Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Sun Chemical implements global Project Portfolio Management with GenSight

GenSight powers Sun Chemical’s worldwide project and portfolio management (PPM) activities coordinated across 20 sites in Europe and North America.

London, UK – 19 June, 2008 – The GenSight Group, a leading provider of PPM solutions, has completed the 1st implementation phase of a global Project Portfolio Management for Sun Chemical, the largest global supplier of printing inks for graphic arts and pigments, with a turnover of $3.5 billion (£1.72bn).

GenSight has worked with Sun Chemical to implement a custom global project and portfolio management system, based on GenSight Enterprise Portfolio Management 7.0. The centralised electronic system captures R&D project information, business and other associated data, accessible to appropriate technical staff and multifunctional team members in Europe and North America.

GenSight Enterprise 7.0 is designed for resource management and cross-functional project and portfolio management across R&D, IT, capital, sales and marketing. It includes advanced web-based reporting systems and dashboards that use graphical, numerical and tabular displays to provide global analysis and reporting on key performance metrics; while an automated alert and workflow system manages risks and events.

GenSight is now the only application used by Sun Chemical for project and portfolio management of development projects. GenSight provides extensive decision-support visualisation and analysis tools as well as global time tracking and reporting for analysing project performance metrics, including costs, budget performance and expected return on investment.

Robin Clarke, technology process manager at Sun Chemical said: “Getting the right project and portfolio management software was vital for us. This tool allows us to link the business value of projects with strategy, resources and specific project deliverables. We have many simultaneous and complex projects and need visibility across these activities for the functional stakeholders who are located at diverse sites. Since going live, we have full visibility of our global R&D effort which has allowed us to avoid duplicity and optimise project selection, while deploying and linking resources much more efficiently.”

He continued: “We continue to optimise the system configuration. GenSight is flexible enough to accommodate our evolving business needs and global deployment of the system. For the 1st time, we can now view resource allocation dynamically. With all the decision-making information for project deliverables available at their fingertips, stakeholders can now sign-off projects from any location at any time. This has opened up our link to other functions that play a key role in project management, such as purchasing, our environmental group, marketing and manufacturing.”

Doctor Cynthia Arnold, CTO of Sun Chemical, said: “At Sun Chemical, our technology management team decided to implement GenSight in order to support the integration of our technical projects world-wide into an efficient, global, portfolio. We were deeply involved in trialling the new version, which was configured to meet our specific needs, and were impressed by its functionality, project visibility and improved management capability. We have implemented the system for our central development projects and trained users across Europe and North America. Having global project coordination supported by an easy-to-use tool aligned to our management processes leverages our resources and enables us to maintain our competitive leadership”

David Munt, MD for The GenSight Group added: “Before deploying GenSight, Sun Chemical used a variety of gate management systems across different sites, including paper-based, spreadsheet and other non-integrated methods. We worked with Sun Chemical to create a dynamic environment for project and portfolio management, with strategic decisions and project planning now based on a real-time global database of projects. Now, every single development project across Sun Chemical’s global operations is on a single system, whilst permissions and security restrictions ensure that key information is accessed only by those that need it. For all organisations, managing the value and performance of a portfolio of projects is essential for survival and success.”

About Sun Chemical

Sun Chemical, a member of the DIC group, is the world's largest producer of printing inks and pigments and a leading provider of materials to packaging, publication, coatings, plastics, cosmetics, and other industrial markets. With annual sales over $4 billion, Sun Chemical has 12,000 employees supporting customers around the world. The Sun Chemical Group of companies includes such established names as Coates, Hartmann, Kohl & Madden, and US Ink.
Sun Chemical Corporation is a subsidiary of Sun Chemical Group B.V., the Netherlands, and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, U.S.A. For more info, please visit our Web site at www.sunchemical.com.

About The GenSight Group

GenSight is a leading provider of Project Portfolio Management software. Its Fortune 100 customers regard the company as the best-in-class provider of portfolio management including portfolio analysis, visualisation and decision support technology. Current customers utilising GenSight’s software include Johnson and Johnson, Sun Chemical, Georgia Pacific and British Telecom. The company is tightly focused and has spent over a decade innovating and honing its technology, product and methodology and successfully developing relationships with its customers. In 2008 GenSight was selected by Red Herring as a Top 100 Technology company in Europe.

The GenSight technology uses proprietary optimisation algorithms to master the complexity of portfolio management and strategic choice. The solution is proven and has been implemented on a global basis by leading corporations across diverse industries such as pharmaceuticals, healthcare, consumer products, chemicals, financial services and telecommunications. Customers achieve high value returns, typically measured as a multiple of the implementation cost.

The company’s co-founders, David Munt and Mike Menard, have over 25 years’ experience of technology development and portfolio management, respectively. Mr. Munt’s experience includes a history of technology innovation in the areas of strategic planning and portfolio management. Mr. Menard was previously a senior executive at Johnson & Johnson and a consultant and expert in criteria-based decision-making.
www.gensight.com

For further info please contact:

Sally Forge or Hazel Butters
Prompt Communications on behalf of GenSight
UK +44(0)20 8996 1652 / +44 (0)7780 687813
gensight@prompt-communications.com