Standardized IT-PLM Landscape Yields Robust and Transparent Processes

STUTTGART, Germany & VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 14, 2011 — Regulatory News:

Dassault Systèmes (Paris: DSY), a world market leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, has today announced that CLAAS, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of agricultural equipment and products, has commited to shaping its entire product creation process worldwide – from design, construction and simulation to system validation and production planning – with CATIA V6, ENOVIA V6, DELMIA V6, and SIMULIA V6.

By harnessing these solutions, CLAAS intends to improve its development and validation processes in order to launch high-quality, complex products more quickly and more efficiently onto the market. CLAAS will gradually replace its existing PDM solution that the company has been using since 1998, which is based on ENOVIA VPM and ENOVIA 3DCOM, with ENOVIA V6. CLAAS will go live at the first site in 2012 and roll the system out gradually to its offices worldwide.

“V6 offers us the advantage that, in future, we’ll be able to operate our entire systems engineering process, including assembly planning, on a single IP platform worldwide,” says Andreas Mähler, head of computer aided applications at CLAAS. “We anticipate that its use will allow us to better manage complex engineering tasks through 3D-based, interdisciplinary collaboration. This is made possible thanks to the global availability of uniform data and the standardization of development, procurement and production workflows within our partner network. The integration of ENOVIA V6 and our ERP system for process and bill-of-material management will also play a key role in this.”

The decision to switch to ENOVIA V6 and CATIA V6 was made as part of the “New PDM system @ CLAAS” benchmark following a long and careful validation of the company’s systems, infrastructure, data migration, functionality and methods.“ENOVIA V6 and CATIA V6 offer us completely new opportunities to put the customer at the center of our product development process,” says Gerd-Dietmar Pokraka, head of R&D at CLAAS. “The scope of functions, the scalability and the openness of the V6 solutions from Dassault Systèmes have impressed us all greatly.”

The V6 platform supports CLAAS in its efforts to offer its systems engineers, designers and mechanical engineers an interdisciplinary product creation environment that is as lifelike as possible, as well as opportunities to make the best possible use of working together in 3D regardless of the location through online Web technologies. This also includes a simulation of operating behavior that is as realistic as possible and validating manufacturing processes with Dassault Systèmes Digital Factory solutions.

“With the introduction of V6, we will be standardizing our PLM IT system landscape, gaining robust and transparent processes that will continue to allow high product quality and cost control while at the same time being able to efficiently manage the high number of variants in production,” says Dr. Hermann Garbers, director of Technology and Quality, CLAAS.

“We regard CLAAS’s decision in favor of V6 as a strong recognition of our ongoing efforts to support the competitiveness of our industrial products clients through innovative open PLM applications and practices, and as an incentive for the future of our strategic partnership of many years’ standing,” says Jörg Schiebel, vice president, Central & Eastern Europe, Dassault Systèmes.

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About Claas

CLAAS is one of the world's leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery. Approximately 40 % combine harvesters sold in Europe are made by the German family business. CLAAS possesses the world market leadership with its second largest product group, the forage harvesters.

CLAAS is also a top performer in world-wide agricultural engineering, with agricultural balers and green harvest machinery, produced through seven German companies and at another seven locations around the globe two of them in India. The product range further includes modern tractors, system and transport vehicles and the very latest agricultural information technology. CLAAS manufacturing facilities for industrial and production engineering make components or assemblies both to meet the group’s needs and to supply the automotive and aviation industries all over the world.

The CLAAS Group has experienced an extraordinary growth phase in the last 15 years. Turnover increased from approximately €500 million at the start of the 1990s to the current level of approximately €2,5 billion (financial year of 2010). CLAAS employ about 9,000 employees around the globe and export sales account for around 70 % of total turnover.

About Dassault Systèmes

As a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 115,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systèmes applications provide a 3D vision of the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance to recycling. The Dassault Systèmes portfolio consists of CATIA for designing the virtual product - SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design - DELMIA for virtual production - SIMULIA for virtual testing - ENOVIA for global collaborative lifecycle management, and 3DVIA for online 3D lifelike experiences. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com .