Virtual Concept > Real Profit with Digital Manufacturing and Simulation

In our highly competitive industrialized world of lean production and fast innovation, it comes as no surprise that customers demand instantaneous delivery of individualized products at the best priceperformance ratio. For manufacturing companies, vast product ranges of high quality and complexity mean that flexible development and ramp-up across supply chain networks is crucial to survive and thrive. Global competition, economic pressure, environmental and energy issues demand state-of-the-art capabilities and, above all, timely action. Such formidable challenges can only be met by tightly interwoven lifecycle-oriented engineering and manufacturing technologies and processes. To date more than ever, the ongoing development and integration of digital manufacturing and simulation is critical to eliminate the waste of time and money in the physical world, and to ensure product success as much and as early as possible.

Digital manufacturing and simulation clearly constitute contemporary extensions of the train of thought and practice that Frederick Winslow Taylor started a century ago. The evolution from Taylormade to tailor-made is in perfect concert with the ongoing customization that customers have learned not only to demand but to even co-create. Apart from lowering cost and improving timetomarket, digital manufacturing and simulation are targeted at intensifying the intimacy, efficiency and effectiveness of co-creation feedback loops, fostering the collaboration of manufacturers, customer communities, independent R&D institutes and individuals. This emerging democratization of design, engineering, production, maintenance, repair, overhaul and recycling marks the impending impact of digital manufacturing and simulation.

In five chapters this book discusses the various topics and issues that are central to the implementation and development of digital manufacturing and simulation. The first Welcome chapter presents key concepts, needs and issues. These are further explored in four other chapters: A Crash Course, Challenges, Benefits and The Future. Each chapter starts off with an introductory snapshot and concludes with a Bookmark section that relates the chapter to the other parts and the message of the book.

Yves Coze is Vice President Sales & Marketing DELMIA EMEA South at Dassault Systèmes. An expert in Product Lifecycle Management solutions as well as sales and marketing, Mr Coze oversaw the integration and merger of companies purchased by Dassault Systèmes to form DELMIA Corp. He set up the sales department of the new company, and has established DELMIA offices in Italy and Sweden. Before joining Dassault Systèmes, Yves Coze was Managing Director for France at Engineering Animation Incorporated, a 2- and 3-D visualization software company. Prior to that, Mr Coze was Southern Europe Director for SHERPA, a Product Data Management company.

Nicolas Kawski is a technical manager at the Sogeti High Tech s Simulation Department in France. Having graduated as an engineer in fluid mechanics, Mr Kawski worked on the development of parametric standards and modulus integration for mechanics simulation as well as on the optimization of structural analyses in aeronautical projects. Nicolas Kawski currently oversees the R&D of Sogeti High Tech s simulation offer, focusing on multi-disciplinary process acceleration.

Torsten Kulka is Business Development Manager of the Product Lifecycle Management and Digital Mock-up Department of Sogeti High Tech in Germany. Previously, Mr Kulka worked on several Digital Factory projects in the aerospace, automotive and supplier Industry. His focus is on digital manufacturing planning, virtual reality and methodical engineering data exchange, and on technical and business processes, comprising the product life cycle.

Pascal Sire is currently a Global Innovation Catalyst on assignment at Sogeti. His base is IBM Corp., where he teamed up with Strategic Alliances to enable Global Systems Integrators to use innovative technologies and social networking. Previously, Pascal was a technical expert in new technologies and a software architect at IBM, helping clients from aerospace, automotive, and other industries, progressing from a local to a European then global level. He was also an Internet entrepreneur before the dotcom bubble burst. Mr Sire is an engineer and holds an Advanced Master s degree in Innovative Design (TriZ expertise). He has now extended his business interest to strategies for intellectual capital and innovation.

Philippe Sottocasa heads the Simulation Department of Sogeti High Tech in France. An expert in Simulation solutions, Mr Sottocasa oversaw the development of the simulation offer within the Sogeti. He set up the environment (experts, software, hardware and partnerships) necessary to support the Simulation Out of the Box concept. Before this role, Philippe Sottocasa was managing a business unit dedicated to engineering services in aerospace, specialized in numerical simulation and composite structure.

Jaap Bloem is a Senior Analyst at VINT, Sogeti s Research Institute. Mr Bloem s expertise ranges from (open) innovation to IT governance, cloud computing, new media usage and development, and industrial automation. Before joining Sogeti, Jaap Bloem was a consultant at KPMG Consulting s World Class IT Department, and a publisher and editor-in-chief at Wolters Kluwer. With its VINT Research Institute (Vision Inspiration Navigation Trends) Sogeti aims to guide organizations around the globe in their effort.