IBM and Dassault Systemes Win Major Contract with Volvo to Provide Innovative Product Lifecycle Management Solutions

World’s second largest Truck manufacturer expands use of CATIA and ENOVIA solutions and PLM Services to realize substantial savings in product development time and costs

 

Göteborg, Sweden and Paris, France, February 19, 2002 – Volvo, the world’s second largest truck manufacturer, along with IBM and Dassault Systemes (NASDAQ: DASTY), announced today that Volvo 3P (Purchase, Planning, Product Development) will standardize all product development for trucks using Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions from IBM and Dassault Systemes, including new CATIA and ENOVIA V5 products. This decision is in line with the recent strategic decision from Volvo Group, to standardize product conception and development through company-wide implementation of PLM solutions from IBM and Dassault Systemes in Renault VI, Mack Trucks, Volvo Trucks, and Volvo Buses.

 

"An effective PLM solution requires attention to a sophisticated blend of software, hardware, and services, together with a driving vision and a strong understanding of a client's business," explained Dr. Ken Versprille, Research Director, Design Creation & Validation, DH Brown Associates, Inc. "For over 20 years, the IBM and Dassault partnership has delivered to a winning, all-in-one portfolio formula, once again validated by this Volvo contract. The CATIA and ENOVIA V5 combination adds to its impressive penetration of the automotive industry worldwide, even in today's extremely competitive economic climate."

The Volvo 3P organization will implement CATIA and ENOVIA V5 solutions beginning in early 2002 to support its new worldwide decentralized 3P organization. The trucks developed by Volvo 3P are marketed under the Mack, Renault and Volvo brands.  The worldwide implementation will give members of Volvo Truck Business Areas’ global enterprise, which includes over 50 engineering and manufacturing sites located around the world, a secure, Internet-connected workspace allowing collaboration and real-time 3D product data sharing. Volvo Truck Business Areas’ extended enterprise will be directly connected to this new environment over time.

The agreement with Volvo Group includes about 1,500 CATIA V5 seats, while ENOVIA V5 will be used over the entire corporation, tightly integrated with CATIA as well as other legacy systems, with implementation and methodology services and support provided by Volvo IT, IBM Global Services, EADS Matra Datavision and Dassault Systemes. This new contract confirms the automotive industry’s wide-scale acceptance of the latest CATIA V5 version, which runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Unix based systems, and represents the largest commitment to date of CATIA V5 software by a single customer. It also represents industry recognition of the superior ability of the new ENOVIA V5 software to manage complex product development with a very high degree of variants, typical of the truck industry.  ENOVIA V5 is also uniquely designed to manage multi-disciplinary multi-site digital mockups thanks to its integrated Product, Process, and Resource Model.

Klaus Schaefer, Managing Director EMEA, IBM Product Lifecycle Management, said, “This agreement redefines the close relationship the entire Volvo Group has with IBM and Dassault Systemes and underscores the importance of the collaborative workplace for gaining competitive advantage.  IBM, through its innovative PLM product suite and complete services offering, will continue to support Volvo in its endeavor to increase productivity and better address customer demands.”

Denis Senpere, vice president ENOVIA European Operations, Dassault Systemes, added, “The decision taken by Volvo is the result of extensive studies on the business benefits derived from our integrated 3d PLM solutions in a decentralized product development organization with advanced business processes and confirms Dassault Systemes’ leadership in the automotive industry. We are now eager to contribute in the worldwide deployment projects and help Volvo realize those benefits on time.”