For Immediate Release

---

Donovan Marine Completes Integration of NMMA’s MDX Program

Chicago, IL - FROM: NATIONAL MARINE MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
200 E. Randolph Dr., Suite 5100
Chicago, IL  60601-6528
312-946-6200

            FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lindsey Johnson (ljohnson@nmma.org; 312-946-6204)

CHICAGO, December 14, 2005 - - The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) has announced Donovan Marine, a leading marine accessory distribution company, has successfully completed its purchase order integration to the Marine Data Exchange (MDX) as of December 1, 2005.

MDX is a Web-based, electronic business-to-business portal developed by NMMA and the National Marine Distributors Association (NMDA).  It is used to trade business documents electronically, such as purchase orders (POs), ship notices and invoices. Communication through the MDX is via secure FTP, using pre-formatted text files.

“The implementation of MDX was relatively easy, and we look forward to a streamlined business process with our many vendors,” says Donovan’s Mike Sharrow. “The integration programming to our ERP system was pretty straightforward.”

Donovan Marine’s first MDX trading partner is Sierra Marine, a business unit of Teleflex Incorporated. Sierra previously implemented MDX to trade with Morgan Recreational Supply, another marine accessory distributor.

“The savings and efficiencies are truly significant for all businesses, big and small,” echoes June Jackson, IT director at Sierra. “The ability to electronically import a customer purchase order into our sales order system allows us to eliminate the time delay and errors due to manual data entry.  Also, being able to programmatically validate inbound purchase order means we know the data is correct when it enters our system.”

With purchase order integration complete, Donovan will continue its MDX use by sending electronic POs to various suppliers and then look to integrate additional MDX business documents, including ship notices, invoices and purchase order acknowledgements.

“Using the efficiencies of MDX is a must for businesses of all sizes,” says Norman Katz, of Katzscan Inc. in Deerfield Beach, Fla., NMMA’s supply chain consultant. “At $300 per year (after sign up fees) with no per-transaction charges, it’s more than affordable; the integration efforts are minimal compared to most IT projects and savings are far-reaching, making the return on investment visible in just a matter of months.”

MDX is available to all marine industry accessory manufacturers, distributors, retailers and boatbuilders, and is uniquely positioned as the electronic business backbone for the marine industry. 

For more information about MDX, visit www.nmma.org/mdx, or contact John Warnik (jwarnik@nmma.org) or Norm Katz at (954)942-4141; nkatz@nmma.org.

###