COE 2004 Annual Conference & TechniFair Wrap Up

By Bill Abramson, NewsNet Editor

The COE 2004 Annual Conference & TechniFair was held in Miami Beach, April 25-28. The word back from the attendees is that it was an exciting and valuable experience, and it marked COE's 20th anniversary. The conference focused around the realization of innovation through PLM. Not to be outdone, COE displayed new innovations in providing value to the community. Monday morning was dedicated to DPC sessions. The opening plenary sessions started on Monday afternoon enabling attendees not involved in the DPC to avoid traveling on their weekend. The all-star lineup featured:

• Jim Grimes from Grimes Industrial Design talking about bringing vision to reality.
• Kevin O'Marah from AMR Research addressing the PLM value proposition.
• Bruce Harreld from IBM; PLM - a cornerstone in IBM's growth strategy.
• James Glymph from Gehry Technologies presented "Will PLM Work in the Construction Industry?"
• Bernard Charles, President of Dassault Systemes, provided a compelling presentation, "Enable Collaboration…Empower Innovation: Winning through Innovation."
• Scott Hopkins from IBM provided the IBM vision, "Discover, Dream, Design and Destiny."

The TechniFair opened Monday evening featuring over 40 booths addressing every significant aspect of Dassault Systemes-related technology. The TechniHappy Hour was followed by a 20th anniversary Celebration Dinner on the Great Lawn for all of the attendees. IBM and Dassault Systemes, and their partners Microsoft, Dell and Optis, sponsored the dinner.

Dave Burdick from Collaborative Vision kicked off Tuesday morning with an inspiring presentation "Beyond PLM: The Next Generation of Innovation Technologies."

The lineup of strategic sessions that followed included:

• Michael Richardson from Delphi addressing "Design Methodologies to Accelerate Innovation"
• Bart Selz from Boeing spoke about "Working with a Configured Product in ENOVIA LCA."
• Markus Maier from IBM PLM Solutions addressed "CATIA V5 Administration."
• Mark Van Horne from Boeing spoke about "PLM Implementation Strategies for the Global Enterprise."
• Bernard Bleau from L3 Communications MAS presented "Robotic Shot-Peening on the CF-18."
• Daniel Devitt from Vought Aircraft discussed "A Tier 1 Perspective on How to be All Things to All People."

Each of these presentations were fantastic, however, I would like to specifically point out a presentation given by Dr. Greg Jensen and Wagner Magalhaes from Brigham Young University addressing "Corporate Competitiveness via CATIA Automation." BYU, one of the premier institutions in the IBM HEAT program, included a LIVE demonstration of their developed capability to machine directly from CATIA V5. Many major OEMs have found it to their advantage to collaborate with BYU based on their expertise in Dassault technologies and PLM.

Kevin Loomis from Boeing (Wichita, Kansas) headed up Wednesday's lineup with "Production Implementation of CATIA V5 and Enovia LCA at a 7E7 Tier 1 Partner." The following sessions included:

• Keith Zobott from Honeywell with "Reducing Product Generation Cycle Time."
• Jeff Rogers from Parker Hannifin addressed "Getting the Most Gains out of Knowledge-Based Engineering - Parker Aerospace Experiences."
• Don Richardson from Microsoft addressed "Strategic Directions for the Deployment of Dassault Technology on Microsoft Platform."

Greg Premetz batted in the 'clean up' position with a fantastic presentation "Development of a Bond Tool Application Using VB Automation (Peeling the Knowledge Onion)."

COE's innovation continued with the sponsorship of the new PLM COElympics. This was a competition that enables six-person teams to attempt to complete a PLM project in one hour. This was a Mark Van Horne (Boeing) innovation. Van Horne pointed out that Dassault Systemes technology is no longer limited to CAD/CAM requirements; it is a true PLM enabler! As such, COE is focusing on activities that emphasize it. Mark Van Horne, Tom Crume, and their Boeing team invested their 'blood, sweat and tears' to validate this as a practical idea. Dassault Systemes created the project, monitored it, and judged it. Jeff Toelsin located, acquired (no easy task), and deployed the hardware and software environments. ImpactXoft provided the awards and six teams competed. They were: Brigham Young University, Purdue University, City of Wichita Dream Team, TATA Consulting Services, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, COE DPC Members, and COE PIC Members. The first ever COElympic winner was the all-star team from the city of Wichita, which prevailed over Craig Miller's Purdue team. It just demonstrates further the expertise and potential that is resident in the schools participating in IBM's HEAT program.

