Mitsubishi Motors Corporation Selects ENOVIA Product Lifecycle Management Solutions for Implementing Complete Digital Vehicle Design

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), a world leader in motor vehicle manufacturing, IBM Japan, and Dassault Systemes (NASDAQ: DASTY) announced today that MMC selected ENOVIAVPM, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions for implementing complete digital design in the development of all new Mitsubishi passenger cars, trucks and buses.

Tokyo (Japan) and Paris (France), 3 July 2000--ENOVIAVPM will be the exclusive configured digital mock-up (DMU) system that MMC will implement for product engineering. Using configured DMU will enable MMC to optimize product definition and manufacturing processes. The MMC enterprise environment will enable the company to accommodate up to 1500 ENOVIAVPM users.

MMC selected ENOVIAVPM for its capabilities to contribute to overall quality improvement and development cycle time reduction. Working with IBM Japan and Dassault Systemes, MMC conducted extensive tests on ENOVIAVPM, including implementing a pilot project to define and validate multiple, simultaneous product variants. Contributing to the success of this project was ENOVIA’s configuration support, engineering change control, and remote operation and security control functions, as well as ENOVIA’s complete integration with MMC’s existing CATIA CAD/CAM/CAE solutions.

When fully installed, ENOVIAVPMwill be interfaced with MMC’s proprietary ENICS product data management system, creating a full-function product development environment that includes legacy data integration. In addition, MMC plans to include manufacturing process planning in its ENOVIAVPM system to optimize the production cycle.

MMC will run ENOVIAVPMon IBM RS/6000 hardware at its sites in Japan and throughout the world. The company has trained almost all its engineers to use ENOVIAVPM, about three-quarters of whom are involved in passenger car development, and one-quarter in truck and bus development.

Said Shinichi Oki, MMC general manager, engineering Information Technology, "Our engineering group includes some of the world’s most competent vehicle engineers. We needed to give them tools supporting their capacity for innovation. After evaluating ENOVIAVPM, we consider that it enhances our vehicle engineering processes as well as satisfies our requirement for high development quality."

Joel Lemke, ENOVIA Corp. chief executive officer, commented, "We are very pleased to welcome MMC as an ENOVIAVPM customer. MMC’s focus on innovation through implementing DMU from a business-process approach positions them well to achieve their desired business results."

Sumiyoshi Shukuri, IBM Asia Pacific manager of product lifecycle management solutions added, "As one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers, MMC strives constantly to enhance its performance. We are proud that this prestigious company has selected IBM’s PLM solutions, e-business expertise, and support to help MMC achieve its goals."