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Crayola Announces Lineup for Crayola Creativity Week, A Global Event Featuring Renowned Creative Talent

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Free week-long educational activities led by Matthew McConaughey, Ada Limón, NASA scientists, 
Max Greenfield, Henry Winkler, Mikaila Ulmer, Mo Willems, and more

EASTON, Pa., Oct. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Creativity icon Crayola has announced plans for its annual Crayola Creativity Week – a global week-long event that provides parents and educators with tools to nurture creativity in children. This year’s virtual program theme, Imagination in Action, is packed with creative engagements from some of the most celebrated creators in the world supporting Crayola’s focus on creativity to illuminate learning across subject areas. The free event will take place from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2, 2025.

Launched in 2022, Crayola Creativity Week is now part of the company’s Campaign for Creativity – an advocacy initiative that is igniting a new dialogue about the importance of developing childhood creativity as a life skill to help kids reach their full potential and encourage adults to nurture that creativity by making time for simple creative moments every day. 

Crayola Creativity Week brings more than 6 million children together globally across six continents and 100 countries, numbers that continue to grow as the program reaches more educators and parents around the world. Throughout the week, educators and parents will have access to free, engaging, and inspiring content, including hands-on educational activity videos, downloadable handouts to follow and create along, daily prizes, and a livestream virtual school assembly that connects children around the world to celebrate creativity.

Crayola partners with artists, actors, authors, and entrepreneurs who are passionate about inspiring, engaging, and supporting children’s education. This year’s lineup includes:

Monday Jan. 27: Life Lessons with author Matthew McConaughey, and illustrator Renée KurillaTuesday Jan. 28: Change & Collaboration with author and actor Henry Winkler, author Lin Oliver and illustrator Dan SantatWednesday Jan. 29: Abstract Thinking with children’s author-illustrator and artist Mo WillemsThursday, Jan. 30: Confidence Soars with author and actor Phillipa Soo, author Maris Pasquale Doran, and illustrator Qin LengFriday, Jan. 31: Flows Like Water with NASA scientists, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, and illustrator Peter Sís, plus a global school assembly that includes actors Jennifer Aniston and Quinta Brunson, 14-year-old musician Nandi Bushell, surfer Maya Gabeira, and moreSaturday, Feb. 1: Bee-lieve in Your Future with author and 19-year-old entrepreneur Mikaila UlmerSunday, Feb. 2: Conquer Fears with author and actor Max Greenfield, and illustrator James Serafino

“Crayola Creativity Week gives children the tools to bring their ideas to life, encouraging imaginative expression and innovative thinking,” said Cheri Sterman, senior director of education, Crayola. “We’re proud to introduce this year’s event that continues to foster creativity in the classroom and at home and builds children’s confidence as they see the role creativity plays today and in their future. Partnering with educators and parents helps everyone nurture and celebrate these moments of discovery.”

The program’s learning activities align with various subjects’ educational standards, including the AASL National School Library Standards, and can be completed in a single class period with minimal prep time. Its downloadable resources, which are available in multiple versions for different age groups, meet standards in 15 countries, and are translated into eight languages.

“These resources help teachers empower students to bring creativity to every subject area, from literacy to math and science as well as social and emotional learning,” added Sterman.

Following Creativity Week, all hands-on daily activities and celebrity video events, including the live-streamed virtual assembly, will be available for viewing any time on demand for free.

The sign-up portal is now open, and parents and educators can learn more about the program and register to participate by visiting Crayola.com/CreativityWeek. Educator and parent participants who post student artwork on social channels using #CrayolaCreativityWeek will have a chance to win books, art supplies, technology, guitars, creative space and teacher lounge makeovers, an all-expenses-paid trip to Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex, and more.

Collaborators for Crayola Creativity Week include official sponsors MFS Financial Management and Audible, along with support from NASA STEM, the U.S. Census’ Statistics in Schools, Blue Origin’s Club for the Future, Space4All, Random House Children’s Books, Penguin Young Readers, HarperCollins, Norton Young Readers, Abrams Kids, Hidden Pigeon Company, Khan Academy Kids, GoNoodle, Highlights Magazine, Martin Guitar, Walmart, School Specialty, Office Depot, Kroger, and more.   

