BURLINGTON, MA, January 7, 2002—In the fiercely competitive transportation and logistics industry, Trimac Corporation needed a technology solution to help them achieve continuous process improvement to offset industry cost increases, as well as strengthen their customer relationships by adding a unique, value-add to their service offering. To fulfill this need, Trimac chose Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSE: CSN), the leading provider of business intelligence solution, to equip their employees and customers with powerful data analysis and reporting capabilities.

Trimac Corporation is North America's premier provider of bulk materials transportation and logistics services, with a fleet of over 3000 vehicles. Using Cognos Impromptu^® Web Reports and Cognos PowerPlay^® Web, Trimac has recognized a $1 million dollar return-on-investment to date by integrating Cognos into its dispatch system. With Cognos, Trimac is able to compare actual trip data to engineered Trip Standards to look for process improvements that reduce costs and enhance customer service. Trip Standards examine factors like equipment utilization, based on equipment or customer, by reviewing variables such as load/unload times, distance traveled, and gross vehicle weight.

"With Cognos, we can drill down and compare the actual trip information to what we have committed to our customers, which improves the value of the total logistics chain," said Ted Barnicoat, chief information officer, Trimac. "Cognos has allowed us to provide a complete 'order to fulfillment' system to our customers and the Cognos-supported Trip Standards will yield an estimated $2 million in reduced costs this year."

Trimac's 130 terminals across North America are also using Cognos. Branch managers use business intelligence to measure key performance indicators (KPI's), like determining whether Trimac is meeting revenue per mile estimate. Using Cognos Impromptu Web Reports, managers can develop reports based on these KPI's that can be shared throughout the company. "Cognos enables managers to measure and improve the performance and productivity of their terminals and regions," added Barnicoat.

By the end of 2002 Trimac hopes to provide customers access to online reports via a secure extranet so that they may perform their own multidimensional analysis on their logistics data.

"Cognos business intelligence solutions have allowed Trimac to innovate the supply chain process, deliver increased value for the customer, and identify significant savings for the company," said Karen Williams, director of product marketing, Cognos. "Cognos offers a personalized mix of business intelligence solutions that can be used across the organization to help all employees, partners, and suppliers make better business decisions."

About Trimac:
Founded in 1945, Trimac Corporation is North America's premier provider of services in highway transportation of bulk commodities through Trimac Transportation Services, and third party logistics services through Trimac Logistics Inc. Trimac's total revenues were almost $700 Million (CDN) in 2000. In addition, Trimac holds interests in several associated corporations. The company employs more than 6,000 employees across North America.