[ Technical Textiles - diamino for Garment makers.]

Number One in the field of marker-making, Lectra extends its lead by offering a new solution for manufacturers in the fashion, furniture, and automotive industries and those using industrial fabrics, allowing them to increase productivity and accelerate their return on investment Paris, November 4, 2008 – Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using soft materials—textiles, leather, industrial fabrics, and composite materials—, is pleased to announce the launch of its newest version of Diamino, its marker-making solution for fashion, furniture, and automotive companies, and manufacturers using industrial fabrics. With 60,000 licenses installed worldwide, Lectra is unquestionably Number One in a market covering the entire integrated product development process, comprising pattern-making, marker-making, prototyping, and cutting. Today’s new version of Diamino marks a genuine step forward in interactive and automatic marker-making, enabling manufacturers to make significant fabric savings and achieve even higher productivity. Diamino: a solution adapted to the needs and particularities of each market Available as DiaminoFashion, DiaminoFootwear, DiaminoFurniture, and DiaminoTechTex, this state-of-the-art technological solution allows manufacturers to optimize markers for all types of pieces. They can also maximize fabric savings in production using one of two complementary methods, to be chosen depending on the type of fabric and the complexity of the model. The first method, called interactive (or manual) marker-making, requires some initial human intervention as the Diamino user prepares the markers on-screen, as optimally as possible, for fabric pieces to be cut during production. The automatic method is entirely managed by Diamino. Productivity is thus significantly increased, notably because a list of markers can be processed in the background or overnight, without an operator. The combination of these two methods available in Diamino brings many advantages to marker-making. High volumes of markers using simple pieces can be launched automatically, with consequent time savings and improved efficiency. The marker maker is free to concentrate on the quality of markers using more complex pieces for maximum optimization of fabric consumption. This new version of Diamino is a result of recent developments in Lectra’s Research and Development Department and the company’s business expertise acquired over the past 35 years. The strength of Diamino lies in the combination of its ever-more powerful automatic marker-making algorithms and its increasingly more accurate management of constraints specific to each market, taking into consideration each type of piece in the marker and each kind of fabric to be cut. “Diamino has no equivalent on the market today,” said Daniel Harari, Lectra CEO. “We are currently the only company to have such a complete marker-making solution, covering the entire range of the specific needs of our different customers. The ability to combine these two modes of marker-making, applied to the specific business constraints of fashion, furniture, automotive and industrial fabrics companies, is a considerable competitive advantage for our customers, and it is one of the key points which allows them to make significant savings, in terms of both fabric and time.” Diamino: fabric savings and productivity notably increased Thanks to the increasingly powerful algorithms of Lectra’s new version of Diamino, automatic marker-making is now even more efficient. Consequently, the average fabric savings between automatic and interactive marker-making have been pushed beyond the historical limits, breaking the 2% barrier. "With its new, reinforced algorithms that tight-pack all the pieces, this new version of DiaminoFashion Expert has enabled us to experience an incredible rate of efficiency with our materials," said Valérie Loiseau, Development Office Manager at JC Confection, a French company manufacturing top-of-the-line women's wear in addition to garments for its own brand, Isis. "We've been seeing material savings of 3 to 4% compared to the previous version." In markets where margins are generally low and where fabric represents, in general, more than 50% of the cost of the finished article, these figures take on real meaning when applied to the savings to be made by the customer, particularly when producing in high volumes. “Lectra’s newest DiaminoFashion has improved the automatic nesting algorithms,” said Shuhong Huang, Deputy Director at Shanghai Meroson Apparel Company Ltd, a large apparel manufacturing enterprise in China with a customer profile that includes many internationally recognized brands such as Oneill, Lost, Costco, and Oakley. “We are saving much more material in production. We believe DiaminoFashion V5R3 will help us realize greater profits.” For example, a typical small- or medium-sized company in the fashion sector, which produces $10 million in garments per year, could easily make savings of $100,000 per year by using DiaminoFashion. For markets such as automotive, where production volumes per model are much greater, the fabric savings offered by Diamino, combined with Vector technology, constitute a real, measurable competitive advantage, often a determining factor in gaining market share. “DiaminoFashion has effected significant improvement in efficiency,” said Yunlong Xue, pattern-making office supervisor at SuZhou Qunhong Fashion Company Ltd, a Chinese manufacturer specializing in men’s jacket and coats, with a staff of more than 400 employees and a production rate of one million garments per year. “We’ve tested 10 markers of three different patterns and are pleased to find that efficiency has improved 0.92% on average, with a maximum of 1.22% in fabric consumption gains compared to the previous version. The result is very impressive. This new version has really helped us save more materials and reduce costs.” Diamino: more and more accurate and specialized marker management With Diamino, companies can now take into account more and more constraints linked to the specific fabric technical characteristics or the pieces to be included in the marker. Among all these new concepts, the management of patterned fabrics is of great importance, especially in the furniture and fashion markets, and in particular for intimate apparel companies faced with the cutting and assembly of small pieces. This version also improves the efficiency and productivity of markers for pieces which are complicated to manage, such as fusing, pieces which are not visible, but which give the finished garment a better shape, and are commonly used in the market of men’s suits and in top of the range women’s ready-to-wear. This new version of Diamino also brings valuable improvements to the preparation and optimization of pieces for production, especially in dealing with grain lines. This feature enables manufacturers to improve fabric resistance by defining blade direction. For the automotive industry and for the airbag industry in particular, scanning of One Piece Woven bags is yet another valuable function. By taking into account any weaving flaws, cutting quality is ensured and a faultless airbag can be guaranteed. Diamino: compatible with Windows Vista® As with all new versions of Lectra software, Diamino is compatible with Microsoft Windows Vista®. About Lectra Lectra is the world leader in integrated technology solutions that automate, streamline, and accelerate product design, development, and manufacturing processes for industries using soft materials. Lectra develops the most advanced specialized software and cutting systems and provides associated services to a broad array of markets including fashion (apparel, accessories, footwear), automotive (car seats and interiors, airbags), furniture, as well as a wide variety of other market sectors, such as the aeronautical and marine industries, wind power, personal protective equipment. Lectra serves 20,000 customers in more than 100 countries with 1,550 employees and $297 million in 2007 revenues. The company is listed on Euronext Paris. For more information, please visit www.lectra.com Print contact Nathalie Gerbal - n.gerbal@lectra.com - +33 1 53 64 42 37