About Crayola
Crayola LLC, based in Easton, Pa. and a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, is the worldwide leader in children’s creative expression products. Known for the iconic Crayola Crayon first introduced in 1903, the Crayola brand has grown into a portfolio of innovative art tools, crafting activities and creativity toys that offer children innovative new ways to use color to create everything imaginable. Crayola Learning provides free creative learning resources to K-8 educators to prepare students with academic and life skills that hinge on creativity. Visit www.crayola.com/education for more information or join the community at www.facebook.com/crayolaeducation.

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SOURCE Crayola

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Pet Circle builds fulfilment foundation for continued ecommerce growth with Manhattan WMS

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SYDNEY, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Manhattan Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: MANH) has partnered with Australia’s largest online pet retailer, Pet Circle, to modernise its national fulfilment network with Manhattan warehouse management system (WMS). This partnership has created a digital foundation for warehouse automation, improved operational efficiency and faster delivery as the online retailer continues its rapid growth.

As a 100% ecommerce business, Pet Circle had relied on a bespoke WMS for more than 13 years. While the platform had successfully supported the company’s early growth, increasing order volumes and manual warehouse processes were making it more difficult to scale efficiently and support future automation.

Pet Circle selected Manhattan WMS to support its long-term growth strategy and automation roadmap. A key factor in the decision was Manhattan Associates’ local implementation team, whose close collaboration helped configure the solution around Pet Circle’s operational requirements.

The implementation began at Pet Circle’s Sydney fulfilment centre before being rolled out across facilities in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, creating consistent warehouse processes across the retailer’s national network. Shortly after the initial go-live, Pet Circle introduced autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), automated packing systems, and conveyor and sortation technology, with Manhattan WMS serving as the platform connecting these technologies across its fulfilment operation.

Andrew Haverfield, Head of Innovation Supply Chain at Pet Circle, said the move to Manhattan WMS was driven by the company’s long-term growth strategy.

“As a fast-growing ecommerce business, we needed a warehouse management platform that could grow with us. Our previous system had served us well for many years, but we’d reached the point where manual processes were making it harder to keep pace with increasing demand and deliver the level of service our customers expect,” Haverfield explained. “Manhattan WMS has given us a modern foundation for our fulfilment network. We’ve been able to standardise processes across our sites, introduce warehouse automation and better manage peak trading periods, while creating a platform that can continue to evolve alongside our business.”

Since implementing Manhattan, Pet Circle has streamlined previously manual warehouse processes, improved operational consistency across its fulfilment network and strengthened its ability to manage peak trading periods. During the last Black Friday sales event, the retailer maintained same-day and next-day delivery services throughout almost the entire peak period – a significant improvement on previous years, when elevated order volumes could impact fulfilment for one to two weeks afterwards.

The solution has also delivered greater visibility across warehouse operations, providing richer operational data and audit trails that enable faster issue resolution, continuous optimisation and more informed decision-making. Pet Circle is now using these insights to further optimise its operations while exploring future automation opportunities across its fulfilment network.

Raghav Sibal, Vice President APAC at Manhattan Associates, said modern fulfilment operations require cloud native technology that can continually evolve alongside the business.

“To support today’s speed of operations, retailers need a flexible platform that can integrate automation, unlock greater operational visibility and continuously adapt as customer expectations evolve,” said Sibal. “Pet Circle’s transformation demonstrates how the right technology foundation can help businesses improve fulfilment performance today while supporting long-term growth and innovation.”

Looking ahead, Pet Circle plans to continue optimising warehouse processes across its national fulfilment network while evaluating further automation opportunities to support future growth.

-ends-

About Manhattan Associates

Manhattan Associates is a global technology leader, providing supply chain and omnichannel commerce solutions with unmatched AI capabilities. We design, build and offer best-in-class, AI-powered, cloud-based solutions that drive resilience and efficiency for businesses. We enable enterprises to uniquely unify front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution. 

Our commitment to innovation, cloud-native platform and API-first architecture create simpler experiences and faster paths to value for our customers. We empower them to preempt and react to emerging trends and global disruptions with technical expertise and operational confidence, transforming challenges into competitive advantage. For more information, please visit www.manh.com.au

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/pet-circle-builds-fulfilment-foundation-for-continued-ecommerce-growth-with-manhattan-wms-302937285.html

SOURCE Manhattan Associates Inc.

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Xinhua Silk Road: Transformation helps “north China capital of daily porcelains” seek bigger global presence

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BEIJING, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — When the 2026 China (Beijing) International Exquisite Ceramics Expo kicked off on November 5, 20 ceramic producers from Huairen City of Shanxi Province, north China showcased not only delicate exhibits, but also the prowess of their porcelain artisans.

