IBM and Dassault Systèmes have announced a new PLM (product lifecycle management) industry solution that enables companies to improve design productivity and speed innovation by facilitating re-use of data and knowledge, re-adapted to a new context, from one project to another.

Industrial products companies often base new product designs on up to 70% to 80% of the data and skills used in previous projects. With the generative mechanical design (GMD) solution, companies can cut design time by up to 50% and can cut manufacturing and assembly time by up to 60%.

GMD is delivered through collaborative generative design (CGD), a key component of the new, integrated IBM PLM Express Portfolio priced as an attractive PLM solution for medium-sized businesses. It consists of Catia V5 design and knowledgeware and Smarteam collaborative product development and standardised parts repository applications; the accompanying generative design practices (GDP) companion provides training materials and sample product templates for learning, applying and successfully implementing this new generative design approach.

Companies can use the GMD solution to accelerate the entire product design process and enhance innovation through:

* Capture and re-use of design knowledge.

* Automation of repetitive or tedious design tasks.

* Encapsulation of design rules using standard parts.

* Enhanced collaboration among design, simulation and manufacturing.

Sanyo Machine Works, a leading global provider of industrial automation systems, is an early adopter of the GMD solution. 'Sanyo Machine Digital Innovation, Initiative, Integration,' a corporate project launched in 2002, has yielded a significant increase in profitability due to large reductions across the board: 50% in overall development time, 25% in parts, as much as 40% in errors at final assembly stage, and 60% in pallet manufacturing time.

"Introducing the GMD solution gave us a technical advantage over our rivals and helped us become more competitive through innovative product development," said Keita Horiba, managing director, Sanyo Machine Works. "We have given this project top priority. Regarding design quality, we have achieved remarkable results. Errors found at the final assembly stage have decreased by 30% to 40% In addition, we can respect increasingly severe customer demands to cut lead time."

"By effectively re-using existing designs and components via Catia V5 and Smarteam, we will streamline development, improve customer responsiveness and reduce errors and interferences," says Flemming M. Christensen, sales and marketing manager at Jokan Systems, another GMD solution adopter.

"Industrial products companies are facing tremendous challenges such as globalisation, leading to strong pressure for productivity gains to remain competitive. They also need to be reactive to capture market opportunities generated by the recovering and growing economy," says Hervé Rolland, vice president, Product Lifecycle Management Solutions, IBM EMEA. "The GMD solution will help industrial products companies increase competitiveness by securing low cost and price, as well as high quality for innovative products. Thus, they will be able to better anticipate and respond quickly to their customers' expectations."

"The GMD solution has been designed to deliver PLM business transformation to small and medium-sized businesses in industrial products," says Pierre Moreau, vice president, Industry Solutions, Dassault Systèmes. "The measured benefits achieved by early adopters in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific are very encouraging for the wide acceptance of this solution."

For more information contact Igal Filipovski, CDC, 011 786 3516, www.cdcsa.co.za