published by Business Wire - 20 June 2007

Bringing Together Industry Expertise and PLM for the Aerospace Industry

PARIS--IBM and Dassault Systèmes (DS) a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced a significant customer win in the aerospace industry. AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, will be working with IBM and DS to re-engineer its design to manufacturing processes in 3D, a project that will touch its industrial sites in Italy, the UK and US.
With its digital manufacturing project, AgustaWestland will generate a set of 3D master data that will serve as the basis for improved collaboration internally and externally. Business transformation projects of this size require more than just PLM software. Dassault Systèmes and IBM also offer their solid industry expertise to help carve out a visionary roadmap with customized solutions to meet customers' unique configuration needs. Total packages like these are what help customers to most fully benefit from 3D PLM.

"3D PLM helps companies to design not only their product but also virtually simulate the processes and resources used to build them. This allows companies to identify and resolve issues in a virtual environment long before any physical resources have been committed resulting in reduced costs and risks, increased product innovation, quality and faster time to market," said Bruno Latchague, executive vice president, PLM Business Transformation, Dassault Systèmes.

"IBM is pleased to work with Dassault Systèmes in putting our expertise and many years of experience in the aerospace industry to work on behalf of our customers," said Al Bunshaft, vice president, IBM PLM Solutions.

DS and IBM solutions are SOA based, easily linking with non-PLM enterprise IT systems, therefore making it easy for companies to benefit from a full range of 3D PLM solutions. AgustaWestland will use CATIA for virtual product development; ENOVIA VPLM for 3D collaborative virtual product lifecycle management of highly complex product, resource and manufacturing processes.