CONCORD, Mass., March 8, 2004 — SolidWorks Corporation today announced that the number-one life support equipment manufacturer in China has standardized on SolidWorks? 3D mechanical design software and reduced its prototyping costs by 30 percent.

China Life Support Equipment, headquartered in the city of Xiangfan, uses 50 licenses of SolidWorks to design and improve life support equipment for aircraft and ships. The company switched to SolidWorks from legacy 2D CAD systems such as AutoCAD in order to speed products to market. With SolidWorks, the company has compressed the lengthy prototyping process.

“Our traditional 2D programs didn't give us any way to check interference before our systems went to prototype,” said Su Bingjun, China Life Support's chief engineer. “With SolidWorks and its photorealistic 3D capabilities, we can readily see and correct any interference as it goes into a design, and our prototypes go straight to production. SolidWorks also handles large assemblies and captures design intent better than the other 3D software we evaluated. As a result, we're getting to market faster and shaving 30 percent off our prototyping costs. The savings benefit our company, our customers, and their customers in value, product performance, and safer journeys.”

Ved Narayan, director of Asia Pacific operations for SolidWorks, said China Life Support's experience with SolidWorks is typical. “Moving to 3D, especially with an intuitive, easy-to-learn mechanical design package like SolidWorks, pays dividends early and often for manufacturers depending on precision and complex assemblies. China Life Support's accelerated design process gives the company more time to develop better products, and bring them more quickly to market.”

China Life Support is working wi th SolidWorks' reseller General Faith Int. Ltd. for ongoing software implementation, training, and support.

About General Faith Int. Ltd.
General Faith Int. Ltd. is a leading software solution provider for mechanical engineers and manufacturers in China, providing sales, implementation, training, and support services. General Faith provides SolidWorks-based CAD/CAE/CAM/PDM solutions including COSMOSWorks?, CAMWorks, and SMARTEAM? to customers from various industries including aerospace, railway, automotive, machinery, and electronics. In addition to its headquarters in Beijing, General Faith has seven offices throughout China. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.cad21.com or send e-mail to info@cad21.com .


About SolidWorks Corporation
SolidWorks Corporation, a Dassault Systèmes 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 eight years of delivering product, SolidWorks has shipped more than 300,000 total seats of software worldwide. SolidWorks has offices around the globe and sells, distributes, and supports its products through an international 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).