Release Details

Innovative real-time supply chain solution enables Swift & Company to realize

increased revenue and customer service levels

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/-- Aspen Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZPN) announced that Swift & Company has successfully deployed a real-time supply chain solution, resulting in a 10 percent increase in weekly inventory sold position. Swift and Aspen Technology achieved the improvement by dynamically matching production to customer demand, in real-time, resulting in an increased order fulfillment rate and marked efficiencies in production scheduling in a multi-plant environment.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000811/ASPENLOGO )

Swift, which has one of the most complex and largest supply chains in the meat processing industry, produces more than 6 billion pounds of meat per year and disaggregates approximately 18,000 cattle per day.

"Using the AspenTech supply chain solution, we have significantly improved our production scheduling accuracy and resulting customer satisfaction levels," said Gary Acromite, Swift & Company's vice president of Customer Supply Chain & Margin Mgmt. "With this solution, we have real-time visibility across our entire supply chain, which creates numerous benefits from knowledge of product available to sell to savings in freight expense. Now we have the ability to make decisions based on real data instead of anecdotal knowledge."

Swift uses the AspenTech supply chain solution to optimize meat cutting and packing schedules within its plants. The solution incorporates a Capable- to-Promise function that provides customers with delivery dates for new orders, and incorporates those delivery promises into the production schedule. The solution is designed to address the complexities inherent in beef processing involving multiple cutting schedules, shelf life constraints, variations in customer preferences, a complex product tree and plant capacity parameters.

"The solution we developed for Swift & Company is on the leading edge of what's possible in real-time supply chain optimization," said David McQuillin, President and CEO of AspenTech. "When we first spoke with Swift & Company executives about their business, they felt their order fulfillment process was not supporting their business needs. AspenTech has been able to provide a Capable-to-Promise system that improves Swift's competitiveness."

AspenTech's supply chain and Capable-to-Promise technologies are important components of the company's integrated manufacturing/supply chain solution for the process industries, which helps process companies run their supply chain and manufacturing operations more efficiently to drive improved margins.

About Swift & Company

Swift & Company is the nation's third-largest processor of fresh beef and pork. Based in Greeley, Colorado, the company also owns Australia Meat Holdings, the leading beef processor in Australia, and employs more than 21,400 worldwide.

About AspenTech

Aspen Technology, Inc. is a leading supplier of enterprise software to the process industries, enabling its customers to increase their margins and optimize their business performance. AspenTech's engineering solutions, including Hyprotech's technologies, help companies design and improve their plants and processes, maximizing returns throughout their operational life. AspenTech's manufacturing/supply chain solutions allow companies to run their plants and supply chains more profitably, from customer demand through to the delivery of the finished products. Over 1,200 leading companies rely on AspenTech's software every day to drive improvements across their most important engineering and operational processes. AspenTech's customers include: Air Liquide, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BASF, BP, ChevronTexaco, Dow Chemical, DuPont, ExxonMobil, GlaxoSmithKline, Lyondell Equistar, Merck, Mitsubishi Chemical, Shell and Unilever. For more information, visit http://www.aspentech.com.

Certain paragraphs of this press release contain forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, any statement using the term "will," "should," "could," "anticipates," "believes" or a comparable term is a forward-looking statement. Actual results may vary significantly from AspenTech's expectations based on a number of risks and uncertainties, including: AspenTech's lengthy sales cycle which makes it difficult to predict quarterly operating results; fluctuations in AspenTech's quarterly operating results; AspenTech's dependence on customers in the cyclical chemicals, petrochemicals and petroleum industries; AspenTech's need to hire additional qualified personnel and its dependence on key current employees; intense competition; AspenTech's dependence on systems integrators and other strategic partners; changes in the market for e-business solutions for AspenTech's customers; increased governmental regulation and taxation of e-commerce and the Internet; information security and privacy concerns relating to e-commerce; and other risk factors described from time to time in AspenTech's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AspenTech cannot guarantee any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Moreover, neither AspenTech nor anyone else assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any forward-looking statements. AspenTech undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.

AspenTech, and the aspen leaf logo are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

Contacts:
For Media:
Peter Watt
Aspen Technology, Inc.
+44 1223 819-752
peter.watt@aspentech.com

Carin Warner
Warner Communications
(978) 526-1960
carin@warnerpr.com

For Investors:
Joshua Young
Aspen Technology, Inc.
(617) 949-1274
joshua.young@aspentech.com

SOURCE Aspen Technology, Inc.

-0- 10/30/2002

/CONTACT: Media: Peter Watt of Aspen Technology, Inc., +44 1223 819-752,
peter.watt@aspentech.com, or Carin Warner of Warner Communications,
+1-978-526-1960, carin@warnerpr.com; or Investors: Joshua Young of Aspen
Technology, Inc., +1-617-949-1274, joshua.young@aspentech.com /

/Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000811/ASPENLOGO