1. What are the particularities of a MES (Manufacturing Execution System)? How do you think the market will evolve?

The strength of an MES is that users bring their value by building a product and resolving issues in the best way. On the shopfloor, our users highly interact with the product to understand work instructions, enter log information such as parts’ serial numbers, values, electronic signatures, etc.

An MES is also a set of collaborative tools which enforce engineering-driven production execution on the shop floor, as designed and as planned. New versions in the future must be efficient, ergonomic and quicker. MES companies who understand and develop those aspects will take the majority of the MES market!

2. Why does Intercim’s solution, associated with Dassault Systèmes’ 3D, represent a cultural revolution in shopfloors?

First, new features in Unit Life Collaboration (ULC) give us a real competitive advantage.

The collaborative community is a customization of 3Dlive allowing the user to review products in 3D. For example, the 3D model enables real-time collaboration on product and production lifecycle data in a single online referential between the different communities in the manufacturing supply network, such as design engineering, manufacturing engineering, shop floor, and quality management. In the assembly line of an helicopter workers and engineers can have an overview of parts already assembled (green), pending parts (orange) and the missing parts or the ones with problems (in red).

The other use of the 3D we are developing is a viewer like 3Dliveor3Dvia, into work instructions. Unlike other enterprise domains (finance, human resources…) the extension of the computer usage on shopfloors is still very low. In the last 5 to 10 years many plants have invested to enhance their operations, but most of these projects did not significantly increase their use of computers. Information and data are still collected on paper or boards on the production floor.

Replacing this white board by a digital board is a cultural revolution as the managers do not have to be physically present during the meeting anymore. In real time from their desks or from locations around the world, they will have complete visibility on production progress. It also Increase visibility and traceability for all manufacturing stakeholders of shop floor execution with real-time 3D access to the “as-built” product, process and resource information.

Indeed, we think 3D is a good way to simplify operators’ comprehension of their work instructions. To improve our 3D instructions we rely on DELMIA’s product, both in V5 and V6.

For example, when the worker receives parts, he can visualise it on the final model without reading complex instructions. He will also be able to make comments on the 3D model and send it directly to the engineers so that they could manage the problem and fix it as soon as possible. It’s a good way to break the wall between the operators and engineers!

3. What are Intercim’s values and how we find them in your products today?

Our goal is to create an easier and better communication between operators and engineers and to keep this community updated in real time. We have added an innovation in our product, called the Dispatch Matrix; a dashboard to visualise the operations progress and issues in a floor or in the whole plant. Just one click provides access to all the necessary information needed to make decisions.

With this tool we provide the same information, in real time to everyone.

Instead of meeting and making a decision once a week, teams can work closely all day long. We bring a solution that supports all decisions during the fabrication process, from the order form to the customer delivery.

4. What differences do you bring to the users compared to the others MES solutions?

As an MES provider we are a reference in the management of the fabrication process but since the merger between Pertinence and Intercim in 2007, we also provide manufacturing intelligence solutions. We are able to collect and analyse all the data from the shopfloor, enable immediate impact analysis and validation of corrective actions in the virtual model and deduce production best practices. When reviewed with engineering for improved product manufacturability, our values is to reduce warranty costs and collapsed certification processing time for regulatory compliance, and enhance best practices performances.

5. What are the things that you are the most proud of at Intercim ?

Concerning manufacturing intelligence we are really proud to have reached new markets, such as the pharmaceutical market, specifically the vaccines. Those products rely on living material such as eggs, bacteria and fermentation proteins. It requires a lot of process control, and manufacturing intelligence can help improve fabrication processes.

Actually there is a link between the composite sector andvaccines: composite raw material is also a variable product. Airplane wings made with composite also require a lot of process control to be produced the right way, and manufacturing intelligence can help improve this complex process.

6. What evolution do you see for Intercim’s solutions in the near future?

One of the biggest coming challenges will be to connect computer systems together. For example,Boeing has opened its internal production system to their 200 suppliers equipping them with our solutions. When faced with an issue that can have a consequence in production, they can interact with Boeing’s teams. We truly believe that this collaboration is the future cultural step and we are very well positioned with our high level scalable solutions. This solution can be deployed for thousands of users at the same time all over the world.

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We're pretty sure that these explanations by Hadrien helped you understand better the notion of Manufacturing Execution System. Do you see value in these solutions for your business? Is there an aspect on which you'd need more explanations? Let us know your thoughts!

The Intercim and PLM MarketPlace teams

Golaem is a software company that focuses on populating 3D worlds with autonomous virtual humans. Golaem helps creators and engineers to bring life to their digital worlds by providing virtual humans integrated in their favorite platforms.

Based on state-of-the-art academic researches, Golaem technologies include real-time animation, navigation, and human behaviors, from single characters to functional crowds. Golaem offers a decisive progress to customers by combining those fundamentals of human behaviors into standalone products. Designed for digital entertainment and simulation, Golaem's products enable to streamline digital content creation and save valuable production time.

The 3DVIA Virtools integration:
• Brings most of the features and capabilities of the following Golaem software components
o Golaem Motion: motion playing, blending, mixing, retargeting and advanced control
o Golaem Path: navigation mesh automatic extraction, reactive navigation and 3D path finding
o Golaem Behavior Pack: composing basic behaviors using task operators, character navigation
• Enables the use of virtual humans without having to write a single line of code
• Can be used in web based applications

This will enable you to start quickly making human simulations in your 3DVIA Virtools applications. Check our YouTube channel to see how it works and the different use cases we are able to cover.