Continuing along with our recognition of PLM, the technology and our membership's accomplishments, COE provided two PLM Enterprise of the Year Awards. These awards recognized enterprises that have demonstrated world leadership in their deployment of PLM technology, processes, and practices. COE recognizes that the deployment of PLM is certainly a function of the size (physical and financial) and complexity of the enterprise. It was therefore the decision of the judges that Boeing Airplane Company and Cessna Aircraft Company are true winners … congratulations!

COE also sponsored the Top Gun XVII competition. Thank you to Hewlett Packard, MSC Software, Rand Worldwide, and Microsoft for sponsoring this event. The winners of this year's competition were:

3rd Place:	Jim Strawn, Cessna
2nd Place:	V5 - Brian Brown, Wichita State University V4 - Bill Marceau, Shaw Aero Devices
1st Place:	V5 - DJ Ninagawa, INCS, Inc. (1st Place again - back to back Top Gun!) V4 - Matthew Joyce, Boeing

This year's conference again featured an outstanding education program. If you missed it you really missed a fantastic opportunity. The COE Education Program featured 18 classes! Dassault Systemes, DELMIA, ENOVIA, IBM, ImpactXoft, Incat, MSC.Software, and Rand Worldwide gave these classes. This COE University (as I like to call it) by itself would have justified the value of attending the conference.

The COE business meeting conducted the annual election for officers for the COE Board of Directors. Scott Baker from Daimler Chrysler and Nate Nalven from Northrop Grumman were elected to the board. Baker has 25 years experience in vehicle engineering at Daimler Chrysler and has served on the Board of Directors for three years. Nalven has 24 years experience in aerospace engineering and PLM technologies.

If you missed this conference, you really missed the ONLY significant forum addressing the impressive breadth of Dassault Systemes technologies, truly the world's leader in enabling PLM. If you weren't at this event, I bet your competition was there.

Mark your calendar now for the COE 2004 Industry Workshop-Aerospace, which will be held in Wichita, Kansas, September 27-28 and the COE 2004 Industry Workshop-Automotive, which will be held in Detroit, Michigan, October 4-5.

COE Proudly Announces Inaugural PLM Enterprise of the Year Awards to Cessna and Boeing

Over the years, how products are brought to market has evolved. No longer is the process CAD/CAM-centric, but an appreciation for the involvement of the entire enterprise in the success of product development efforts has been recognized. Dassault Systemes has been the leader and champion in the development of the technology that offers enterprises the opportunity to excel. COE has been in lock step with partners at Dassault and IBM. Many of the enterprises represented by COE membership are clearly recognized as the world leaders in the deployment of a successful and profitable PLM strategy and vision.

The COE Board of Directors, in association with IBM and Dassault Systemes, was proud to recognize these outstanding achievements, through the introduction of the COE PLM Enterprise of the Year Award presented at the 2004 Annual Conference & TechniFair, April 25-28 in Miami Beach to Cessna and Boeing. These awards acknowledge those COE members that have positioned themselves to achieve significant business results through their organizations' adoption of product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. A committee comprised of PLM vendors, industry analysts and trade media determined the Award.

This PLM Enterprise of the Year Award recognizes the successful PLM implementations serving as a model for fellow COE members and IBM and Dassault Systèmes customers seeking to increase profitability by expanding to markets centered on new, innovative products, while reducing development, manufacturing, and warranty costs. The award is being presented to the COE members that demonstrate the best use of PLM technologies to:

• Synchronize and manage multiple business processes, including data and process integration with other enterprise applications such as ERP, SCM, or CRM.
• Collaborate with suppliers and customers.
• Show tangible and intangible benefits, such as increased innovation, reduced development and manufacturing costs, improved product quality, and increased sales.

