Dassault Targets PLM Solution at Industrial Equipment Manufacturers

DassaultSystemes is takingaim at industrial equipment manufacturers with a new PLM solution that couplesfunctionality from its core design tools with industry-specific intellectualproperty to promote what it's calling a "multi-discipline" approach toengineering in that sector.

Dubbed theCollaborative Multi-Discipline Engineering (CMDE) initiative, the solutiondelivers functionality from CATIA, ENOVIA and DELMIA to enable engineers anddesigners of all specialties as well as non-engineers to collaborate in realtime and promote lean product development processes. The CMDE offering,designed to handle large, complex assemblies, supports all product information(from CAD and manufacturing information to complex mechatronics simulationdata), allowing engineers and non-engineers to collaborate on projects even ifthey are not using the system that generated the data, Dassault officials said.The CMDE solution employs DassaultV6 PLM as the backbone for all product, process, resource and simulationdata management, thus enabling global multi-discipline collaboration.

"From a productstandpoint, this offer is very much mature," says David Segal, global leader ofIndustrial Equipment Market Development for Dassault Systemes. "But we'vepackaged (the technology) in a way that has context for the industrialequipment industry - it speaks their language and addresses their challenges.And the embedded methodology within the solution helps them implement it muchfaster, in a more holistic way."

One of the specificindustry challenges this new platform helps address is value stream management -a method of production optimization that includes design, manufacturing andservices. The new CMDE platform leverages Dassault's "life-like digital 3-Dexperience" to bring together all engineering disciplines that work on complexindustrial equipment products while supporting large-scale mechanical design,including tubing, welding, structural (both electrical and softwarecomponents), kinematics and control systems.

"This is anout-of-the-box solution with the capability to adjust (designs) to a specificcustomer environment," says Segal. "The solution is architected to support theengineer-to-order process, which is pretty typical for these manufacturers. Allthese capabilities are arranged to operate together to enable engineers toparticipate in the engineer-to-order process seamlessly."