Chengdu Aircraft and Dassault Systèmes Take to the Skies with Composites

Paris, France – March 29, 2007 – Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group, a major Chinese supplier for the global aviation industry, is using DS’s CATIA Composites Design to develop aircraft parts.   Composites are ultra lightweight and can be formed into any shape, allowing for inventive industrial design, giving Chengdu the means to beat 21^st century aviation challenges and a strong competitive edge.   

For today’s airline companies, increasing oil prices, driven by international political tensions, make for steeper operational costs and require firms to charge more.  Add to that the growing pressure to keep things “green,” like reducing noise pollution and harmful gas emissions.  Developing a competitive edge has never been so crucial, and innovation- thanks to composites- is essential to surmounting difficulties. Chengdu Aircraft is expanding its activities to cover the entire composites design process and provide customers with breakthrough design and manufacturing solutions.

“CATIA Composites Design has enabled us to shorten our manufacturing design cycle time by 50%, which is key for us to meet the tight deadlines of our OEM partners and focus more resources on innovation,” says Youyi Wen, Diretor of Composites Dept.,, Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group.  “CATIA Composites Design is fundamental to our success and makes working with composites, which requires new software, new machines- a whole new way of working, much easier.”

“DS is delighted to be working with Chengdu on this revolutionary technology. CATIA Composites Design provides a collaborative environment that covers the entire composites process.  Engineers can focus on creating optimal designs to fully exploit composites’ advantages,” says Denis Georgeon, general manager PLM Channel China & South Asia, Dassault Systèmes.  An important strength of CATIA Composites Design stems from its synchronization mechanisms, which allow engineers- no matter their location- to work simultaneously on the same 3D design.  And thanks to DS’s strategic software and industrial partnerships, CATIA Composites Design seamlessly communicates to composite-specific production equipment, enabling Chengdu to industrialize.