February 24, 2003, New Windsor, NY – GretagMacbeth today announced new NetPalette – a collaborative technology that streamlines color development by as much as 50 percent. An Internet-based, client-server application, NetPalette accurately communicates digital color data between specifiers and producers. “Color development is the single most prevalent cause of costly inefficiencies among color specifiers and their supply chain partners,” remarks Richard Knapp, GretagMacbeth product marketing manager, Enterprise Color Management (ECM) Communication products. “While great strides have been recognized in supply chain management from a business process optimization standpoint, color development remains elusive. NetPalette is the first step in streamlining the color communication and approval process.” “We selected NetPalette because it offers us a way to communicate color throughout our supply chain and approve color more rapidly – all via the Internet,” said Marion Peker, project leader of Color Network, adidas. “NetPalette is being used within the adidas-Salomon Color Network to help us reduce lead times and speed time to market.” NetPalette goes beyond basic e-mail to enable true collaborative color development. It standardizes color communication and compliance - making “color by numbers” really work. NetPalette color data integrates with most color formulation and quality control systems, further compressing the color development cycle. This upstream collaboration results in more first time sample approvals, drastic reductions in sample iterations, and faster speed to market. According to Knapp, “When combined with a comprehensive enterprise color management program, we’ve seen results ranging from 50%-80% increases in speed to market.” NetPalette not only validates supplier compliance with corporate color standards, but also helps lower operating costs on both sides. Suppliers reduce time and materials costs associated with physical samples because they only make physical samples from approved digital samples. And reducing physical sample submissions reduces courier costs for both suppliers and specifiers, which in many cases can exceed $300,000.00. NetPalette is part of the Communication component of GretagMacbeth’s industry-leading Enterprise Color Management (ECM) initiative – a comprehensive program that increases speed to market through effective supply chain color management. Other components include: ECM Measurement, ECM Control, and ECM Compliance. ECM Measurement and Control include spectrophotometers, lighting and software products for measuring and controlling color, while ECM Compliance encompasses auditing and managed services for supply chain color management. NetPalette is available worldwide. Contact 1-800-622-2384 (North America) or 1-845-565-7660 (outside of North America), or visit www.gretagmacbeth.com for more information.