DELMIA WORKS General Session Recap

Over 500 DELMIA WORKS customers joined forces for the first time with SOLIDWORKS users for 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020 in Nashville. It was a packed house for the company’s General Session on day two of the event. Steve Bieszczat, Chief Marketing Officer of DELMIA WORKS, kicked things off by welcoming everyone and reiterating the company’s mission to address the 250,000 small to mid-sized manufacturing companies over the world.

Next up was Philppe Charles, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Dassault Systèmes, who spoke to the fact that digital transformation is a core driver of manufacturing innovation. Manufacturers must work to build agile and efficient operations, differentiate themselves by bringing products to market faster, and to manage successful growth and expansion.

The ability to combine Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) with ERP helps manufacturers plan growth and execute on those plans. The 3DEXPERIENCE Platform will enable manufacturing companies to connect their engineering and production efforts into one, unified platform on the cloud, collaborate in real-time with partners and customers, and connect with new customers and prospects through the 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace.

Next up was Trevor Diehl, Senior Vice President of Product Development at DELMIA WORKS, who spoke about the unparalleled potential advanced manufacturing technologies have to disrupt the manufacturing industry. These include Digital Transformation, Industry 4.0, Machine Learning and AI.

Trevor also explained how the integration of DELMIA WORKS with the 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace will “enable makers to go from quote to cash faster than ever.” He also emphasized that 2020 would see an increase in investment in R&D to enhance its solutions as well as working closely with 3DEXPERIENCE R&D to deliver new cloud-based solutions.

Gian Paolo Bassi, SOLIDWORKS CEO, and Bernard Charles, Vice Chairman and CEO of Dassault Systèmes, came on stage and congratulated the recipient of DELMIA WORKS Customer of the Year, Phoenix Plastics, a sixth generation family company. Alby Miller, President of Phoenix Plastics, accepted the award.

The session’s keynote speaker was Jack Shaw, an Innovation and Change Management Strategist with more than 30 years’ experience helping leaders transform their organizations’ digital ecosystems amid new waves of technology. His presentation, “Innovation, Technology and the Future of Manufacturing,” did a deep dive into how all the technologies mentioned above will affect the manufacturing industry.

Jack discussed how the IoT economy is fueled by the currency of information, making it essential to capture data points throughout the process. This information can be used for real-time alerting in critical situations, increased productivity, predictive analytics and elimination of “fail” conditions, continuous monitoring and closed-loop feedback from design to consumer.

He provided a glimpse into the future with an example of an aircraft flying from Paris to Nashville when a sensor within the landing gear assemblies indicates needed maintenance, something that would have resulted in major delays and inconveniences to passengers. With predictive maintenance, the airline procurement system could launch a search on the 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace for the needed part; negotiate the best price with certified suppliers and select the best choice; provides an enforceable contract and uses Blockchain to purchase it. What would have taken days or weeks can now be done in hours.

He also explained the crucial role Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play in manufacturing. Imagine one day when AI will help manufacturers:

  •         Schedule production based on maximum machine performance
  •         Assign staff with the greatest efficacy for a particular product
  •         Forecast and optimize material inventory
  •         monitor performance for each piece of equipment
  •         Use machine learning-powered proactive maintenance
  •         Assign the right technician to the right job at the right time
  •         Raise a work order and purchase a replacement part securely using Blockchain
  •         Communicate directly with customers when order is complete
  •         Coordinate deliveries with real-time traffic awareness
  •         Predict future product lines’ sales trends

If you want to learn more about DELMIA WORKS (formerly known as IQMS), check out its website.

Barb Schmitz

Barb Schmitz

Senior Marketing Communications Manager at SolidWorks
Barb Schmitz is a Senior Manager in Marketing Communications with BA in Journalism and over 30 years of experience in the CAD software industry. She started her career as a journalist covering technology and served as an editor for several leading industry publications for over 20 years. Besides being a sleuth of tech, she is a loyal dog owner, travel bum, mom, lover of hoppy IPAs, red wine, and alternative music lover living in the great city of Chicago.