New software suite integrates wide range of newspaper functions to make ad production more efficient and less costly NEXPO 2002, Orlando, Florida; June 22, 2002 -- The first web-enabled ad tracking and workflow software system that serves as an enterprise-wide hub connecting all the groups involved in newspaper production - including advertisers - into an efficient and integrated work environment, was introduced here in the FT&A booth (# 621) today by Pine Tree Systems. The new AdConnex(TM) software suite is aimed at improving efficiency at daily newspapers with circulations exceeding 40,000, as well as clusters of local and regional newspapers. It is claimed to be the only system currently available that can manage the entire advertising cycle from the creation of an ad to the production of an electronic tear sheet. First users of the ad tracking and workflow technologies used in AdConnex include the Orange County Register, Arizona Republic and Baton Rouge Advocate, while more 150 companies in the US and Europe rely on Pine Tree's Mosaic digital asset management (DAM) technology used in the Ad Works platform. The financial and organizational justification to install an AdConnex system is compelling, explains Paul Norton, vice president of US Operations for Pine Tree Systems. "Despite the widespread adoption of computer technology by different newspaper departments, that technology often is not integrated. Newspaper personnel waste hundreds of person-hours each month hunting for a growing number of files needed for ad production that are often poorly organized, schedulers still manually shuttle shards of paper with ad booking information between departments, and workers still sort incoming digital ads manually. "In addition to the high cost of inefficiency, the average daily newspaper loses thousands of dollars each week running the wrong ads or running ads with the wrong specifications, and then having to run revenue-stealing make-goods," says Norton. "AdConnex is unique in automating the many and often disparate newspaper functions that are both critical to ad production and often the most tedious and prone to human error," he explains. "By integrating these functions to make ad production leaner and more efficient, installations using AdConnex tracking and workflow technology have demonstrated savings exceeding 100 person-hours per week, generating a return on their software investment in about nine months."