Allan International Holdings Reduces Product Development Time by 50% Using PLM Solutions from IBM and Dassault Systemes

Success of appliance manufacturer underscores value of CATIA V5 solutions for small and medium sized businesses

 

Hong Kong, China, and Paris, France - September 16, 2002 –  IBM and Dassault Systemes’ (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) customer Allan International Holdings Ltd, a leading Hong Kong-based manufacturer of household and cooking appliances and personal care products, today announced that after initial implementation of CATIA V5 two years ago, Allan has cut product development time by half. CATIA V5 is a virtual product design application developed by Dassault Systemes and marketed by IBM.

 

In 1999, Allan decided to implement a Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) solution (CATIA V5) to facilitate product design. IBM and Dassault Systemes business partner MTECH Engineering Co., Ltd. put the solution in place and provided training. Allan selected CATIA V5 for its advanced surface modeling, digital mock up, product rendering, and part library features. As a small and medium sized business, Allan also chose CATIA V5 for its competitive price, technical support, and ease of use.

 

“CATIA V5’s Windows native user interface, high quality data translation, and process centric design approach helped us to build up a true 3D concurrent product design environment that could be quickly adopted by our engineers,” said C Y Chung, Engineering Manager, Allan International Holdings Ltd. “It took us less than five months to produce an ‘Under Cabinet Can Opener’ and a ‘Hand Mixer’ from initial concept to production tooling by using CATIA V5’s Digital Mock-Up approach.”

 

 

In order to continually improve engineers’ CATIA V5 skills, Allan has set up a web-based CATIA V5 user club to provide training and encourage knowledge exchange. Allan will soon launch a project to establish their rule-based design system by adopting CATIA V5 Knowledgeware. The company also plans to implement SMARTEAM, a core element of the IBM and Dassault Systemes PLM portfolio, which provides customers with product data management solutions to enable collaboration between teams and the extended enterprise.

 

“Allan does not just use the software off the shelf,” said Stephen AU, Managing Director, MTECH Engineering Co., Ltd. “They spend time and resources for training, system development, best practices development, process integration and are continuously re-engineering their business.”

 

 

Raoul Van Engelshoven, vice president, IBM Product Lifecycle Management, Asia Pacific, said, “The strength of IBM Product Lifecycle Management lies in our 21 years of experience in product development technology working with large and small companies around the world.  This experience has enabled us to help our customers, such as Allan International, unleash the benefits of e-business using product lifecycle management solutions and methodologies adapted to their industry sector.  Our PLM solutions are easy to deploy and allows customers to realize manufacturing efficiencies, including shortened cycle time and reduced manufacturing costs.”

 

 

 

“We are extremely pleased that Allan has been able to reduce product development time so effectively with CATIA V5,” said Francis Bernard, Dassault Systemes Executive Committee Advisor.  “It demonstrates that small and medium businesses can reap the same benefits as large companies from CATIA V5’s advanced yet easy to use features for rapid prototyping and product development.”