Brunvoll Propels Ships Using Product Lifecycle Management Solutions from IBM and Dassault Systèmes

PLM Solutions are integrated into every step of advanced thruster design, production, documentation and alter-sales support

Molde, Norway and Paris, France - June 3, 2003 - IBM and Dassault Systèmes today announced that Brunvoll AS, one of the world's leading marine equipment suppliers will expand usage of IBM Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, building on a seven-year relationship with IBM and Dassault Systèmes for collaborative product design and data management applications solutions and related services. Brunvoll, which recently won a substantial contract to develop a retractable azimuth thruster for the Norwegian Navy's new frigate program, uses the PLM platform to enable it to manage complex customer requirements. Brunvoll cited the high level of design, production and after-sales integration of the PLM solutions within its business as the main reason for the new contract.

Brunvoll is one of the global leaders for next-generation thruster propulsion units, and its customer base includes Royal Caribbean Cruiselines, Meyer Werft Shipyard, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Carnival Cruise Lines, and the Norwegian Navy, among others.

Brunvoll currently uses CATIA V5®, the world's leading product development application, for all design and documentation. It recently purchased and is implementing SMARTEAM® product data management applications for workflow and configuration management and for production of customer documentation. The CATIA and SMARTEAM applications, marketed and supported by IBM and developed by Dassault Systèmes, are fully complementary. Also as part of the extended platform, Brunvoll will use CATIA to fully automate the design and cutting of high-precision propeller assemblies, a first in the industry.

With more than 60 percent of the total value of a typical ship outsourced to suppliers, the role of manufacturers such as Brunvoll has become critical. As more shipbuilders standardize on PLM solutions from IBM and Dassault Systèmes for new product development and product data management, suppliers also are rapidly adopting the advanced PLM technology to integrate design, manufacturing, and collaboration with shipbuilders and to provide after-sales support to ship owners. For Brunvoll, which builds highly complex, highly specialized products with just 160 employees, the business advantages are numerous.

“With a large organization such as a navy, you face the challenge of meeting many special demands that are far beyond those of the normal commercial customer," said Per Olav Lokseth, Marketing Director, Brunvoll AS. “You must work with multiple contacts at the customer, which can be overwhelming for a small organization such as ours. We have the technical skill to do everything they require, but working with so many people and providing 80 much specialized government documentation, especially when the requirements for everything all come in at the same time, can be overwhelming. We anticipate that SMARTEAM is going to be invaluable in helping us to manage and respond to these requirements more efficiently."

SMARTEAM will be used to archive and organize the company's 3D designs as well as all of the documentation relevant to each design. Having such a sophisticated data management capability will help Brunvoll adapt its standard documentation to meet the specialized requirements of both the Navy and the shipyard building the ship. The 3D capabilities of CATIA, meanwhile, help ensure that the thrusters Brunvoll delivers will integrate smoothly with the rest of the ship.

“We find that having the 3D capabilities of CATIA and being able to communicate with the Navy and the shipyard in 3D is invaluable,” said Kevin Isham, Brunvoll's Manager of Mechanical Design. “Many of the organizations we work with still work in 2D. Because our systems intersect with other systems in the ship at so many points, it's often difficult to grasp all of the nuances of the design in 2D. Using 3D modeling helps us to communicate these needs more effectively and turn up any errors in the 2D designs supplied to us by the shipyard or the design consultants as we try to integrate our units into the ship. It’s important to understand the many points of contact between the thruster unit and the ship, particularly with the retractable designs that actually penetrate the bottom of the hull. They feature an opening in the bottom with a cover plate that requires an exact fit. Another example is for our super silent thrusters, where we deliver form-cut tunnel extensions that have to match precisely with the hull form. The 3D capabilities of CATIA are critical to helping us accomplish this."

IBM and Dassault Systèmes have helped transform Brunvoll from a traditional manufacturing company to an on-demand e-business. Over the past seven years, Brunvoll estimates that it has saved millions of dollars with PLM solutions from IBM and Dassault Systèmes due to faster time-to-market, elimination of steps, end-to-end solution integration for smoother product roll-out, an improved offering of products and services and by-products tram design that allow the company to use its engineering designs to produce manuals for installation, testing and normal operation and maintenance.