Dassault Systèmes Highlights Benefits of CATIA Knowledge Templates at SAE

Capturing Engineering Know-How Enables Lean Product Development

Auburn Hills, Mich., April 14, 2008 – Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions will be addressing how Knowledge Templates can leverage the power of CATIA V5 in booth #1550 at the SAE 2008 World Congress in Detroit from April 14 – 17. Knowledge Templates combine various elements of product design such as geometry, product structure, corporate and industry standards, and industry know-how to jumpstart the design process. Harnessing this engineering knowledge enables faster and higher quality product development.
 
Knowledge templates enable the creation of intelligent components, which can adapt to a new context without losing the original design intent in a process known as component morphing.  In a traditional product development process, each new component would require significant engineering time.  By developing Knowledge Templates, certain features can be selected as changeable elements of the part design.  New parameters are plugged into these features and the design automatically transforms to reflect the new component. Knowledge can be accessed and used at every product development stage, from concept through maintenance. Non-value-added activities are eliminated resulting in a significantly leaner product development process.
 
Through a Business Value Assessment™ conducted by Dassault Systèmes for Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center’s Engineering Design organization, it was determined that Hyundai could save more than $3 million per year; the equivalent of 51,000 engineering hours or 25 full-time engineers.  A major aspect of this initiative relied upon CATIA’s ability to streamline routine work by capturing corporate knowledge as re-usable templates and creating global standards for how designs should be structured. Re-use of existing design data and intellectual property was also improved, allowing the company to focus on new-value-add work rather than re-inventing the wheel.

“Knowledge-based modeling in CATIA saves companies time by allowing them to reuse previous designs and leverage previous experience rather than designing from scratch,” said Peter Schmitt, vice president, automotive sales, Dassault Systèmes Americas Corp.  “If they plan for this work upfront, they can obtain incredible savings such as ASC achieved on its Infinivu open air roof system, where it was able to reduce each new vehicle design from 20 days to just one.”

In addition to speed, quality improvements are gained through use of the templates.  Downstream rework is eliminated because design standards, parameters, rules and regulations are enforced through the templates at the beginning of the design process.