Software product goes back to its Kiwi roots

By ADAM GIFFORD

Atlanta-based process manufacturing software maker Ross Systems is transferring the development of its next generation of products to New Zealand.

This is a full circle for its iRenaissance software line - the product was built around the ProMix product designed in the early 1990s by Lindsay Rewcastle, then with Digital New Zealand.

Mr Rewcastle, whose company Supply Chain Consulting was put into liquidation last month, has been hired by Ross to head the development, which he is running from his Whitford home.

Ten developers have been hired, and Mr Rewcastle said he expected to have 40 by this time next year.

"The board of Ross has decided they want to run with Microsoft's .Net strategy, so that's the line we're going on," Mr Rewcastle said.

The first release from the New Zealand team is due in March.

Mr Rewcastle designed ProMix because there was little software in the market which could cope with process manufacturing - turning natural products such as milk or wood from one state into something substantially different.

The idea was to sell more Digital hardware, but the company was unwilling to commit its own developers. To write the program, Mr Rewcastle found an English company, Pioneer Computer Group, run by expatriate New Zealander Anne McCaskill and her Australian husband Tom.

ProMix scored some significant early wins, being picked by many milk processing companies including Kiwi Dairies and New Zealand Dairy Group, Watties, Fletcher Wood Panels and Lion.

Mr Rewcastle left Digital to form a consulting company, Cimdec, to provide implementation services. Cimdec was bought by Motherwell Information Systems, now Mi Services.

The McCaskills sold Pioneer to Ross Systems, which was looking to expand its Renaissance financial software product. Ross established a niche in the steel industry in the southeastern United States, and MIS New Zealand built a solid business servicing Ross customers.

But that relationship has frayed since the sale of MIS by its Scottish parent to a European investment group.

Mi Services' Australasian manager, John Quirk, said that although existing iRenaissance customers would be supported, the new owners had changed the focus leading to a "mutual divorce", with Mi Services no longer selling Ross licences.

Mr Quirk said Ross's development had slipped behind over the past three years, and it did not have the depth in areas such as demand planning and supply chain management now expected of ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems.

Larger customers, including CSR Australia, were starting to move to alternatives such as SAP.

Mr Rewcastle was originally approached to take over the Australasian agency for Ross, but convinced the company to move its development instead.

He has joined a company fighting for survival. Last month Ross announced a loss of $US800,000 ($1.88 million) on revenue of $49.5 million, a loss of 33 cents a share. This was seen as positive compared with the $4.15 cents a share or $9.7 million loss on revenue of $80 million the previous year.

During the year the company sold its payroll software product line, increased its cash and eliminated its long term debt.

Developing a strong .Net product line could make it an attractive target for other ERP companies wanting to capitalise on its strength in manufacturing.

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