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News Release from: Delmia
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 18 November 2005

Digital manufacturing users share
experiences

The Delmia 2005 North America Worldwide User Group Conference brought together leaders from the automotive, aerospace, telecommunications, defence and consumer industries.

The recent Delmia 2005 North America Worldwide User Group Conference brought together leaders from the automotive, aerospace, telecommunications, defence and consumer industries to share how their companies are strategically employing Delmia digital solutions to gain efficiencies in the manufacturing process The consistent message was the endorsement of digital manufacturing by all executive presenters as a mature and a proven competitive tool for cost savings, quality improvement and reduced time to market

The second recurring theme that became apparent was the fact that enterprises must eliminate individual silos of information and develop a common data platform to gain the most from the tools and to enable a true product lifecycle management (PLM) strategy.

The gains to be made through digital manufacturing initiatives were clearly apparent.

Keynote presenter David Jodock, Director of Boeing Information Technology Integration, stated that by implementing the Dassault Systemes V5 PLM tools, the 787 Dreamliner programme is designing, building and testing every aspect of the 7E7 airplane and its manufacturing processes digitally before production begins.

This has allowed the company to eliminate the cost of building six to eight physical prototype planes, representing massive cost and time-savings.

Ed Linhart, Lockheed Martin Vice President of Production Operations, confirmed this level of success.

Delmia tools were used to simulate all F35 JSF assembly processes to achieve astounding reductions.

The forward fuselage, which consists of three subcomponents, was assembled in only two hours versus the previous baseline of four days.

Nissan chose Delmia digital manufacturing solutions to build flexible production lines capable of meeting fluctuations in demand.

Nissan Motor Co Senior Manager Vehicle Planning and Strategy Development, Toshiyuki Nakajima stated that Nissan has cut vehicle development time in half while improving quality by 13%.

The company has also eliminated physical prototype tools, replacing them with a 3D digital mockup design review process.

Dassault Systemes President and CEO Bernard Charles affirmed the strength of the tools as evidenced by the successful Dassault Aviation Falcon 7X launch where the company achieved a 50% reduction in assembly time, a 60% decrease in tooling, the total elimination of physical prototypes and successful first time assembly.

Charles also said that PDM file management is the biggest problem in the successful implementation of digital programs and his goal is to create a comprehensive portfolio that shares the same maths.

Roger Lundberg, Director of Engineering Operation and Chrysler Development System, Product Development, Chrysler group, stated that the Dassault Systemes' vision is a great one and the goal for the Chrysler group is to more fully integrate the tools, which include both Catia for design and Delmia for manufacturing process, into the organisation and into the processes.

Ingo Chladek, Audi Department Head, Process Manager A3, confirmed this view.

He said that by implementing Delmia tools, Audi was able to launch the new A3 line within 18 weeks without losing a single car.

He stressed that the success factors for the digital factory rely on systematic networking and parallelisation - complete data integration.

Keith Zobot, Honeywell International Corporate Director of Engineering Information Technology, agreed.

Zobot suggested eliminating cultural silos of information.

He said that PLM is the enabler of velocity product development, efficient globalisation and global collaboration, and added that, based on the user conference presentations, companies that are using this are leading the way.

Donald Brown, Managing Partner of analyst firm CPD Associates, concluded the executive summaries.

Brown discussed being on the verge of a paradigm shift.

He expressed that while product lifecycle management (PLM) isn't a new concept, the technology by business is not being fully applied.

He also clearly conveyed the value of the tools and stated that less than 10 years ago, automakers routinely invested in many, many prototype vehicles at the cost of $200,000 to $300,000 each.

With the help of digital tools, the number of physical prototypes is down to around two per vehicle and even none in some cases.

Other speakers at the conference represented Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Bombardier, ABB Robotics, Proctor and Gamble, Magnys, Applied Manufacturing Technologies, Telcordia, Flow International, NASA and Cenit.

Over 350 people from around the world attended the two-day conference, which also included workshops, exhibit booths and hospitality events.

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