FITCHBURG, MASS. (April 3, 1:30 p.m. EST) — Apps4biz.com, which does behind-the-scenes Web hosting for small and midsize companies that need business services, rolled out improved business software applications during MassPlastics '02, held March 22-23 in Fitchburg.
Andover, Mass.-based apps4biz.com has targeted plastics processing for its initial industry focus for a simple reason — company leaders have roots in plastics.
Peter Lopes, vice president of sales and marketing, was operations manager at TRW Automotive's injection molding plants in Massachusetts during the 1980s. Mark Gies, a product consultant, held positions at TRW's automotive fastener molding plant in Westminster, Mass., and at MacNeill Engineering Worldwide Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., which molds cleats for athletic shoes. Gies' background also includes stints at an automotive molder and a medical molder.
Apps4biz.com, through its Web site, offers services such as inventory and supply-chain management, order processing and electronic commerce.
The latest version boasts new features, including an embedded report writer, a new financial integration tool that allows the apps4biz products to be integrated with most fianncial accounting software, and improvements that allow users to move quickly through screens.
The company was founded in 1999. It targets companies with sales of less than $50 million that may not be able to afford to create an in-house software system.
Customers rent the applications and access them over the Internet, or purchase the software.