SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Underscoring Autodesk, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: ADSK) strong sales momentum in Asia-Pacific which has increased from $47.8 million in Q2 FY04 to $51.3 million in Q3 FY04, leading Japanese manufacturer, Matsushita Welding Systems Co. Ltd., is achieving significant business benefits with Autodesk Inventor(R), the cornerstone of the Autodesk Inventor(R) Series package. The company implemented Autodesk Inventor Series to improve the efficiency of their product development businesses with a strategic shift away from 2D design to 3D modeling. Matsushita Welding Systems conducted a thorough comparison of six 3D CAD products -- SolidWorks, Solid Edge, SolidDesigner, Pro/ENGINEER, Pro/DESKTOP, as well as the Autodesk Inventor(R) Series. The broad array of evaluation items including market performance and price, modeling, rendering, coordination with CAE, and future potential, were converted into numerical parameters.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000518/SFTH083LOGO )

"Autodesk Inventor comprehensively got the highest scores, but where it really excelled when compared to other products was in its ease of modeling," said Mr. Toshiyuki Mishima of Matsushita Welding Systems' Engineering Department. "This enabled easier review of designs, shortening of trial periods, and the utilization of different types of documents as 3D data."

In addition to its ease of modeling, Autodesk Inventor software's excellence in rendering, animation functions, ease in creating 2D drawings, interoperability with external systems, and future potential were all highly rated.

"The success among Asian manufacturers using Autodesk Inventor Series software supports the growth we are seeing in the Manufacturing Solutions Division," said Robert Kross, vice president of the Manufacturing Solutions Division at Autodesk.

Autodesk Inventor Plays Key Role in Pioneering a New Business Model at Matsushita Welding Systems

Since 1957 Matsushita Welding Systems has proven itself as a welding equipment manufacturer and holds the top share in the domestic market. Time and costs required for machining trials have been significantly reduced from one and a half months using 2D CAD to one week with Autodesk Inventor software's rapid prototyping based on 3D data. In addition, trial costs have been cut by half. This has also facilitated smooth design review during the structural design stage. Creating items from the planning stage straight to 3D modeling means that ideas can be represented in an easy to understand, visual manner.

"3D design using Autodesk Inventor software not only increases the efficiency and quality of our design work, but is making a major contribution towards pioneering a new business model," said Mr. Yasushi Mukai, manager, Engineering Department. "In the future, we expect that software such as this, in addition to hardware, will help boost our earnings."

The software helped reduce the cost and time required for carrying out structural analysis and modeling calculations. Because Autodesk Inventor includes these functions, these can be instantly confirmed during the planning process. Design model data can be used without conversion in both structural analysis and modeling, therefore giving higher accuracy in calculations when compared to those performed using simplified models.

"It is now also possible to provide customers improved service with manuals that include 3D models. For example, by digitizing and animating a maintenance manual for customers, we are able to provide information in a way that is far easier to understand than anything previously. Adding this sort of value to service lets us improve our customer satisfaction levels," added Mr. Mukai.

Autodesk Manufacturing's Design and Data Management Solutions

As part of its strategy to help customers create, manage, and share their digital design data and solve critical business challenges, the Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions Division offers companies the most comprehensive portfolio of integrated 2D and 3D design and data management solutions, critical tools that help customers innovate, increase productivity, simplify processes, improve product quality, and accelerate time to market for less cost. Unlike other offerings on the market today, Autodesk's design and data management solutions are easy to buy, deploy and use, and provide significant process improvements and rapid results without the complex, costly installations of large-scale product lifecycle management systems. Autodesk's manufacturing solutions include AutoCAD(R), AutoCAD(R) Mechanical and AutoCAD(R) Electrical software, Autodesk Inventor Professional and Autodesk Inventor Series 3D mechanical design packages that are integrated with new Autodesk(R) Vault functionality, and the Autodesk Streamline(R) collaboration service. In addition, customers can take advantage of widely available third-party applications purpose-built for Autodesk software and they can utilize Autodesk Professional Services to garner greater value from their software.

About Autodesk

Autodesk is the world's leading design software and digital content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. Autodesk helps customers in the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media, and wireless data services fields increase the value of their digital design data and improve efficiencies across their entire project lifecycle management processes. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com.

NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, and Autodesk Streamline are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contact: Amal Nichols, 925-736-2433

EMAIL: amal@sbcglobal.net

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc. -0- 01/20/2004 /CONTACT: Amal Nichols of Autodesk, Inc., +1-925-736-2433, or amal@sbcglobal.net/ /Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000518/SFTH083LOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840/ /Web site: http://www.autodesk.com / (ADSK) CO: Autodesk, Inc.; Matsushita Welding Systems Co. Ltd. ST: California, Japan IN: CPR STW MLM SU: SLS HD -- SFTU127 -- 4802 01/20/2004 13:38 EST http://www.prnewswire.com