University of Bath (UK) Joins the Vanguard Software Academic Partnership Program

Partnering with Vanguard Software Significantly Advances the State of Research in Life-Cycle Cost Modeling

Cary, NC – April 24, 2007 – Vanguard Software Corporation, the leader in management systems for planning, analysis and knowledge automation, has partnered with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath through the Vanguard Academic Partnership Program. In support of the University's participation, Vanguard Software is donating licenses for the new Vanguard System™ to the department to help advance the state of research in life-cycle cost modeling.

“We are using Vanguard Studio to represent a top-down modular approach to "through life" costing. The aim is to utilize the modular advantages of Vanguard to assist the designers’ decision-making at the concept design stage. This is a very exciting and important area of research and the collaboration with Vanguard shows excellent foresight,” said Dr. Linda Newnes, Senior Lecturer in Manufacturing in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Lead Academic of the Costing Group in the Innovative design and Manufacturing Research Centre (IdMRC).

Dr. Newnes and her research team will apply the Vanguard System to costing for electronic products within the defense sector, funding for which is by the Innovative electronics and Manufacturing Research Centre (IeMRC), as well as examining the use of quality control techniques within cost estimates and estimating the non-recurring costs of products, in particular, tooling. The research to date has primarily involved products from the injection molding and aerospace sectors with an emphasis on through-life costing at the concept design phase of product design.

“We value the cutting-edge research on through-life cost modeling that is being conducted by the Costing Group and look forward to its successful implementation within the defense sector and beyond,” said Brian Lewis, who has a doctorate in Operational Research, and is Vanguard Software’s VP of Professional Services and Director of the Academic Partnership Program. “Among other features, Vanguard’s hierarchical model layout, component-based modeling approach, and collaborative network architecture make it ideally suited for complex cost modeling.”

The Vanguard Academic Partnership Program is designed to enrich student learning experiences and faculty research opportunities by integrating the Vanguard System into academic institutions around the world. The Vanguard System is a comprehensive business solution for improving the quality, reliability, and speed of management decisions. It does this by helping companies collaborate with colleagues on important plans, analyze alternatives using state-of-the-art modeling and simulation techniques, automate routine decisions using expert system technology, and improve overall management effectiveness by adding structure to a normally chaotic process. Business improvement is all about working smarter. Vanguard brings together the people, analytics, and systems required to help businesses operate intelligently.

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About Vanguard Software

Vanguard Software is a privately held corporation founded in 1995 to develop business Decision Support software. Customers in over 60 countries and in every major industry use Vanguard’s software for forecasting, resource optimization, Web-based expert systems, and financial modeling. For more information about Vanguard, visit http://www.vanguardsw.com/.