Dassault Systèmes 3DVIA Technology to Ease Machinery Assembly

3DVIA Composer will increase Komatsu Forest production quality

Paris, France, September 2, 2009 - Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that Sweden-based company Komatsu Forest, a manufacturer of forest machines and a pioneer in mechanized logging, has chosen Dassault Systèmes’ 3DVIA Composer to facilitate its production process.

With a passion for technology and a product development approach that merges productivity, ergonomics and environmental strong points into cutting edge advantages, Komatsu Forest was looking for a way to improve product assembly and avoid recalls.
In the Umeå Komatsu factory, production staff used to work with two-dimensional images as the basis for the assembly work. The production work is complex and the company experienced challenges in achieving a consistent level of high quality assembly work. The introduction of 3DVIA Composer has allowed to create comprehensive, interactive 3D work instructions to the shop floor. This superior communication is helping to reduce errors significantly. Komatsu Forest uses the interactive 3D documentation capabilities of 3DVIA Composer across their entire production process, including assembly instructions, equipment maintenance, and spare parts documentation. 

“It can be quite complicated to set up our machines. With moving images instead of the previous sketches on paper, the production process has become much easier, leading to much better results”, said Maria Larsson, CAD manager at Komatsu Forest.

Komatsu Forest, thriving to increase productivity while lowering energy consumption and limiting mechanical damage to the forest, already uses Dassault Systèmes CAD program CATIA. It was easy to re-use CATIA information directly in 3DVIA.

“We saw the direct benefits of the program. 3DVIA Composer is fully integrated with CATIA. Prototype work, where you still make several changes, is much easier. Everyone involved has always access to the latest information,” said Maria Larsson.

In the long term, Komatsu Forest see possibilities of using interactive 3D information within marketing materials, as well as for the training of dealers and users. The next step is to integrate the 3DVIA Composer solution with the PLM system ENOVIA SmarTeam.

“The improvements in productivity and overall results experienced by Komatsu Forest are happening with other companies across the globe,” comments Garth Coleman, Director Product Marketing, 3DVIA, Dassault Systèmes. “3DVIA Composer is empowering users – outside of engineering – to revolutionize their businesses by leveraging the universal language of 3D in their everyday work.”