Flight Refuelling Ltd. to Accelerate Time-to-Market with PLM Solutions from IBM and Dassault Systèmes

Leading in-flight air refuelling company aims to shorten product development cycles and capitalize on new business opportunities with SMARTEAM

Wimborne, UK and Paris, France – June 16, 2005 – IBM and Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced that Flight Refuelling Limited, a division of the Cobham Aerospace Systems Group, has chosen to implement their Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions to improve productivity and product quality, and accelerate time-to-market

Flight Refuelling will use SMARTEAM, for collaborative product data and lifecycle management, to optimize management of specifications, engineering rules, operational parameters, simulation results, and customer-related product design data. SMARTEAM is an IBM PLM solution developed by Dassault Systèmes.

Flight Refuelling is a world leader in the in-flight air refuelling market, offering a full range of refuelling equipment for both tanker and receiver aircraft—among the most technologically advanced in the world. To support its growth, Flight Refuelling sought a collaborative application robust enough to manage and share the product data of its wide range of offerings through all aspects of its product development and manufacturing processes. With SMARTEAM, Flight Refuelling will link more than 300 users across multiple disciplines and departments.

To help Flight Refuelling streamline its product development methodologies and realize rapid return on investment from the new platform through productivity gains and cost reduction, IBM and IBM Business Partner Transcat PLM Ltd, will provide consulting, project management, implementation, and support services over the three-year roll-out period.

“We have chosen SMARTEAM because we think it is the leading solution in the area of product data and business process management,” said Peter Holland, Engineering and Quality director, Flight Refuelling Ltd. “SMARTEAM integrates proven best practices of the aerospace industry and enables us to increase our overall efficiency. Thus, we are able to start our journey to responding in real time to any business opportunity.”                                         

“Reducing time to market, minimizing cost and improving product quality is critical for companies in the Aerospace market,” said Hervé Rolland, vice president, Product Lifecycle Management Solutions, IBM EMEA. “Together with our Business Partner, Transcat PLM Ltd., we have implemented end-to-end, integrated collaboration solutions that help Flight Refuelling improve resource utilization, shorten product development cycles and increase product innovation, thus transforming the company into an agile and flexible business.”

“SMARTEAM’s comprehensive, scalable PLM functionality will help drive Flight Refuelling’s market leadership position and optimally manage the substantial growth they anticipate in the coming years,” said Denis Senpéré, vice president, PLM Europe, Dassault Systèmes. “With SMARTEAM, Flight Refuelling will have the collaborative capabilities necessary to streamline processes enterprise-wide and produce better quality products more efficiently and cost-effectively.”