Critical Manufacturing Announces VAR Agreement With Znt-Richter

Online, January 11, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Critical Manufacturing, an enterprise which creates leading edge software solutions for the high-tech manufacturing industries of semiconductor, solar and electronics and znt-Richter a software and solution provider in the field of factory automation for the semiconductor, solar, automotive and chemical industry, have signed a VAR agreement. According to the agreement, znt-Richter will have exclusive rights to re-sell Critical Manufacturing's lean MES product, cmNavigo, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

"The German speaking countries in Europe represent some of the strongest growth in the advanced manufacturing industries we serve. With a knowledgeable workforce and more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing IT solutions, znt-Richter is a great partner for us" says Jeff Peabody, Critical Manufacturing's VP of Sales and Business Development. "Joining the strengths of our product with znt's quality system integration services allows us to have strong representation, deployment, and support capabilities close to our customers in this important region and will open new opportunities for both companies."

cmNavigo is a lean MES solution developed from the ground up on proven Microsoft technologies which provide extensive benefits and lower total cost of ownership. The system is completely scalable making it ideal from small R&D environments to large scale high volume production facilities. A full range of MES capabilities including: WIP tracking, Genealogy, Traceability, Routing & Dispatching, Dashboards & reports, SPC, Data collection, Exception management, Failure catalogue, Equipment management and many others, facilitate increased control, visibility and productivity for manufacturers seeking higher profitability and a competitive edge.

"Europe's strength as a production location is based on the power of innovation, engineering skills and in the quality of skilled labor resources", says Hans Mayer, COO of znt GmbH. "In order to compensate for the higher labor expenses, European manufacturers need optimal and highly automated production processes. As znt-Richter company group, offering production automation systems, we see significant need for MES solutions, not only within the semiconductor field but also in many other industries. The long term experience of Critical Manufacturing in the MES domain and the leading edge technology implemented in cmNavigo MES product form the ideal base to provide solutions with highest value to our customers".

About Critical Manufacturing S.A.
Critical Manufacturing is an enterprise founded from the established business of Critical Software and the inspiration and experience of a team of international renowned industry experts, that creates leading edge software solutions for the advanced manufacturing industries of solar, electronics and semiconductors. The company is part of Critical Group, a private group of companies founded in 1998 to provide solutions for mission and business critical information systems. Critical Manufacturing has its headquarters and main technical centre in Portugal and additional facilities in Germany and China.

For more information, visit www.criticalmanufacturing.com or contact us at contact@criticalmanufacturing.com

About znt-Richter
znt GmbH, as a member of the znt-Richter Group, is a solution provider in the field of production automation and quality management. For the past 20 years they have successfully implemented innovative and technological progressive IT solutions based on consequent orientation on the international market. znt-Richter evaluates implements, sells and maintains worldwide complete solutions for the Factory Automation, especially for the semiconductor, solar, automotive and chemical industries.

In addition, the parent company znt Management Holding GmbH is globally networking within the znt-Richter group in order to bundle its worldwide know how. Thus, they are in the position to optimize the technique, the projects and the services for their customers in a continuous process.

znt-Richter has its headquarter in Munich and worldwide subsidiaries in Burghausen, Dresden, Villach/Austria, Penang/Malaysia, Singapore and in San Francisco and Portland/USA.

For more information, visit www.znt-richter.com or contact us at Vertrieb@znt.de

For more information, please contact:
Rui Melo Biscaia
Critical Manufacturing
Marcom Manager
E-mail: rui.m.biscaia@criticalmanufacturing.com