Dassault Systemes opens a new sales branch in Rennes

This branch will cover Brittany and the Loire region.

Paris, 4 April 1997 . Determined to reinforce its network in France, Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY), announces the opening of a new sales branch on the Rennes Atalante site (France). This branch will cover Brittany and the Loire region.

 

The task of the branch is to promote and install, for local customers and prospects, CATIA Solutions on all the platforms supported: IBM, Silicon Graphics, Hewlett Packard and Sun. The branch will also offer users a wide range of services for comprehensive technical support, ranging from methods advice to technical assistance, hardware and software installation and follow-up, and training through to the execution of specific developments.

 

The branch has a permanent training centre which can accommodate 8 to 10 people at the same time, and a demonstration room. The team consists of Eric Souron, sales engineer, branch manager and two technical sales engineers, Yves Formet and Gilles Foricher. They also have the support of 20 technical sales engineers from the Paris branch.

 

Bernard Charlès, President of Dassault Systèmes comments: "The branch will make its knowledge and skills available to all the automobile subcontractors and moulders who have a strong presence in the region and who are working with major companies such as PSA-Citroën who themselves have CATIA, the standard system in this field. CATIA Solutions are also highly competitive in telecommunications, the heavy machinery sector and shipbuilding which are particularly active in western France."

 

"This region's technological dynamism had a considerable impact on our decision" explains Eric Souron, manager of the branch. "Our customers already include moulders such as Ermo and FTV, the equipment suppliers Solvay, Valéo and Bosch, the aircraft engine builder JPX, Cougnaud in the field of modular construction ... to mention but a few. This new branch will make access to CATIA technology easier for all industries in the region. We shall be on the spot with our advanced technical skills to offer them solutions guaranteeing a high quality of design which can only improve competitivity".

 

"With the regional branch in Rennes, Dassault Systèmes offers its customers in western France the capability of a truly integrated approach encompassing the different industries covered by the portfolio of CATIA products" , explains Philippe Handtschoewercker, Sales Manager for France. "In fact as a branch of Dassault Systèmes, we are in direct touch with the CATIA Research and Development laboratory. As an agent for IBM, we have close links with ETS, the IBM organisation responsible for marketing these solutions. And finally, as hardware suppliers, we work in partnership with all hardware manufacturers. In this way we are able to provide our customers with a comprehensive and integrated solution and to install CATIA on all platforms with all the services necessary."

 

The Rennes branch comes under the Dassault Systèmes France Sales Directorate which markets CATIA to small and medium-sized enterprises as an agent of IBM France. This situation leads to a policy of decentralisation and local presence, with a network of regional branches set up throughout the country (Toulouse in 1990, Lille in 1991, Lyon in 1993, Caen in 1995, Bordeaux and Marseille in 1997) and the prospects for setting up others in French-speaking areas in Europe. The Sales Directorate for France now has a staff of 72 in 8 branches, and in 1996 achieved a turnover of 150 million French francs.

 

CATIA is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes S.A.
CADAM is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes of America
CAD/CAM: computer-assisted design and manufacturing