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Con-way Lands at Number One on the 2007 InformationWeek 500

Prestigious IT Industry Ranking Recognizes Trucking Company's Innovative Use of New Technologies to Drive Efficiencies into an Everyday Business Process

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Sep. 18, 2007 -

Silicon Valley-based companies are expected to be on the leading-edge of technology; after all this is the home of Google, Yahoo, Apple and Hewlett-Packard. Yet a penchant for innovation, coupled with common sense goals for applying new technology to an everyday business process, has landed an unlikely candidate — trucking company Con-way Freight — at the top of one of the tech industry’s most prestigious and sought-after rankings: the InformationWeek 500.

The editors of InformationWeek today revealed San Mateo, Calif.-based Con-way as No. 1 on the 19th annual InformationWeek 500. The company was selected for an initiative to streamline the payroll information collection process involving its more than 5,000 line-haul drivers nationwide at Con-way Freight, the company’s less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier. It is the largest subsidiary of Con-way Inc. (NYSE: CNW).

The winning project was developed to address a weakness in Con-way’s payroll systems, which previously relied heavily on manual collection of information and overnight shipping of payform documents to ensure that drivers were paid in an accurate and timely manner. Drivers would submit hand-written payforms each day, which would then be shipped to Con-way’s Payroll Department for data entry and processing. 

Any disruption in overnight shipping or lost shipments could interrupt the process and create unacceptable delays. “By identifying the need we were able to seek technology that appropriately filled this gap,” said Jacquelyn Barretta, Con-way’s vice president and chief information officer. “Optical technology combined with significantly upgraded scanners and software streamlined and expedited what was a costly, labor-intensive process.”

Using the new technology, Con-way was able to achieve a better than 99 percent rate of reliability, which allowed the Payroll and IT departments to reduce the number of staff by seven positions through attrition, and resulted in substantial savings in technology maintenance and shipping costs. 

Today, rather than ship packages of payforms out to a central processing unit each night, the payforms are delivered to local processing points where they are scanned and sent to Payroll electronically. The handwritten data is processed by an optical reader whose software automates the collection of the information and then populates the payroll system database, eliminating time-consuming and error-prone data entry. 

“The pursuit of excellence has been part of Con-way’s culture since the beginning, but it’s not everyday we earn the privilege of being named the best, by one of the most authoritative publications in the technology business, no less,” said Douglas Stotlar, chief executive officer for Con-way. “Thank you, InformationWeek, for this prestigious honor. I also want to extend my congratulations to Con-way’s IT and Finance teams. It’s because of their integrity, innovation and commitment to consistent excellence that we are receiving this extraordinary recognition today.” 

“Con-way has embraced and deployed new technologies and processes that have had a clear impact on its business," said Rob Preston, vice president and editor-in-chief of InformationWeek. “Logistics and transportation companies have always done well because their businesses run on technology. This year Con-way raised the bar vaulting to the top of the InformationWeek 500 rankings (up from 28th in 2006 and 116 in 2005).”

For nearly 20 years, InformationWeek has identified and honored the nation’s most innovative users of information technology with its annual listing. The list is unique among corporate rankings because it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders. Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at www.informationweek.com/iw500/.

About InformationWeek (www.informationweek.com)
InformationWeek is the leading multimedia Business Technology brand — online sites, magazine, events and research — providing CIOs and IT decision makers with unique perspective and tools that work in lock step with their decision making process — from the setting of business strategies to the evaluation and recommendation of technology solutions. 

Through its cross-media platform, InformationWeek provides editorial content developed by both journalists and CIO and IT peers delivered when and how they want it, 24/7. For technology marketers, InformationWeek offers a dynamic portfolio of products to engage and align with the largest, most influential buying audience in the market. This means marketing solutions that target broad audiences (reach), as well as media programs organized by content themes and specific audience segments (composition). The InformationWeek audience of three million buyers includes CIOS, IT executives and business managers who cut across industries, job titles, company sizes and global borders.

About CMP Technology (www.CMP.com)
CMP Technology is a marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company.  As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. 

About Con-way Inc. Con-way Inc. (NYSE:CNW) is a $4.7 billion freight transportation and logistics services company headquartered in San Mateo, Calif. Named FORTUNE magazine’s “Most Admired Company” in transportation and logistics for 2007, Con-way delivers industry-leading services through three primary operating companies: Con-way Freight, CFI and Con-way Truckload Services and Menlo Worldwide. These operating units provide high-performance, day-definite less-than-truckload (LTL) and full truckload and intermodal freight transportation, as well as logistics, warehousing and supply chain management services, and trailer manufacturing. Con-way Inc. and its subsidiaries operate from more than 500 locations across five continents, including North America. For more information about Con-way, visit…www.con-way.com/.

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