Autodesk and NetSuite Partner to Transform Manufacturing in the Cloud

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD 2013 -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, and Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), the leader in cloud-based design and engineering software, today announced a strategic alliance to offer manufacturing companies seamless integration of Autodesk PLM 360 and NetSuite ERP.

The relationship aims to transform modern manufacturing by helping manufacturers confront shifting economic conditions, deliver quality products and address customer innovation requirements, all with a flexible, cloud-based system.  The integration between Autodesk's PLM 360, a next-generation cloud-based product lifecycle management solution and NetSuite's cloud business management solution, including NetSuite Manufacturing Edition, is a major breakthrough in delivering an end-to-end cloud-based solution for ideation, design, manufacturing, service, multi-channel sales, and beyond to the manufacturing industry.

"Nimble manufacturers are disrupting the industry with technologies and techniques to accelerate product development and delivery and drive customer-centric innovation while controlling costs," said Roman Bukary, NetSuite VP of Manufacturing and Distribution. "NetSuite and Autodesk's integrated PLM / ERP offers manufacturers the broadest cloud-based business management solution, enabling end-to-end visibility and tremendous gains in speed, efficiency and, most importantly, innovation."

"More than 50 percent of product costs are locked in during the design phase," said Brenda Discher, VP of Manufacturing Industry Strategy and Marketing at Autodesk. "The integration of our technologies will empower manufacturers to reduce overall costs and improve quality, while better understanding and adapting to fast-changing customer demands."

The bi-directional integration of these revolutionary cloud technologies gives manufacturers a single, closed-loop solution to accelerate product design and development, reduce risk of errors and delays, streamline supply network collaboration, and gain critical real-time visibility into costing, scheduling, capacity and profitability.

Market research shows that manufacturers are increasingly turning to cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications to run product development, production, supply chain, order management, financials and other core business applications without the time and cost burden of on-premise software and servers. Gartner predicts that nearly half (47 percent) of manufacturers worldwide will be using or piloting SaaS applications by 2015, up from just 2 percent in 2010.[1]

Through the integration of NetSuite and Autodesk, everyone involved in the management of processes, projects, and people is uniquely positioned to drive continuous innovation and efficiency across organizations of all sizes. By uniting product lifecycle management (PLM) with enterprise resource planning (ERP), Autodesk and NetSuite are enabling manufacturers to:

• Speed the cycle from concept to design to delivery, and finally recycle. Product concept, design and engineering data in Autodesk PLM 360, once released, feeds into NetSuite manufacturing to assemble bills of materials (BOMs), source components, assess capacity and more, with role-based authorization across both PLM and ERP systems. Autodesk's leadership in design, engineering, visualization and simulation software provides an incredible advantage for customers.
• Bridge the gap between PLM and ERP. Though leading manufacturers depend on both PLM and ERP solutions, integration between the two has traditionally been one way, depriving companies of the opportunities to improve performance and profitability. Autodesk and NetSuite bridge the gap between PLM and ERP with a seamlessly integrated closed-loop solution.
• Sharpen costing and pricing. On-demand visibility into component and production data, as well as forecasting and demand planning, shared across PLM and ERP systems enables manufacturers to optimize costing and pricing to maximize profitability.
• Enable intelligent change management. Seamless integration between Autodesk PLM 360 and NetSuite ERP gives designers, engineers, and multi-tier partners as well as other stakeholders a massively scalable platform to ensure that changes are properly documented, propagated and managed in both PLM and downstream manufacturing.
• Drive post-production efficiency. NetSuite's acclaimed inventory, order management and fulfillment capabilities help manufacturers improve customer satisfaction, while NetSuite SuiteCommerce supports sales at physical locations (with integrated Point-of-Sale) and through Ecommerce, enabling easy creation of multiple branded or geo-specific websites and expansion into direct-to-consumer Ecommerce.
• Enable a virtuous circle of innovation. Feedback from customers and partners captured in NetSuite CRM, service and PSA modules gives designers and engineers essential insights to understand customer acceptance of a product, assess criticisms and issues, and to adapt accordingly. The integrated solution also supports closed-loop quality corrective action with suppliers.

About Autodesk  
Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges. For more information visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk.

About Autodesk PLM 360 
The Autodesk PLM 360 cloud-based platform is a next-generation alternative to traditional product lifecycle management that makes the benefits of PLM accessible anytime, anywhere, to companies of all sizes. By offering an affordable, easy-to-use, and simple-to-deploy solution that makes the benefits of PLM business applications available to anyone, anytime, anywhere, Autodesk PLM 360 streamlines the creation and management of information, people, and processes to help manufacturers be competitive and grow their business—with significantly less cost and risk.

For more information, visit www.autodeskplm360.com.

About NetSuite Manufacturing Edition 
NetSuite's solution for manufacturing and product-centric companies includes a full portfolio of capabilities including production routings and scheduling, complete financials for manufacturing with standard cost and WIP accounting, inventory management with available-to-promise (ATP) and supply chain integration, seamless B2B and B2C ecommerce and many other key business processes specifically built and optimized for manufacturers.

Today, more than 16,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of enterprise-class cloud financials/ERP suites for divisions of large enterprises and mid-sized organizations seeking to upgrade their antiquated client/server ERP systems. NetSuite excels at streamlining business operations as demonstrated in a recent Gartner study naming NetSuite as the fastest growing financial management software vendor on a global basis. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud ERP/financials suites to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud is accelerating.

Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates.

For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.com.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between NetSuite and any other company.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:  
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to expectations, plans, and prospects including expectations relating to the future growth of the cloud business application market for the manufacturing industry. These forward-looking statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of NetSuite's management as of the date of this release, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the risk of adverse or unpredictable macro-economic conditions. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and NetSuite disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

[1] Gartner, "Market Trends: Cloud Computing and SaaS Adoption in Manufacturing and Natural Resources Worldwide," March 23, 2012.

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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.