Dassault Systèmes and MTorres Establish CAA V5 Software Partnership

New MTorres Layup CAA V5-based Software Optimizes Design for Production of Composites Parts within the V5 PLM Environment

Paris, France, and Torres de Elorz, Spain, September 29, 2005 – Dassault Systèmes (NASDAQ: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced a CAAV5 Software development partnership with MTorres, a leading provider of composite tape-laying machines. MTorres becomes a member of Dassault Systèmes’ Component Application Architecture Version 5 (CAA V5) software partner community.

The partnership provides a solution that delivers an end-to-end V5 PLM composite design-to-manufacturing solution to the aerospace industry which will leverage MTorres’ expertise with composite machines. This user-friendly software enables manufacturers to develop processes for creating CNC programs with complete integration within the CATIA V5 environment. Customers can use initial CATIA V5 composite designs without any loss of information from geometry conversions, while taking into account all the composite’s specific attributes, and integrating manufacturing and production constraints into the design process.

MTorres has integrated its solutions with CATIA - Composite Part Design (CPD), Composites Design for Manufacturing (CPM), and Composites Engineering Design (CPE) next-generation composite PLM solutions. CPE delivers process-oriented tools dedicated to the design of composites parts from preliminary design to detailed engineering plan; CPM provides powerfultools dedicated to manufacturing detailed designs of composites parts; while CPE’s powerful synchronization capabilities provide the essential link between engineering design and physical manufacturing, allowing suppliers to closely collaborate with their OEMs throughout the design process.

CAA V5-based Torres Lay-up is fully integrated with the V5 composite workbenches, and will be used to generate automatic composite tape-laying machine CNC programs. Capable of generating the tape trajectory, the application takes base surfaces, ply contours and laying orientations into account. It also helps the user define machine and material constraints (minimum length, permitted cutting angles, minimum tape with, and so on) producing a laying program for a machine to execute with minimal errors. Users can define such laying parameters as scrap area, flow area, clear surface, laying feed rates, and more, to get the correct CNC programs, making it highly interesting for any composite tape laying parts manufacturer.

This new solution, available in November 2005, will be delivered with Version 5 Release 14 (V5R14) of CATIA V5, and then available with later releases. Customers are already reaping the benefits of this practical application: “Airbus has collaborated with MTorres and Dassault Systèmes in the development of this project from the initial phase,” said Javier Tarrago, ACE Composites project leader, Airbus. “Our first experience with the tool has shown very promising capabilities that will be confirmed with this product delivery for next industrialization phase.”

“Our partnership with Dassault Systèmes will enable our users to simulate the laying process prior to programming and optimize our tape layer machines’ performances when fully integrated with the CATIA V5 composite solutions,” said José Angel Fernández, Director of Automation Engineering at MTorres. “Aerospace manufacturers will really be able to leverage the benefits of such an innovative solution.”

“MTorres’ expertise in the production of composites parts will significantly contribute to the end-to-end composite design-to-manufacturing processes within the V5PLM environment,” said Jacques Leveillé, Vice-President, Research & Development CATIA, Dassault Systèmes. “Our users from the aerospace industry will benefit from this innovative complementary composite manufacturing V5 application, which will reduce errors in the tape-laying process and increase efficiency.”

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