RedPrairie acquires BlueCube Software

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 7/1/2006

RedPrairie, one of the world's top suppliers of supply chain execution (SCE) software, is acquiring BlueCube Software. BlueCube provides store operations management software for the retail and hospitality industries, including such customers as Marriott hotels, Albertsons grocery chain and retailer JCPenney.

"From a strategic standpoint, this acquisition is as important or more important that the others we've made," says RedPrairie company leader John Jazwiec. "This is clearly a delineation point between where the rest of the supply chain execution software industry is going and where we're going."

The acquisition comes when other major SCE software suppliers are expanding into planning, reverse logistics and manufacturing execution to differentiate themselves in the market. By acquiring BlueCube, a company that focuses on managing inventory within retail stores, RedPrairie is seeking to create a strong connection between retail store operations and distribution and manufacturing.

This is the fifth in a series of acquisitions for RedPrairie. The company acquired European SCE supplier LIS in February 2004, RangeGate Mobile Solutions in October 2005, build-to-order manufacturing software supplier Alta A/S in January of this year and SCE supplier MARC Global in February.