AspenTech Awards Owens Corning for Innovative Use of Technology in Manufacturing
Owens Corning acknowledged for groundbreaking use of AspenTech manufacturing solutions that optimized its operating margins by running its plants more efficiently
Aspen Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZPN) today honored Owens Corning with its first Aspen Technology Customer Innovation Award. The award recognizes Owens Corning's application of AspenTech's manufacturing solutions to increase the profitability of its roofing and insulation plants, illustrated by a significant shift to Six Sigma levels of performance, direct cost savings in raw material purchases, and many other significant measurements. AspenTech announced the Customer Innovation Award winner today at AspenWorld 2002, a major international conference for the process industries.(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000811/ASPENLOGO )
"Owens Corning's determination to innovate has yielded technological breakthroughs that have delivered strategic value to their organization," said David McQuillin, President and CEO of AspenTech. "The company has demonstrated how technology can be a key enabler for process manufacturers seeking to achieve operational excellence in their manufacturing and supply chain operations."
The AspenTech solutions are enabling Owens Corning to optimize exceptionally complex processes-such as melting, fiberizing, oven drying and curing of glass fiber insulation. These processes are subject to major disturbances and are difficult to fully control, but are important contributors to the company's overall profitability. The AspenTech solutions are also decreasing production of off-spec products and lessening downtime.
Results from their initial implementation include:
-- Six Sigma level of performance in all key process metrics
-- 40-60% decrease in gross manufacturing variability
-- Measurable improvement in average process efficiencies
-- Increased employee productivity
-- Direct cost savings in raw materials, energy, and waste reduction.
To achieve these results Owens Corning incorporated innovative applications of
AspenTech information management and advanced process control solutions within
its everyday shop floor operations at two plants. The solutions produced such
dramatic improvements that Owens Corning is now standardizing its worldwide
roofing and North American insulation plants on the technology. The solutions
integrate with Owens Corning's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and
complement its Six Sigma initiatives for improved efficiency.
"The success of this project has been a reflection of the strategic alliance between AspenTech and Owens Corning," said Don Kosanka, vice president, Information Systems, Owens Corning. "Together, we have been able to gain a greater understanding of our most complicated processes, and to develop technologies that optimize their performance. The dramatic productivity and quality improvements we achieved as a result speak for themselves."
The AspenTech Customer Innovation Award acknowledges and rewards process manufacturers for their successful and innovative deployment of AspenTech solutions, and is presented in conjunction with the AspenWorld 2002 conference. The nominations are judged by AspenTech's Technology Advisory Board, which is composed of leading process manufacturing authorities. AspenWorld 2002 is taking place in Washington, D.C. from Oct 27-Nov 1.
About Owens Corning
The pioneer of glass fiberization technology, Owens Corning today serves the home building, home remodeling, commercial and industrial markets with thermal and acoustic insulation products. It also provides high performance composites solutions to the automotive, electronics, telecommunications, industrial and consumer markets.
Owens Corning is a world leader in building materials systems and composite systems. Founded in 1938, the company had sales of $4.8 billion in 2001 and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. Additional information is available on Owens Corning's Web site at www.owenscorning.com or by calling the company's toll-free General Information line: 1-800- GETPINK.
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, Southern Company, TXU Energy and Unilever. For more information, visit 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 or registered 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
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SOURCE Aspen Technology, Inc.
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
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