| Tokyo and Paris, France - October
13, 2004 – IBM and Dassault Systèmes today announced
that Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., one of
the world's leading manufacturers of construction machinery,
has successfully used their PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)
solutions to streamline the development and improve the
quality of its hydraulic excavators. Using CATIA V5,
the world's leading 3D product-development application,
Kobelco has created full digital mock-ups of its hydraulic
excavators and can now view the entire product and correct
potential problems early in the design process. At the
stage of making a prototype machine, CATIA V5 has delivered
improved product quality, a 30 percent reduction in the
time required for design changes, and a 50 percent reduction
of design defects. CATIA V5 and SMARTEAM, for collaborative
product data and lifecycle management, have also improved
efficiency by enabling the sharing and re-use of intellectual
assets within the company.
Kobelco also plans to use CATIA V5's knowledgeware
functionality for the reuse of designs and 3D data usage
at manufacturing and sales divisions, as well as take
advantage of SMARTEAM's Web functionality to strengthen
its collaboration with group companies, thereby improving
efficiency even further.
"In this industry, as competition becomes more severe,
we need to develop products to meet the customer requirements
for high-quality, affordable products produced in a short
time," said Tetsutaro Yanaka, group manager, Engineering
Administration in the General Engineering Dept. at Kobelco
Construction Machinery. "CATIA V5 and SMARTEAM have enabled
to strengthen processes within the design team. We achieved
this positive outcome thanks to a powerful, integrated
solution."
"IBM PLM solutions have helped Kobelco speed up time
to market and constantly improve the quality of its product,"
said Junichi Takeuchi, Asia Pacific director, IBM Product
Lifecycle Management Solutions, IBM Asia Pacific Service.
"Those key ingredients helped the company strengthen its
leading position in a most challenging environment. We
are committed to continue helping manufacturers implement
a winning strategy with our world-class PLM industry-specific
solutions and methodologies."
"Kobelco's success clearly demonstrates the value PLM
solutions developed by Dassault Systèmes deliver," said
Christian Nardin, managing director, Dassault Systèmes
Asia. "A key aspect for Kobelco is the ability to simulate
and optimize concurrently all aspects of excavator engineering,
packaging, operation and ergonomics, while capitalizing
on and re-using engineering knowledge to more rapidly
derive the multiple variants the market requires."
Kobelco will present details on the benefits of this implementation
today at the European CATIA forum at Disneyland Paris.
About Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
Centered on the construction machinery division of Kobe
Steel, Ltd., Kobelco was established in 1999. Including
the time since the division manufactured an electric mining
shovel in 1930, the company has a history of over 70 years
of manufacturing construction machinery. As a global company,
Kobelco has production and sales bases not only in Japan
but also in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In 2001 the company
entered into business ties with CNH Global N.V., a farm
machinery and construction machinery manufacturer in the
FIAT Group, thus forming one of the world's foremost integrated
machinery manufacturing groups. Through the combined production
and sales bases of both companies, a system has been put
into place for providing products and services with high
value to customers around the world.
About IBM
IBM is the world's largest technological company, providing
leadership and innovation throughout the world for more
than 80 years. IBM is the largest supplier of "hardware,"
"software" and Information Technology services, and pioneered
the development and implementation of "e-business" solutions.
IBM Sales & Distribution, which supports more than a dozen
key industries worldwide, works with companies of all
sizes around the world to deploy the full range of IBM
technologies. The fastest way to get more information
about IBM is through the IBM home page at
www.3ds.com
About Dassault Systèmess
As world leader in PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)
solutions, the Dassault Systèmes group brings value to
more than 70,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer
in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systèmes
develops and markets PLM application software and services
that support industrial processes and provide a 3D vision
of the entire life cycle of products from conception to
retirement. Its offering includes integrated PLM solutions
for product development (CATIA®, DELMIA®, ENOVIA®, SMARTEAM®),
mainstream product design tools (SolidWorks), and 3D components
(ACIS®) from Spatial Corp. Dassault Systèmes is listed
on the Nasdaq (DASTY) and Euronext Paris (#13065, DSY.PA)
stock exchanges. For more information, visit
www.3ds.com
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