COE Feature
Bombardier Aerospace Takes Off with “Guided PLM”
As the world’s leading pioneer in product lifecycle management (PLM), Dassault Systèmes offers comprehensive solutions that provide a complete 3D vision of a product’s lifecycle – from creation to manufacturing to maintenance. The backbone of the PLM solution is ENOVIA, providing centralized access and management of real-time 3D product and process knowledge created in CATIA and DELMIA.
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Bombardier Aerospace, the world’s third largest civil aircraft manufacturer, offers world-class aircraft for the business, regional and amphibious markets. A combination of strategic acquisitions since 1986 and the development of advanced, innovative technology has contributed to the successful growth of the company. To continue to meet its global manufacturing challenges, Bombardier Aerospace has implemented leading-edge product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions from the Dassault Systèmes V5 PLM portfolio.
Based in Montréal, Canada, this manufacturer of the renowned Learjet, Challenger and Global business jet families, the popular CRJ and Q Series regional aircraft, as well as the multi-mission Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft, employs approximately 26,000 people worldwide. It contributes 55 percent to the revenue of parent company Bombardier Inc., an industry-leading manufacturer of innovative transportation solutions.
With global competition and technical advancements increasing, Bombardier Aerospace continues to invest in aircraft platforms that meet evolving customer needs. Since 1989, Bombardier Aerospace has developed an unparalleled 18 new aircraft programs and in its last fiscal year alone delivered a total of 337 aircraft.
However, with growth came complexity and diversity in processes, which required an IT environment that would enable rapid progress. In 2001, faced with the negative impact of a downturn in the aerospace industry, Bombardier Aerospace reviewed its entire IT infrastructure and developed a vision and strategy for future growth based on a set of guiding principles (see below).
Following these principles, Bombardier Aerospace partnered with technology providers Dassault Systèmes and IBM to create a unified, data-centric development environment based on Dassault Systèmes V5 PLM Portfolio (CATIA, ENOVIA and DELMIA). Once this information "backbone" was in place, the implementation teams focused on optimizing critical data flows and high-level processes. This phased approach allowed engineering work to continue without disruption, while providing access to powerful, feature-based 3D design tools, up-to-date product, process and resource (PPR) information, and multidisciplinary collaboration.
When combined with cross-functional training, mentoring and support, end users benefited early on. Designers could optimize products and components for design and manufacturability during the "virtual" phase of development when costs were low, and global teams could perform reviews using the same product data, accelerating time to revenue. Finally, to maintain productivity levels, technical specialists were organized into lean support groups, where they could place razor-sharp focus on problems and improvements, then share "lessons learned" across the organization.
During this process of over-hauling its information infrastructure and evolving to a 3D-based PLM environment, Bombardier Aerospace has learned a great deal about the strength and flexibility of its people, and the power of technology. While the work continues, it’s all systems go.
Bombardier Aerospace Guiding Principles
- Favor functional integration over best of breed applications.
- Enable systematic decommissioning of applications.
- Promote reusability of all target components.
- Employ a data-centric approach focusing on identification of Master Data.
- All data should be integrated and updated from one source application.
- Enable cross-functional processes and business strategies.
- Demonstrate the Value Proposition throughout the Architecture.
- Ensure overall alignment with Technology Target Architecture.
- Harmonize development operations with corporate direction.
“Our global teams need to be able to engineer and build more sophisticated aircraft faster than ever before, so we cannot waste time accessing or translating product data. ENOVIA V5 provides a vital component that helps get the right information to the right people at the right time, and in the right format.”
Francois Caza,
Vice President and Chief Engineer,
Bombardier Aerospace
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