GOVERNMENT

Caterpillar Inc. and StatSoft, Inc., announced a collaboration to develop and market software solutions for the modeling, optimization and simulation of complex manufacturing processes. These software solutions will be based on the integration of Caterpillar's patent-pending analytic processes into the industry-leading suite of STATISTICA enterprise analytics software. StatSoft will market and support the solutions, beginning in late 2004 or early 2005. Caterpillar's cutting-edge analytic processes are used to effectively simulate, predict, and optimize the outcome of complex manufacturing processes. These analytic processes have been developed and validated at Caterpillar's Technical Center. "Caterpillar is recognized worldwide for design and manufacturing of machines and engines. What is not so widely known is the tremendous amount of technology coming from our research and development team that makes those industry-leading products a reality," commented Mark Pflederer, chief technology officer and vice president of Caterpillar's Technical Services Division. "The alliance with StatSoft is an example of adding value to Caterpillar's research accomplishments by commercializing selected technologies for potential use in other industries." The software solutions are expected to allow organizations to: -- Simultaneously monitor large numbers of process parameters; -- Reduce time and expense by predicting likely failures before they actually occur in final product testing; -- Perform effective root-cause analysis for determining causes of quality or performance problems; and -- Enable "what-if" analyses and optimization. "This partnership will combine and leverage the world-class know-how of Caterpillar for creating and implementing efficient and high-quality solutions for manufacturing and logistics, with StatSoft's cutting-edge, open- architecture STATISTICA enterprise software technologies and predictive analytics," says Dr. Thomas Hill, Vice President of Product Development at StatSoft.