Airbus Speeds Innovation and Time-to-market with DELMIA Digital Manufacturing Technology from IBM and Dassault Systèmes

Leading aircraft manufacturer signs contract for the A320-A330-A340 and A380 commercial aircraft, the new A400M military transporter, and the future A350.

Paris, France, March 21, 2006 – IBM and Dassault Systèmes (DS) (NASDAQ: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), announced today that Airbus has chosen the DELMIA V5 Robotics digital manufacturing solution to simulate, validate and program the robotics assembly lines for the new Airbus aircraft programs. This strategic choice will allow Airbus to optimize its design and manufacturing cycle time, reducing costs and accelerating time-to-market.

The first program to benefit from these solutions will be the A400M, the first Airbus aircraft entirely designed with CATIA V5 and simulated on DELMIA V5, from the range of IBM PLM solutions developed by Dassault Systèmes. This acquisition will enable Airbus to optimize programming time as well as fine-tune its production resources without disruption through Off-line Programming. The solution is enriched by the FASTIP-FASTRIM tools from Dassault Systèmes's technological partner CENIT, which work seamlessly on the CATIA and DELMIA V5 data-model to provide TRIMMING, DRILLING and riveting capabilities.

In addition to these robotic solutions, Airbus is using the ergonomic and assembly simulation tools of DELMIA V5 HUMAN and DELMIA V5 DPM Assembly to meet the increasing need for simulation in the field of digital manufacturing. Already used for the A400M program, it offers the ability to check accessibility during the assembly and maintenance phases of various plane parts throughout the design lifecycle.

The choice of this V5 robotics solution meets Airbus’ global objective to cut costs and harmonize PLM tools on the V5 platform. The automatic solving of machine/environment conflicts will optimize machine paths, reducing maintenance costs and immobilization time.

“We have been working hand-in-hand for two years with the IBM, Dassault Systèmes and CENIT teams,” explains Daniel Girardot, robotics team leader at Airbus. “The three companies have designed a solution that totally fits with Airbus’ methods and manufacturing processes, and will lead to significant profits for Airbus. It will be implemented first in 8 projects at different Airbus sites across Europe at the end of 2005.”

“To remain ahead of the competition, Airbus needs to constantly exceed its customers’ expectations by providing a high level of quality, expertise, and added-value services, while cutting internal costs and time-to-market,” said Erick Craberou, director PLM Solutions, IBM France. “Our deep knowledge of this industry and our tight collaboration with Airbus allows us to provide Airbus with the right answer to meet its critical product development and innovation challenges.”

“DELMIA offers industry-leading advanced solutions in the digital manufacturing domain,” said Yves Coze, vice president sales, DELMIA Europe. “We have been providing Airbus with the latest simulation tools for many years, and our relationship continues to strengthen in robotics, allowing us to develop special applications for their use on our V5 platform. Certain advanced functions developed in partnership with Airbus have also been integrated into the standard V5 platform, making the benefits mutually beneficial.”