worldwide.

Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.