INTERCONNECTS

CONCORD, MA -- In a deal that highlights SolidWorks' global presence, China Heli Forklift Truck Company, one of the world's top 10 forklift manufacturers, has purchased 120 seats of SolidWorks® software to reduce design time and bring new products to market faster, SolidWorks announced today. SolidWorks' intuitive Windows-based, three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software allows China Heli Forklift's engineers to quickly and easily design new products and eliminate production errors. Doing so enables the company to continue to provide its local and international customers with the latest advancements in technology. China Heli Forklift Truck Company is a subsidiary of the Anhui Forklift Group, a Chinese government-owned agency that spearheads expanded sales into the U.S. and European markets. The largest forklift company in China, it uses SolidWorks software to develop production-ready 3D models, helping engineers design new products more efficiently and create more realistic design views than with static 2D software. "We tested SolidWorks extensively to ensure that it can accommodate the complex models and very large assemblies involved in our products' designs," said Ling Zhong She, vice general manager and chief engineer at Heli Anhui Forklift Truck Group. "SolidWorks' ease of use enables us to design products in record time, while ensuring the quality craftsmanship that allows each of our forklifts to handle the workloads our customers expect. As our company further expands its sales in the global marketplace, the rate at which we introduce new products is critical to our success - SolidWorks helps us meet these essential time-to-market requirements." China Heli Forklift also uses SolidWorks to replicate the base design of existing models for use in new product designs. For example, if the company wants to add new features to an existing model, it can create them from the existing SolidWorks design, without having to start from scratch. This replication capability saves engineers time and speeds new variations of existing models to its customers. "As China Heli Forklift starts to expand its worldwide presence outside of China, it will face an extremely competitive landscape," said John McEleney, SolidWorks' chief executive officer. "Time to market is key to successful global expansion. By using SolidWorks, China Heli Forklift is able to cut its design time and eliminate production errors by ensuring the design is correct the first time. That's how it will put the controls of its forklifts in the hands of international customers."