Global Fashion Brand Benetton Group Selects Dassault Systèmes to Increase Efficiency of Product Development and Sourcing

VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France, and TREVISO, Italy— May 10, 2011 — Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that Benetton Group has selected Dassault Systèmes’ Version 6 PLM solution as its platform for global development and sourcing.  Dassault Systèmes was chosen after an intensive competitive review of leading PLM vendors, for its market end-to-end PLM capabilities, its partnership resources and its long-term commitment to accelerating innovation in the fashion industry.  
 
Dassault Systèmes’ ENOVIA Version 6 will provide Benetton with deep domain-specific apparel design and production capabilities and industry-leading global sourcing management that will enable Benetton to achieve lead time reduction, optimize its sourcing operations, streamline product line complexities and enhance collaboration while accommodating the company’s diverse product portfolio. With Dassault Systèmes’ Version 6 PLM platform, Benetton will be able to deploy a global, collaborative environment that aligns trend-setting creative and practical production across its internal and external ecosystem.
 
“Benetton Group is a company known for its strong commitment to innovation and for its passion,” said Bernard Charlès, CEO, Dassault Systèmes. “To achieve real competitive advantage, however, fashion brands, retailers and suppliers have to differentiate themselves by creating more seamless links between product development and the actual sourcing of the products, between internal and external teams, in order to respond quickly to consumer and fashion trends and speed time to market.” 
 
Alessandro Benetton, Executive Vice-Chairman of Benetton, commented: “Our Goal at Benetton is two-fold: continue leading quality fashion, while leveraging global sourcing, and creating a global platform that will help significantly improve eco-design, encompassing the whole sustainable development cycle. With Dassault Systèmes, we share the same vision and appreciate the long term cooperation to address the many challenges of hyper competitive global sector”.
 
Benetton’s manufacturing and logistics organization relies on a "network of skills", which leverages Benetton’s long-term industrial know-how into manufacturing expertise available across the globe.   The company’s reach and complete production system is based on a highly technological manufacturing approach based on owning the industrial production skills and competencies. The company’s production centers are located in Italy, East Europe, Tunisia and India with recent expansion focused on Croatia and Tunisia which operate complete production cycles – from raw materials to finished product – and quality control systems that fully meet strict Benetton Group quality standards.

By leveraging ENOVIA Version 6 for design, development, sourcing and production, Benetton will be in the position to enhance its business processes from design to delivery by:
 
• Achieving a very high flexibility to support a diversified and complex production environment
• Enabling collaboration on projects to successfully implement global sourcing management
• Successfully implementing the diversification into outsourcing for finished goods