The exhibition offered visitors a chance to get a glimpse of Huairen’s porcelain industry whose transformation driven by technology innovation and development philosophy change has borne delightful fruits.

In September, Huairen municipal government was included in the list of founders for establishing demonstration zones for national geographical indication protection in China and was the only one selected in Shanxi Province.

Currently, the city is capable of producing over 20 series of ceramic products such as daily porcelains, hotel porcelains, packaging porcelains and porcelain artworks, and boasts an annual full-industrial chain output value of 6.3 billion yuan.

In Huairen Economic and Technological Development Zone, 31 local enterprises engaged in ceramic raw materials production, R&D, manufacturing, testing, logistics and marketing have leveraged digital technologies to transform production.

The old production model, which relied on veteran craftsmen judging firing temperature by sight and preparing glaze based on experience, has gradually been replaced by standardized and intelligent processes.

In the workshop of a local ceramic producer, robotic arms apply glaze with high precision, and intelligent kilns independently maintain constant temperatures, cutting the production cycle by nearly 30 percent.

At present, 42 production lines in Huairen have completed intelligent upgrading, helping raise qualified product rates of local producers to 85 percent while dropping unit energy consumption by 18 percent.

While intelligent manufacturing and green development are driving cost-effective production, Huairen ceramic businesses now focus more on design and building emotional and cultural bonds with consumers.

Just like the fine exhibits they brought to the Beijing expo from November 5 to 8, ceramic products of 1,000-plus types from Huairen, including elegant tableware for hotels and co-branded products printed with Disney characters, are on display in a spacious exhibition hall in Yiwu International Trade City.

Beside the hall, a 1,000-square-meter ceramics warehouse for cross-border trade is providing global merchants with access to one-stop product selection and order-placing, bringing Huairen ceramics to daily life of global consumers.

Original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/352962.html

SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road

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Oceanpayment to Showcase OP Link for Cross-Border QR Payments at SFF 2026

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Oceanpayment will showcase OP Link at the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2026, taking place November 18–20 at Singapore EXPO.

HONG KONG, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Digital wallets and QR code payments are part of everyday life worldwide. From shopping and dining to getting around, consumers rely on familiar local wallets, which may not always be accepted abroad.

Using local wallets abroad involves more than adding a payment method. Payment networks, banking systems, and clearing arrangements vary by market. Cross-border QR payments require network connections, transaction data exchange, currency conversion, clearing, and settlement.

Greater interoperability between payment networks is playing an increasingly important role in extending local payment methods across borders.

A traveler may scan a merchant’s QR code with a familiar local wallet; the merchant accepts payment through its existing QR network. Providers across markets must coordinate transaction processing and settlement.

For wallet operators, banks, and payment service providers, cross-border connectivity can extend service reach, reduce duplicate integrations, and support more consumer payment scenarios.

To address this need, Oceanpayment offers OP Link, a cross-border payment connectivity service designed to connect local wallets with payment acceptance networks across markets. OP Link provides wallet operators, banks, payment service providers, and acquiring partners with QR payment connectivity, transaction routing, and support for clearing and settlement coordination. Its capabilities include network access, currency conversion, transaction status synchronization, and cross-network reconciliation, helping simplify coordination between payment systems and extend local payment services to more cross-border consumer scenarios.

As payment networks evolve, SFF 2026 will bring together finance and technology leaders to explore five forces reshaping global finance: geoeconomics, technology, capital, talent, and policy.

At SFF 2026, Oceanpayment will highlight OP Link’s cross-border wallet connectivity and QR payment network integration capabilities. It will also present its integrated payment solutions, including Global Acquiring, Global Issuing, OPCCOUNT (Global Accounts), and OPNexus (Payment Suite & Services).

Oceanpayment has integrated more than 500 payment methods, with services available in over 230 countries and regions. It supports more than 140 transaction currencies and over 10 settlement currencies, serving more than 200,000 businesses worldwide.

Global payment connectivity is reflected in every transaction, from consumers using local wallets abroad to payment networks working across markets. Oceanpayment will continue collaborating with financial institutions and payment network partners to connect local payment capabilities with cross-border consumer needs and support global commerce.

For more information, visit www.oceanpayment.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/oceanpayment-to-showcase-op-link-for-cross-border-qr-payments-at-sff-2026-302935751.html

SOURCE Oceanpayment

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