Ford Motor Company And SDRC Establish Strategic Technology Relationship
MILFORD, Ohio--December 19, 1995: Structural Dynamics Research Corporation
(NASDAQ:SDRC) today announced the beginning of a strategic technology
relationship with Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) that SDRC estimates will mean
more than $200 million from Ford and its suppliers over the next five years.
This includes not only software license revenue, but also consulting and
training services. SDRC believes this combined business order to be among the
largest ever in the CAD/CAM/CAE industry.
Ford selected SDRC as its technology supplier of choice to improve the
efficiency of its product development process. SDRC will provide Ford with
its I-DEAS Master Series(tm) software, Metaphase Series 2 product data
management software, implementation services, software training, and process
re-engineering expertise. In addition, SDRC has established an SDRC-Ford
Technology Center in Dearborn, Michigan, to assist Ford personnel in the
implementation and efficient use of the newly acquired software.
Al Peter, SDRC's President and CEO, said, "We believe that the impact on 1996
revenue will be approximately $20 million with the potential to double that
amount or more in 1997. Including Ford revenue, we're looking for overall
sales growth in 1996 of 25% or better. While our increased development effort
will neutralize the earnings impact of this agreement in 1996, we expect
significant profit contributions from this project in 1997 and 1998."
Mr. Peter continued, "Global competition is driving change in virtually every
aspect of today's economy. This is perhaps most apparent in the automotive
market, where the pressure to improve quality, while reducing vehicle
development cycles and cost has changed the way the entire industry does
business. Our commitment to Ford is a commitment to their success. Ford
chose SDRC because they understand the power of SDRC's technology in helping
them do more than just design parts faster. It also enables them to engineer
their products in a concurrent engineering environment. And that's exactly
SDRC's strength-one we've leveraged for more than 25 years and one that we
believe will continue to bring Ford success today and for many years to come."
Neil Ressler, Ford's Vice President, Advanced Vehicle Technologies, added "C3P
is the most significant retooling of the design automation environment ever
undertaken at Ford. When it is finally implemented, I believe the C3P
strategy will provide Ford with a tremendous competitive advantage." The C3P
project (representing CAD/CAM/CAE and PIM) is Ford's new infrastructure that
will use the product information management system to integrate their
computer-aided design, engineering, and manufacturing into a global system of
common data.
After more than a two-year extensive evaluation of several major software
vendors to fulfill its technology requirements, Ford selected SDRC's I-DEAS
Master Series software for its mechanical design automation and Metaphase
Series 2 for its product data management requirements. "We are seeing the
culmination of over two years of the best efforts of many people from both
SDRC and Ford," adds Martin Neads, SDRC's Senior Vice President and General
Manager. "This strategic partnership will not only provide Ford with dramatic
process improvements, but will contribute to the success of both companies for
many years to come."
SDRC's I-DEAS Master Series meets Ford's CAD/CAM/CAE requirements, providing
leading-edge, easy-to-use technology in a single system for designing,
simulating, testing, and optimizing vehicle manufacturing electronically--long
before physical prototypes are constructed. SDRC's Metaphase Series 2 will
help improve the way Ford creates, shares, accesses, defines, manufactures and
supports vehicles. This means fast, reliable access to the latest information
on designs, specifications, and engineering changes. Using this integrated
suite of tools, Ford engineering teams can work together more collaboratively,
sharing information and building on each other's work, while avoiding the
time-consuming chore of duplicating data and translating files from one
software system to another. By working together more efficiently and
communicating more effectively, Ford teams will reap the benefits of a
concurrent, or team engineering approach to product development.
Ford Motor Company is the world's largest producer of trucks, and second-
largest producer of cars and trucks combined. It also is one of the largest
providers of financial services in the world. Ford has manufacturing,
assembly, or sales affiliates in 34 countries. In 1994, Ford companies
employed approximately 337,800 people worldwide. The company's two core
businesses are Ford Automotive Operations and the Financial Services Group --
Ford Credit, The Associates, and USL Capital. Ford also is engaged in a
number of other businesses, including electronics, glass, electrical and fuel-
handling products, plastics, climate-control systems, automotive service and
replacement parts, vehicle rental, and land development.
SDRC is a leading international supplier of mechanical design automation
software, product data management software, and implementation services. The
Company's products and services help manufacturers optimize product concepts
early in the design process, enabling them to significantly improve product
quality while reducing product development time and cost. SDRC employs more
than 1,100 people and has 59 offices in 14 countries throughout North America,
Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region.
Note to Editors: SDRC is a registered trademark, and I-DEAS and I-DEAS Master
Series are trademarks of Structural Dynamics Research Corporation. All other
trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective
holders.
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