SP’s Naval Forces (SP’s): Can you brief us about your company?

Alain Houard (Houard): Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE company, provides business and people with virtual universes to produce sustainable innovations. Its worldleading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced and supported. Dassault Systèmes’ collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. The group brings value to over 1,70,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries.

SP’s: Dassault Systèmes is the world leader in 3D and product life-cycle management (PLM) solutions. Can you elaborate on the utility of the solutions in the specific context of warships?

Houard: Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE company and the world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock up and product life-cycle management (PLM) solutions provides dedicated industry solution experiences based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to deliver unique value and experience for the navies with vessels that are technologically sophisticated, capable, smart and environment-friendly with unprecedented levels of durability.

Shipyards are under pressure to fulfill and even go above and beyond the needs of ever evolving navies. Naval programme offices and design agents must be able to issue comprehensive and unambiguous guidance and specifications to contractors, track necessary changes to specifications in real-time and monitor all aspects of their ship life-cycles. Builders and operators must have the tools necessary to translate these specifications into a buildable design and be assured that they have immediate access to all necessary information in order to meet the demands of their customers in an era of shrinking budgets and margins for error.

Shipyards must ensure that navy projects are delivered on time and on budget by planning and manage complex projects with an interactive 360-degree programme management approach. By doing so, they can tackle their biggest challenges head-on, including supply chain collaboration, contract management and cost containment, protection of intellectual property and on-time delivery.

On Time To Sea is a Dassault Systèmes’ industry solution experience that ensures on time and on budget delivery by enabling shipyards to plan and manage complex navy vessels projects. By taking advantage of a collaborative and intelligent environment to monitor all activities across the extended enterprise, which includes their suppliers’ shipyards are empowered to improve delivery times and product quality while controlling margins. Since all stakeholders have secure access to up to date project data in real time from anywhere, common challenges that typically resulted in cost overruns and significant delays can be minimised. As the industry adopts this technology; the potential for on-time and on-budget projects is finally on the horizon.

Designed For Sea is another industry solution experience built on Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform that enables shipyards and their extended network of suppliers to achieve high quality design to satisfy the Navy requirements while complying with regulations and classification rules more efficiently, by creating, testing, and validating, what if, design alternatives using advanced, real-time 3D analysis and simulation. Designed for sea connects the dots between requirements, regulations, engineering disciplines, partners and suppliers throughout the design process with full traceability.

SP’s: Apart from submarines, Indian marine manufacturing industry is also designing and manufacturing a wide range of ships and boats like destroyers, frigates and fast interceptor boats for the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. What role can your products play in the design and manufacturing aspects of these surface ships/boats?

Houard: Dassault Systèmes brings on board project deliveries which are on time and within budget, by planning and managing complex projects with an interactive 360-degree programme management approach.

Besides the On Time to Sea and Designed for Sea, Dassault Systèmes’ DELMIA too delivers a 3D collaborative innovation and production experience for all actors in the manufacturing life cycle such as virtual process and system definition, work cell set-up, optimisation, scheduling and operation, to maintenance of real-time production systems. Collaborative manufacturing lifecycle management (MLM) in the 3D virtual world brings all intellectual property (IP) in the corporate community into one system allowing all actors to make correct and timely decisions by accessing up to date manufacturing life-cycle information.

SP’s: From the warship design point of view Dassault Systemes’ portfolios of CATIA for designing the virtual product; DELMIA for virtual production; SIMULIA for virtual testing; ENOVIA for global collaborative life-cycle management; EXALEAD for search-based applications; SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design and 3DVIA for lifelike experiences; all solutions are highly useful. Can you describe the effectiveness for the Indian warship building industry?

Houard: Dassault Systèmes provides dedicated industry solution experiences based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to deliver unique value and experience for the navies with vessels that are technologically sophisticated, capable, smart, and environment-friendly with unprecedented levels of durability. Industry solution experiences based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform are powered by 3DS brand applications.

SP’s: What are latest trends in 3D design and manufacturing processes?

Houard: 3D based certification is a clear topic of interest for the marine and offshore industry. In terms of manufacturing processes, many shipyards are turning to automation and investing in welding robots where Dassault Systèmes has a role to play.

SP’s: What are the current and future plans of Dassault Systèmes for business development and establishing greater presence in India?

Houard: Currently, we are working closely with our customers to bring the best practices in integrated warship construction through our M&O 3DEXPERIENCE.