Cessna and Boeing will have the opportunity to make a presentation outlining the details of its PLM implementation at a telecast to be scheduled in the near future … look for the announcement on the COE Web site and in future COE NewsNet editions. In addition, START Magazine and Desktop Engineering offered free subscriptions to the winners and COE provided the winners with trophies and a free registration to the COE Conference or workshop of their choice. Finally, IBM's PLM Integrated Industry Solutions team will perform a complimentary two-day virtual product innovation assessment of the winners' PLM environment and then offer feedback on how this company can address new corporate challenges.

"PLM implementations require a strong corporate commitment, however numerous examples demonstrate that results are obtainable and significant," comments Walter Donaldson, vice president, sales, IBM Product Lifecycle Management. "Many manufacturers have CAD or PDM solutions already in place, the next steps are linking those systems to the rest of their IT environments and supply chains for maximum results. That is where IBM can help out with software, hardware and services."

"The PLM Enterprise of the Year Award is about far more than a company's simple purchase and deployment of IBM and Dassault Systèmes PLM solutions," said Marcelo Lemos, president of Dassault Systèmes of America. "The winner of this prestigious honor will be recognized for embracing the business methodology and resulting benefits that lie at the core of an effective PLM strategy, and then leveraging appropriate PLM solutions to enhance operating efficiency, design and manufacturing productivity, and ultimately, enterprise-wide profitability."

The committee that reviewed the nominees included:

Dave Burdick, president, Collaborative Visions
Tony Lockwood, editor in chief, Desktop Engineering
Marc Halpern, research director, PLM, Gartner Inc.
Phil Harrison, president, COE
Michael Jarosik, managing editor, START Magazine
Walter Donaldson, vice president, sales, IBM Product Lifecycle Management
Marcelo Lemos, president, Dassault Systèmes of America

COE Insta-Poll Results and Next Topic

We want your feedback. Every month we will be asking you a different question on topics concerning your Dassault Systemes software installation, your experiences, or to help us improve COE member benefits. Next month we'll provide the results to our April/May poll and introduce a new question.

Results of the March online poll:
The number one reason I visit www.coe.org is:

30.2% Event information and planning

2.3% Online networking

27.9% Finding answers (tips, shareware, forum)

7% General industry news

16.3% Sharing/posting information (forum)

COE Offers Two Industry Specific Workshops this Fall

For the first-time-ever, COE brings you low-cost, targeted education and training focused on Dassault Systemes' users in both the automotive and the aerospace industry. Whether you work for a small, medium, or large enterprise, are new to these industries or a veteran, you can't miss this rare opportunity for interactive problem-solving in longer sessions with multiple occasions for questions and answers and the chance to see third-party products and services on display.

The COE 2004 Industry Workshop - Aerospace takes place on September 27-28 at the Hyatt Regency Wichita, in Wichita, Kansas. At this workshop featured industry experts will address design challenges; how the Dassault Systemes products and future product plans impact the industry; driving programs (7E7, JSF, Mustang, and F22) and trends in the industry; and a joint customer case story (Boeing and Vought) of integrating the supply chain. Join hundreds of your industry peers in small-group sessions. Stay tuned to www.coe.org for up-to-date details and post-workshop online collaboration.

If you are a user of Dassault Systemes' family of products who works in the automotive industry, you won't want to miss this exceptional chance to gather just outside of Detroit for two days of interactive, low cost, industry-focused education, training, and networking with hundreds of your peers, as well as viewing third-party products and services. The COE 2004 Industry Workshop - Automotive will take place October 4-5 at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn in Dearborn, Michigan. Attendees, speakers, and trainers from small, medium, and large enterprises will share their experiences and success stories in longer breakout sessions. Key industry experts will address the entire group with compelling topics such as new challenges in the industry, breaking the wall between engineering and manufacturing, best practices, and more, along with the chance for questions and answers. Stay tuned www.coe.org for detailed thread descriptions, a schedule of events, and post-workshop online collaboration.