Zweave's Design Automation Solutions Streamline Next Generation Body Armor Development for ARMORsmith Fashion Article Posted March 13, 2007

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Zweave, Inc., a leader in on-demand design automation software serving the needs of defense industry acquisition programs and consumer products manufacturers, today announced that it will provide services to ARMORsmith, a leading provider of next generation body armor. ARMORsmith has signed a two year subscription agreement to Zweave's Zdesign to manage product development data associated with the research, development, and manufacture of lightweight body armor solutions for Military and civilian police.

With a unique focus on human factors in the product lifecycle and defense industry specific features, Zweave's on-demand design automation solutions support the collaborative product lifecycle management of clothing and individual equipment items. Zdesign is a comprehensive, integrated suite of Collaborative Design Studios in which creative and sourcing teams come together to manage all aspects of product development. After spending twenty years in product development with inefficient tools and processes to support color, fit, design, trend research, merchandising, sampling and sourcing, our team of product development and technology experts have created the tools we have always wanted for design and product development activities, says McCann, an Apparel Industry Product Development Veteran and the President and Founder of Zweave. We have received seven Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the US Department of Defense to develop clothing and equipment design automation solutions to support the defense acquisition community. After five years of government funded R&D, we are launching Zdesign and Fit Studio our first products for the Consumer Products Markets in May 2007 with our partner OptiTex usa.

ARMORsmith required a system that would support both male and female 3D data from medical imaging, full body scans, landmarks, 3D fit, pattern making, and portfolio management said Alex Gallo, President of ARMORsmith. Zdesign lets us replace manual product data management systems with an integrated and automated solution that supports versioning, change control and secure collaboration with our internal and external partners in the defense industry. Zdesign supports our requirements for managing complex anthropometric and human factors information together with pattern making, grading and 3D CAD solutions from OptiTex while supporting our workflow and business processes to guarantee ARMORsmith's solutions reach our troops on the battlefield today and not in ten years.

Our partnership with Zweave has allowed us to integrate OptiTex's 2D and 3D design tools with Zweave's Fit Studio , enabling ARMORsmith's design team to maximize product development efficiencies through the use of Anthropometric Virtual Models, custom patterns and Fit Workspaces said Yoram Burg, President of OptiTex USA. The Warfighter depends on the fit of their body armor and our tools combined with Zweave's PLM approach to managing fit data will save lives.

The adoption of Zdesign by ARMORsmith further validates Zweave's on-demand design automation solutions as a highly attractive alternative to expensive, risky, and cumbersome, non apparel-specific PLM client-server applications, said David Buck, CEO of Zweave. For the first time, Zweave is offering access to apparel focused, web-based Product Lifecycle Management software as an ASP with a yearly subscription fee instead of as an enterprise solution necessitating expensive software license fees. Our approach makes it possible for small and medium size companies on the cutting edge of product design, whether fashion or defense focused, to minimize their internal IT resource obligations. We lower their overall costs, reduce the implementation complexity and speed up the time to launch, while providing access to cutting edge software.

About ARMORsmith

ARMORsmith Company develops next generation armor solutions for both male and female protection that incorporate the latest in nanotechnology, high strength lightweight materials, microclimate systems, transparent armor, data-communications, and power systems. The lightweight & scalable defensive technological advancements greatly enhance protection for the warfighter and police officer with anthropometrically developed armor solutions that can be produced cost effectively in volume.

About OptiTex

Founded in 1987, OptiTex specializes in the development of innovative easy-to-operate CAD/cAM solutions for sewn products and other related industries. Its native Microsoft Windows based software packages for digitizing, pattern engineering, grading, marking, advanced automatic nesting, made to measure and draping, are specifically designed to meet the needs of today's manufacturers of industrial fabrics, apparel, upholstery, transportation, composites, home furnishings, and other sewn products. OptiTex's open architecture system comes amply equipped with a multitude of import/export formats, enabling OptiTex users to interface with a wide range of software and hardware. OptiTex also offers the convenient option of purchasing a completely integrated package, including OptiTex software solutions, digitizer, and pen or ink jet plotter. Available in more than 20 languages, OptiTex products are sold and supported around the world through certified distributors and OEMs.

About Zweave

Zweave, Inc. is a leader in on-demand design automation software, serving the needs of Defense acquisition programs, the Defense industry, and consumer products manufacturers. For the thousands of people working in organizations that design, source and manufacture clothing, footwear, equipment, textiles and consumer products, Zweave's software solutions make it as easy as possible to share and manage product development information anytime, anywhere. Product research, design and development are the ﬁrst steps in delivering a product to market. Every decision including ﬁt, color, material and trim impacts cost, sourcing location and time to market.