Long Island Aerospace Corridor's Stellex Joins Growing Squadron of IBM and Dassault Systemes PLM Customers

Amityville, New York, June 19, 2001 -- Stellex Monitor Aerospace, manufacturers of complex aerospace parts, structural components and assemblies, announced today with IBM and Dassault Systemes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) that they have selected CATIA and SmarTeam solutions to build a product lifecycle management infrastructure to seamlessly work with their customers at a more collaborative level.

 

Stellex Monitor Aerospace's current computer aided design (CAD) solution was not compatible with its customers' environments. The company's prime customers, Boeing, Bombardier and Lockheed Martin were moving to model-based definition, non-dimensioned blueprints of CATIA origin. Their existing PC-based software was not capable of reading translated CATIA files or extracting needed information, in effect limiting their customer base. 

 

Looking for a robust, Windows NT-based 3D mechanical design package Stellex Monitor selected CATIA Version 5 (V5) Release 6 and its mechanical design module, which includes enhanced 2D-3D associativity, flexible assemblies and mold tooling design. The engineering staff at the company's Long Island-based location were particularly impressed with CATIA V5's real-time rendering capabilities and its ability to perform advanced 3D design of parts and assemblies in the context of full scale digital mock-ups.

 

To manage its CATIA data, Stellex Monitor chose TeamPDM from SmarTeam. TeamPDM was a logical choice since it is built right into the CATIA V5 application framework. 

 

"If we did not invest in CATIA, we faced the possibility of losing business to our competitors," explained Gary Kahrau, vice president, technology, Stellex Monitor Aerospace. "Even at these early stages of deploying CATIA and SmartTeam we have already seen significant savings in new job start-ups and we have reduced our lead time by 25 percent." 

 

The implementation is still in its first phase, with the CAD deployment expected to be completed by end of year and the computer-aided-modeling installation the following year. Stellex Monitor anticipates being able to manufacture its products faster and more accurately, opening up the possibility of taking on more new business. Stellex Monitor has done much of the installing and licensing in-house, with some assistance from IBM and Advanced Enterprise Solutions (AES), an IBM business partner. As the installation progresses, Stellex Monitor will integrate its homegrown enterprise resource planning (ERP) system where it sees fit with CATIA and TeamPDM. A firm believer in e-business, the company has been using the Internet for a few years to view and receive CAD drawings from its customers. 

 

"Product lifecycle management is all about collaboration," stated Ed Petrozelli, general manager, IBM Product Lifecycle Management. "It's about leveraging the knowledge and innovation of designers and engineers, of letting people communicate, via the Internet and other tools, to break down the barriers that hinder innovation." 

 

"CATIA and SmartTeam have brought increased flexibility, efficiency and collaboration to the aerospace industry," said Etienne Droit, executive vice-president sales and marketing of Dassault Systemes. "Dassault continues to build its portfolio of collaborative solutions for companies like Stellex Monitor to provide a one stop shopping experience."

CATIA Solutions is the world's leading computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) software. Dassault Systemes S.A. develops CATIA, and IBM's Product Lifecycle Management business unit and IBM Business Partners worldwide market, sell and support it.