KRATON Selects LMS for Transportation Management Services, Technology
Press Release - 10/4/2005

ST. LOUIS, MO – Logistics Management Solutions (LMS), a non-asset-based third-party logistics provider, has been selected to provide transportation management services and technology to KRATON Polymers LLC (KRATON), a Houston, Texas-based specialty chemicals company with annual revenues of more than $800 million.

LMS will direct KRATON’s outbound domestic freight operations, which entail truckload and less-than-truckload shipments traveling to KRATON customers throughout North America. Additionally, authorized KRATON personnel will use LMS’ transportation management system (TMS), TOTAL, to track and trace shipments via the Internet and produce carrier utilization and performance reports. LMS is also responsible for negotiating KRATON’s carrier rates.

"Our partnership with LMS was a result of the changing marketplace in the trucking industry," says John Branch, logistics manager for KRATON. "The ability to expand our contract carrier base to ensure coverage of our customer shipments at the lowest possible cost, without adding to staff or investing in systems technology, was a strategic decision by KRATON. The benefits were quickly realized as the economy expanded and truck capacity could not keep up with the market."

KRATON’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system sends daily shipping orders to TOTAL, which uses Microsoft’s BizTalk® Server to efficiently exchange data with other systems. LMS planners use this data to plan and execute outbound freight shipments. LMS updates TOTAL with shipping and carrier information, enabling KRATON to access information 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Internet.

TOTAL is a service of LMS, which means KRATON Polymers can reap the benefits of TMS technology without a large investment or system commitment.

About LMS

LMS is a non-asset-based, third-party logistics provider that brings millions of dollars in transportation cost savings to some of the world’s best-known companies, including BASF, Monsanto and The Scotts Company. We combine Web-enabled technology with proven logistics practices to offer optimization, execution and data management services that maximize our clients’ operational efficiencies. For more information, visit www.lmslogistics.com.

About KRATON Polymers

KRATON Polymers LLC is a premier, global specialty chemicals company and is the world’s largest producer of styrenic block copolymers (“SBCs”), a family of products whose chemistry was pioneered by KRATON over forty years ago. SBCs enhance the performance of applications including adhesives, sealants, asphalt and bitumen modification, packaging, compounding and personal hygiene products. KRATON has the leading position in nearly all of its core markets and is the only producer of SBCs with global manufacturing capability. Its production facilities are located in the United States, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Brazil and Japan. For more information about KRATON, visit us at www.KRATON.com.

Polymer Holdings LLC is the parent company of KRATON Polymers LLC and has no material assets other than its investment in KRATON Polymers LLC.

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