Engineering Firm LNM Uses CATIA V5 from Dassault Systèmes to Design Do-it-Yourself Sailboat Kits

World leader in carbon compound bows for musical instruments expands into pleasure boat sector with CATIA V5

Paris, France – April 1, 2003 – Dassault Systemes (Nasdaq: DASTY, Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced that LNM - Les Nouveaux Matériaux, a Marseille-based engineering firm, uses CATIA V5 for the conception and design of its innovative line of do-it-yourself sailboat kits.

Created in 1995, LNM is a five-person engineering firm specializing in composite materials solutions (structural analysis, product design, CAD, finite element modeling). Initially providing services to naval and medical companies, LNM began designing and later producing carbon compound bows for the musical instrument industry in 1997 under the brand CARBOW. Combining a passion and knowledge of sailing with their engineering and design expertise, the founders of LMN purchased CATIA V5 in 2000 in order to design and build sailboats.

The LNM sailboat line includes five vessels ranging from the 28-foot Sormiou to the 43-foot LNM. The Sormiou is produced commercially. The remaining boats are in development and will be produced as do-it-yourself kits. The 35-foot SeaRacer will be unveiled at the Paris Salon Nautique in December 2003.

“CATIA has enabled a small company like LNM to pursue business directions that match the personal interests of its employees who, in addition to being engineers, are sailors and musicians,” said Olivier Philippot, founder of LNM. “I used CATIA at university and fell in love with its surface design capabilities. We choose CATIA to design our boats because we didn’t find the same level souplesse in the other tools we tried.“

“Whether small or large, all companies must be competitive,” said Pierre Balza, director of the France Sales division at Dassault Systèmes. “LNM’s success with the Sormiou 28’ demonstrates once again that CATIA V5 helps small niche companies produce world-class products. Thanks to CATIA, LNM benefits from the same advanced design and prototyping tools used by shipbuilding companies with ten times the employees.”

LNM’s sailboat kits are composed of a large number of parts, all designed with CATIA. The kits include planks, metal pieces, assembly instructions, and a navigation plan. Parts such as the motor and masts can be purchased separately. The French Veritas standards office certifies LNM sailboats.