Korean Automotive Supplier Hanil E Hwa Co. Expands PLM Platform with Solutions from IBM and Dassault Systèmes

Car interior manufacturer cites need to react quickly to market requirements as main reason for SMARTEAM® implementation

Seoul, South Korea and Paris, France – October 27, 2003 - IBM and Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced that Hanil E Hwa Co., Ltd., a leading Korean automotive supplier, is expanding its product lifecycle management (PLM) platform with SMARTEAM product data management solutions to manage and standardize product data across its business divisions in Korea and subsidiaries in China, India and Turkey. To date, IBM PLM Solutions have supported Hanil E Hwa’s PLM capability with the world’s leading collaborative product development application, CATIA® V5, developed by Dassault Systèmes.

The addition of SMARTEAM, for collaborative product data management, to its existing IBM PLM Solutions platform will enable Hanil E Hwa to manage and share product design data across the company and in real time to boost collaboration and shorten the product development cycle.

The expanded PLM platform will support Hanil E Hwa by optimizing data management and improving work efficiencies in the development of their automotive products, including door panels and seats. The fully integrated PLM platform, compatible with Hanil E Hwa’s existing ERP system, will foster rationalization and standardization of business processes across divisions and suppliers by unifying the company’s extended enterprise into an efficient “assembly line.”

“IBM and Dassault Systèmes are supporting our business with a tool for integrated data management to help us innovate in our development process, share relevant data between teams and departments, and increase our ability to react quickly to market requirements,” said Hee-Jae Moon, executive director head of R&D center, Hanil E Hwa Co., Ltd. “The integrated PLM solution will enable us to leverage our knowledge across the enterprise, and thus increase our competitiveness.”

”SMARTEAM optimizes collaborative work among individuals inside and outside the enterprise,” said Avinoam Nowogrodski, chief executive officer, SmarTeam Corporation. “It empowers organizations with pre-defined “real world” scenarios. These will help Hanil E Hwa define its processes more quickly, speed PLM deployment, guide the company towards better collaboration with its suppliers and reduce costs.”

Jemann Park, general manager, Product Lifecycle Management, IBM Korea, said, “IBM is acutely aware of the importance of collaborative product development in the automotive sector and we have more than 20 years of experience delivering solutions to meet the needs of this industry. Hanil E Hwa’s decision to expand their IBM PLM solution as their company wide product development and data management platform is a very strong endorsement of the business value that IBM delivers.”