Eaton Corp. Signs Corporate License Agreement with Workgroup Technology; Eaton Standardizes on CMS for Process and Data Management Solution

Business Wire, March 23, 1995

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 1995--Workgroup Technology Corporation announced today that Eaton Corporation has signed a corporate license agreement for Workgroup Technology's CMS family of process and data management (PDM) products.

Eaton, a leading worldwide manufacturing company, has standardized on Workgroup Technology's CMS family of products in support of the company's concurrent engineering initiative, Simultaneous Product/Process Development. This initiative is being implemented by each of the company's divisions, with central support provided by the corporate organization.

The nature of the implementation required a product that met the needs of the divisions, while providing a path for integration throughout the corporate enterprise over time. The company chose CMS because of the scalability it provided to meet the needs of both the divisions and the corporate IT organization.

"We decided to standardize on CMS for several reasons," said Walt Duval, manager, advanced business systems and consulting, Eaton Corporation. "The primary reason was the scalability it allowed for our company-wide PDM initiative. Since each division acts independently, they can implement CMS at their own pace, focusing on the primary problems specific to their operation. Second, since our implementation is being done by our own people, we required an "off-the-shelf" solution that did not require extensive customization prior to implementation. Finally, we needed a product that was easy to use, both for the primary users in the engineering organizations, as well as the casual users in manufacturing, administration, etc. CMS provides an intuitive user interface that gives us what our users are demanding."

Eaton's Semiconductor Equipment Division (SED) has been using CMS for over two years. In that time, it has implemented the PDM solution throughout its engineering organization and linked its group with other divisional organizations through workflows. SED has created a paperless environment, and has automated such processes as engineering change review (ECR) and engineering change order (ECO). The productivity and cost savings from the elimination of its engineering print room more than paid for the investment made in CMS.

"Eaton's decision to standardize on CMS for their corporate PDM requirements is further validation by the marketplace that Workgroup's product strategy meets the needs of the engineering and manufacturing companies of the world," said James Carney, president of Workgroup Technology Corporation. "We are convinced that the success of Eaton's SED will be replicated throughout the rest of the corporation as it implements CMS in the other divisions. CMS will provide the flexibility required at each of Eaton's diversified divisions to achieve their business objectives. Implementing CMS on a divisional basis provides Eaton with an incremental approach to integrating the enterprise."

Founded in 1992, Workgroup Technology Corp. is a leading producer of product data management (PDM) and workflow systems for engineering and manufacturing environments. The company's CMS product line provides process and data management capabilities for workgroups of all sizes. Based in Lexington, MA, the company differentiates itself on the basis of its easy-to-use, intuitive products; a scaleable and phased product implementation approach; and the unique ability to tightly integrate its CMS product with best in class design tools. The CMS product line is in use by more than 240 customers worldwide, including major manufacturers such as AlliedSignal, AT&T, Cisco Systems, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, Sun Microsystems and Whirlpool.

Workgroup Technology Corp.'s CMS products are available on Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Silicon Graphics Unix servers, with Unix and Windows clients, and are used by thousands of users worldwide in a variety of industries, including aerospace, automotive, process and discrete manufacturing, electronics, computers, medical products and utilities.

Eaton Corporation is a global manufacturer of highly engineered products which serve automotive, industrial, construction, commercial, aerospace and marine markets. Principal products include truck transmissions and axles, engine components, hydraulic products, electrical power distribution and control equipment, ion implanters and a wide variety of controls. Headquartered at Eaton Center in Cleveland, the company has 51,000 employees and 150 manufacturing sites in 18 countries around the world. Sales for 1994 were $6.1 billion.

CONTACT: Workgroup Technology Corp.

George LeBlanc, 617/674-2000

George Cohen Communications

Elyse Familant, 617/648-8826