The Golaem Team

ECF2010's second day has started with lots of interesting sessions all day long. For those who were not able to visit all our Partners' booths, we continue our tour of Agora started yesterday.

We've met Antoine Reymond, AMD Strategic Alliances Senior Manager, who shared the booth with four other partners. Folks from 3dvia used ATI 3D graphic cards , running on Dell workstations, to run a 3D experience on six screens at the same time. The idea was to offer a deep view of an oil platform, offering a really interesting immersive experience. Combined with the ATI V7800, Fujitsu was able to display very high resolution pictures on their Celsius W380. Techviz was presenting immersive solution and rendering using CATIA and folks from Barco were there to showcase visualization and projection systems. Listen to Antoine and see what the renderings are like on these devices:

Romain Lavault from Intercim stopped by our booth and gave us his impressions on the event. You can find out more about their product Pertinence Suite ( simplifying communications between engineering, production operations, ERP systems and across the supply chain ) on PLM MarketPlace:

Our tour ends with David Sabot, from IGE+XAO . David performed a live demo of their electrical harness design solution See Electrical Harness . As a Gold partner of Dassault Systèmes and having several common customers present here at the event, David and his team were really eager to be at ECF2010. Find out more about See Electrical Harness in the following video:

We hope you enjoyed ECF2010 too and found this "virtual" tour of the event interesting. What are your feeling about the event? Did you enjoy it as much as we did?

We've published some photos and videos in our PLM MarketPlace page on Facebook , have a look at it and don't hesitate to share yours too!

We hope to see you for the next ECF!

The PLM MarketPlace Team

How to implement successfully a green manufacturing

Nowadays, it seems like “Going Green” and efficient manufacturing have become synonymous with one another.   It makes perfect sense for this to be true though, since one of the primary goals for any manufacturer and also any environmentalist is minimizing waste and saving energy.  Some will say that going “green” is just what companies should do because it is better for the world we live in or because we only have one planet.  Without argument, both statements are entirely true; however, successfully implementing green manufacturing practices requires a business case.  Kate Bourdet of the 3D Perspectives Blog notes, “The European Union estimates that more than 80 percent of a product’s environmental impact is determined in the product conception phase.”   So then the question is, wouldn’t it make sense – as a business case – to build an optimized operation that not only achieves all manufacturing goals but also employs green practices in doing so?

A common vision ...

Magestic Systems, Inc (MSI) and Dassault Systèmes (DS) have made this a possibility.  Both companies operate with the understanding that for “green” manufacturing to succeed, industrial development needs to continue to progress and simultaneously needs to avoid foreclosing the needs of future generations.  This relies on planning and the ability of designers, engineers, and manufacturers alike to take into account all costs of a product, both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic to a product are costs that go into buying material, operating a machine; extrinsic to this product, however, are costs such as where a shop purchases its energy – from coal-fired or renewable sources.  Choices made in the planning of a product lifecycle can greatly minimize its impact on the environment. 

... that result in solutions ready for the market

DS has built suites of software applications from CATIA, to SIMULIA, to ENOVIA that all advocate advanced planning and enable manufacturers to produce quality products without much trial and error, if any. PLM applications, like the DS suites, encompass the macro side of manufacturing, the plan.  Partners like MSI focus on the micro side, creating technologies that fit into plans set forth through PLM to create an optimized system.  TruNEST™ CAA V5 Composites Based offers advanced true shape nesting with best in class algorithmic logic to minimize toxic waste created during the cutting of composite materials.  TruNEST™ also allows manufacturers to optimize their use of energy by reducing cycle times, programming optimal tool paths, and maximizing throughput – all of which saves manufacturers money. MSI has advanced that technology with TruLASER™ View CAA V5 Composites Based by enabling operators to lay up plies with minimal wasted effort.  CATIA V5 design data provides measurements and designates where and how plies should be laid up as well as how the plies should be kitted to even further streamline the process.

Are you ready for the transformation?

TruNEST™ CAA V5 Composites Based and TruLASER™ View CAA V5 Composites Based comprise one piece of the DS PLM solution that not only makes sense as a business case, but also on an environmental level.  Together, the technologies highlight the teachings and blog posts of Dr. David Dornfeld of University of California-Berkeley and the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability.  He says, “reduced cost of ownership (CoO) is still the mantra in most industries…Time is money...energy is money...consumables are money.  If you can make the same product using fewer resources/energy [then] that seems like a good strategy.”   (see entire post) Dornfeld directly correlates efficient manufacturing and reduced cost of ownership with “green” manufacturing practices.  These principles of minimizing waste and optimizing energy provide the foundation for DS and MSI technologies.  Through PLM, Dassault and Magestic Systems continue raise the bar for the entire manufacturing landscape.  By investing in development for tomorrow, the two companies together look to discover new best practices for today.

What about you? Is your Company going in that direction? Do you agree that these are profund reasons or do you consider them as pure hype? Please leave a comment!

Dylan MacLean for Magestic Systems and Jacques