DURA Automotive Standardizes Manufacturing Operations On QAD; Existing Deployments' ROI Drives Automotive Supplier to Expand Commitment to QAD

CARPINTERIA, Calif.--March 8, 2004--QAD Inc. , a leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturers, today announced that DURA Automotive Systems, Inc. will standardize North American manufacturing operations on QAD MFG/PRO eB2 and related applications. QAD Global Services will work together with DURA to provide consulting and implementation services.

The world's largest independent designer and manufacturer of driver control systems and a leading global supplier of other systems and assemblies for the automotive and recreational vehicle industries, DURA will deploy MFG/PRO eB2 at nine production sites and upgrade 11 other locations in North America. DURA expects QAD applications will help streamline manufacturing and enterprise functions shared by multiple locations, enable more efficient financial management and accelerate information transfer along the supply chain.

"Our vision is for DURA to function as a truly global company, one that is customer-focused and leverages advanced concepts in lean manufacturing and supply base management," said John J. Knappenberger, vice president, Sales, Marketing, Quality, IT and Materials. "QAD provides the opportunity for a single platform for DURA's manufacturing enterprise operations worldwide. Gartner Research and EDS determined QAD solutions would deliver the best return on investment - confirming our success to date with QAD deployments at specific sites."

DURA is a $2.38 billion supplier to the automotive and light truck industry in 14 countries and provides products from door modules to glass systems and engineered assemblies for nearly every major car model worldwide. Growth through acquisition left DURA U.S., Canada and Mexico operations with a multitude of legacy ERP and enterprise systems. Creation of a unified platform for global manufacturing became an executive priority for 2003. QAD was evaluated against some of the largest ERP vendors in the market, and it was found that QAD applications are better suited for automotive manufacturing, offered lower total cost of ownership, are implemented faster and accommodated local deployment requirements.

"Automotive suppliers like DURA who embrace lean manufacturing and streamline collaboration with suppliers are positioned for significant competitive advantage," said Pamela Lopker, QAD president and chairman of the board. "For more than two decades QAD has combined the best thinking in manufacturing theory and an understanding of real-world manufacturing conditions, to provide solutions that all trading partners can easily adopt for greater efficiency across the supply chain."

According to Knappenberger, "We've been most impressed by QAD applications' immediate functionality, and the open, standards-based architecture that makes them easy to deploy and maintain. Now we're looking forward to those benefits as we begin our multi-site upgrade in North America and our roll-out across DURA's European Control Systems Operations. We have targeted completion of the roll-out in just 20 months."

QAD Global Services will assist DURA with design and deployment of software and shared services for financials. QAD MFG/PRO eB2 will serve as the centerpiece of DURA's integrated ERP platform, and financial processes common to all facilities will be centralized and streamlined for greater productivity. DURA also will deploy QAD modules for lean manufacturing, inventory management and electronic data interchange. Finally, DURA will use QAD Supply Visualization to better collaborate with trading partners and automate the replenishment process.

About QAD

QAD enterprise applications leverage advances in Internet and enabling technologies to provide critical functionality for managing manufacturing resources and operations within and beyond the enterprise, enabling global manufacturers to collaborate with their customers, suppliers and partners to make and deliver the right product, at the right cost and at the right time. Manufacturers of automotive, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, industrial and medical products use QAD applications at approximately 5,200 licensed sites in more than 80 countries and in as many as 26 languages. For more information about QAD, telephone +1 805 684 6614, or visit the QAD Web site at: www.qad.com. To receive any of QAD's press releases via facsimile, contact +1 800 356 0747, or outside the U.S. contact +1 213 253 5647.

"QAD" and "MFG/PRO" are registered trademarks of QAD Inc. All other products or company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to Investors: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, evolving demand for the company's software products and products that operate with the company's products; the company's ability to sustain strong licensing demand; the ability to sustain customer renewal rates at current levels; the publication of opinions by industry analysts about the company, its products and technology; the reliability of estimates of transaction and integration costs and benefits; difficulties relating to integration of a new business; the entry of new competitors and their technological advances; delays in localizing the company's products for new markets; delays in sales as a result of lengthy sales cycles; changes in operating expenses, pricing, timing of new product releases, the method of product distribution or product mix; general economic conditions, exchange rate fluctuations and the global political environment. In addition, revenue and earnings in the enterprise resource planning (ERP), e-business and distributed order management software industries are subject to fluctuations. Software license revenue, in particular, is subject to variability with a significant proportion of revenue earned in the last month of each quarter. Given the high margins associated with license revenue, modest fluctuations can have a substantial impact on net income. Investors should not use any one quarter's results as a benchmark for future growth. For a more detailed description of the risk factors associated with the company and the industries in which it operates, please refer to the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2003.