Dassault Systemes – it’s all about the 3D experience
Stephen Chadwick, Managing Director of Dassault Systemes, recently opened the London leg of an international tour, saying that products are no longer enough and that it is the full experience savvy consumers are looking for.
29 floors high, overlooking the River Thames, guests gathered in Altitude 360 where Chadwick kicked off a day to present how the 3DEXPERIENCE platform aims to make design better. The busy event attracted Dassault Systemes partners and customers and there were a range of talks from the likes of Dyson, Jaguar and Airbus.
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform could be described as an aggregator of Dassault Systemes range of software solutions in a very collaborative environment. Everything starts with the If We Compass and it connects the user to all DS apps like 3DVIA (content and simulation), 3DSWYM (Social and collaborative) and information intelligence apps like EXALEAD and NETVIBES.
Rather than me attempt to describe it, check out this short video…
During his presentation, Chadwick often spoke of the ‘experience economy’ – but what did that mean?
“For me it is the acknowledgement in the industry that being great is about encapsulating what the consumer needs the most and that’s the product that wins." He told me. "The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is all about how we assist our customers and partners to develop that approach in a packaged way.”
He continued: “Let’s take social media for example. We can look at that and analyse the semantics of a brand in the open world and whether the perceptions of the brand are negative or positive. We can capture that information and feed that into the design process.”
An example of how consumers can influence the design improvement in a very responsive way was given.
A frequent business traveller noticed that the inflight entertainment screen could not be viewed when the passenger in front had reclined their seat. He posted this observation on an airline forum. The 3DEXPERIENCE picked this up and allowed a network of stakeholders, designers and suppliers to collaborate on a new design.
Within two weeks, the airline was able to post back a photo realistic rendering of a seat that would resolve the problem and would be fully possible to manufacture.
You can watch the case study video here.
“For a long time, companies have hired user groups to develop their products but user groups are always formed when the product has been created to advise on the next design; how do you bring that user group to the beginning of that cycle?” said Chadwick.
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is highly modular and therefor vertically focussed packages are being offered – 30 by the end of the year. So the elements one would need to designing a new shoe would be very different to designing a fuselage, so each package only consists of the software suited for that task.
Dassault Systemes is a fascinating company. It is a subsidiary of the Dassault Group created in 1981 by Avions Marcel Dassault – a French Aircraft Industrialist who’s first invention was a type of aircraft propeller used by the French army during World War I. It now turns over 2 billion Euros annually.
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