Childcare product manufacturer Dorel Juvenile Group purchases 250,000th license as SolidWorks solidifies its market leadership and sets the standard for engineering productivity

CONCORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 2003-- SolidWorks today continued its dominance of the three dimensional (3D) mechanical design market when it announced it has shipped 250,000 licenses of its flagship software since 1995. This milestone stems from SolidWorks' seven-year-history of making engineers more productive with solid modeling so they can design better products faster, more affordably, and with more precision than with any other software. Juvenile products manufacturer Dorel Juvenile Group, home to the Safety 1st and Cosco brands, purchased the 250,000th license, and is one of more than 35,000 customers worldwide that use SolidWorks(R) software to accelerate product time to market.

"SolidWorks has continued to top the $353 million market for value-priced 3D mechanical design software for both revenues and the number of seats shipped," said Bruce Jenkins, executive vice president at market research and technology assessment firm Daratech, Inc. "The company's commitment to making 3D modeling technology easy to afford, easy to learn, and easy to use continues to drive its market leadership."

Since 2001, SolidWorks has nearly doubled the number of licenses it has delivered because of growing demand for its cost-effective, feature-rich 3D design tools. Its production success in designing everything from microelectronics to enormous steam generation machines used in power plants has spurred increased sales in existing and new industries. SolidWorks' rapid adoption in education markets has also contributed to accelerated growth. SolidWorks has sold more 3D mechanical design software to high schools and institutions of higher learning than any other vendor.

Designing safety into childcare products

Under the Safety 1st brand, Dorel Juvenile Group, a division of Dorel Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: DIIBF), makes childcare products and toys ranging from video baby monitors to cribs and tricycles. It chose SolidWorks to smooth out and accelerate design communication between its product design team and its computer-aided design (CAD)-focused engineers. The company's design team previously generated free sketch and solid foam renderings of new product designs that engineers had to manually convert into CAD data. This two-step process took time and increased the risk of errors that would delay production, according to Pete Giardina, design systems engineer at Dorel Juvenile Group.

SolidWorks' short learning curve and intuitive user interface enable the design team to graphically recreate their ideas in a digital format. The software's precision and troubleshooting capabilities allow the engineers to quickly convert the design team's concepts into production-ready solid models. "SolidWorks gives us one tool that provides both the design flexibility and engineering accuracy we need to reduce our overall design time and get products to market faster than with our previous CAD software," said Giardina. "This market is incredibly competitive, and we must constantly innovate with new products to set ourselves apart. SolidWorks gives us the advantage to quickly turn those innovations into safe, reliable products."

Dorel Juvenile Group will use SolidWorks PhotoWorks(TM) photorealistic rendering tool to strengthen its marketing programs by showing retailers, customers, and sales staff lifelike images of new products. The company will also use SolidWorks' eDrawings e-mail-enabled design communication tool so that design team members, retailers, and sales staff can comment on a new stroller design, for example.

"SolidWorks' proven ability to help companies like Dorel Juvenile Group excel in their markets has created a growing global network of commercial and educational users who become advocates for SolidWorks' design capabilities," said John McEleney, CEO of SolidWorks. "Every day more 2D users choose SolidWorks than any other 3D mechanical design solution because our customers tout the software's powerful, easy transition to 3D. Simplifying solid modeling and helping engineers do their jobs better is why SolidWorks has reached this quarter-of-a-million-license milestone. Now, it's on to the next 250,000 licenses."

Dorel Juvenile Group receives ongoing software implementation, training, and support from SolidWorks reseller Computer-Aided Products.

About Dorel Juvenile Group

Dorel Industries Inc. is based in Montreal, Canada and is a global manufacturer of consumer products. It specializes in two market segments: juvenile products and home furnishings. Its juvenile products division, Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG USA) has major facilities in Columbus, Indiana and Canton, Massachusetts. DJG USA manufactures product under the Cosco and Safety 1st brand names, and is licensed by Eddie Bauer among others. It offers an extensive line of products such as car seats, strollers, high chairs, infant health and safety aids, play-yards, and juvenile accessories. European juvenile operations are carried out through the Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG Europe) located in Holland and the Ampa Group which has major facilities in France, Italy, and Portugal. Brand names marketed in Europe are Maxi-Cosi, Bebe Confort, Quinny, Safety 1st, Babideal, MonBebe, and Baby Relax. Dorel Industries, Inc. is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols DII.A and DII.B in Canada and on the NASDAQ Exchange under the symbol DIIBF.

About Computer-Aided Products

Founded in 1989, Computer-Aided Products ( www.capinc.com) is a leading regional reseller of CAD/CAE/PDM software, training, consulting, and support. Custom and on-site training to rapidly transition users from first-generation solid modelers is a specialty. The company supports New England engineering teams from three offices. The company supports a broad range of SolidWorks Gold Partner products including COSMOSWorks(TM), PDMWorks(TM), ShapeWorks, SigmundWorks, and SMARTEAM(R).

About SolidWorks Corporation

SolidWorks Corporation, a Dassault Systemes S.A. (Nasdaq: DASTY, Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) company, develops and markets software for mechanical design, analysis, and product data management. Founded in 1993, SolidWorks' mission is to unleash the power of 3D for everyone in product development and foster a collaborative user community. In seven years of delivering product, SolidWorks has shipped more than 250,000 total seats of software worldwide. SolidWorks has offices around the globe and sells, distributes, and supports its products through a worldwide reseller network. For the latest news, information, or a live online demonstration, visit the company's Web site ( www.solidworks.com) or call 1-800-693-9000 (outside of North America, call +1-978-371-5000).

SolidWorks is a registered trademark, and PhotoWorks and PDMWorks are trademarks of SolidWorks Corporation. COSMOSWorks is a trademark of Structural Research and Analysis Corporation. SMARTEAM is a registered trademark of SmarTeam Corporation Ltd. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright (c) 2003 SolidWorks Corporation.

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