Company History


	Leadtec develops, distributes and supports computer software and specialized hardware for apparel manufacturers. The manufacturing of apparel has unique characteristics such as piecework payments, product definition by style/color/size and highly engineered labor operations. These characteristics render generic software products unusable for delivering satisfactory solutions for the control and management of operations. Leadtec was founded in 1978 to develop software to cost-effectively assist apparel manufacturers in the monitoring and control of manufacturing operations.
	Facilities Leadtec maintains facilities in California, Georgia and Mexico and employs approximately 20 persons. Essentially, development, administration and management personnel are located in a suburb of Los Angeles while the marketing and support personnel are located in Atlanta and Mexico.
	Leadtec's First System Leadtec's first system was APS, Apparel Production System. It provided for the preparation of bar-coded job control coupons and was used to handle the complexities of piece-work payroll, engineering rate control, production efficiency measurement and management reporting. It ran on Texas Instruments minicomputers and successfully brought the first computerized applications to many U.S. apparel producers. Leadtec has consistently implemented a philosophy of providing high-quality packaged systems with installation and training services as well as continuing product enhancement and support. By 1981, Leadtec's successes were sufficient to convince Levi Strauss & Co. to purchase and install APS systems in its international division. In the following three years, Levi Strauss & Co. installed APS into 11 of its international plants. That was a turning point in Leadtec's history which caused it to be recognized as a mature supplier offering systems which met the needs of the largest world-wide manufacturer of apparel.
	Redeveloped for IBM In 1984, Leadtec redeveloped APS to run on the newly introduced IBM System/36 which along with the System/38 became the mainstays of U.S. apparel manufacturing companies. Leadtec became an IBM Value Added Reseller which enabled it to sell complete "turnkey" computer solutions to its customers. This too, was significant in Leadtec's strategy. In 1988, Leadtec moved Satelite Plus from the IBM System/36 computer to IBM's AS/400 computer and in 1997 Leadtec redeveloped Satelite Plus to run on a PC-Server as well as the AS/400.
	Satelite Plus Realtime Leadtec was acquired by Willcox & Gibbs in 1985 and subsequently sold to CGS (Computer Generated Solutions) in 2002. At the time Leadtec was acquired by Willcox & Gibbs, over 300 apparel plants were using APS products and Leadtec was interested in the development of a system which would automate the collection of shop floor control information and provide realtime information to personnel throughout the apparel factory. In 1986 Leadtec began to develop the only truly successful realtime system for apparel manufacturing, Satelite Plus. Prior to the introduction of realtime processing, the shop floor control systems that were available to the apparel industry processed data on a batch basis using paper coupons which were collected and processed at the end of each day. Satelite Plus Realtime revolutionized apparel shop floor control systems by allowing operators to measure and improve their productive output and gave managers a tool to monitor production flow and productivity in realtime, i.e. as the work was being done. Operator earnings increased, management became proactive, and piecework sewing operators became the direct beneficiary of computer technology for the first time. Factories which install Satelite Plus typically realize productivity increases of 5-20%.
	Multi-Language In 1991 Leadtec introduced a multi-lingual version of Satelite Plus. With dramatic apparel manufacturing growth occurring in the Far East as well as Central America and the Caribbean, the multi-lingual version of Satelite Plus should be an important component of Leadtec's future growth.
	Flexible Manufacturing In 1993 Satelite Plus was expanded to support flexible manufacturing concepts including modular manufacturing and integration with Unit Production Systems. With Satelite Plus a manufacturer is able to provide management, administrative and engineering personnel a single set of tools to monitor and control a variety of production facilities. With features to support flexible manufacturing methodologies, manufacturers are able to implement the best methods and controls to meet the needs of its changing customer requirements.
	More Features In 1996 Satelite Plus new features include windowing, more flexible Statistical Quality Control Tracking, Order Tracking, Message Boards, Plant Bells, and Absence History Tracking. And in 1997 Satelite Plus-PC was introduced which enables the Satelite Plus system to run on PC-servers instead of an AS/400 host. In 1998 Satelite Plus was expanded to support shared terminals. This Shared Terminal Option (STO) permits a convenient number of piece-work operators to access one Satelite Plus terminal and gain many of the productivity benefits provided from a dedicated terminal at a substantially reduced implementation cost. This is particularly attractive in low labor cost areas.