Global leader in aerospace systems streamlines product data distribution with Seemage

Its fields of excellence are in engineering, development, manufacturing, repair and support of high technology aerospace equipment and systems. More specifically, the company designs components for cockpit man-machine interfaces and manufactures equipment that generates on-board and outboard electrical power for aircraft and designs A 1,200-person unit of Zodiac Aircraft, ECE employs more than 1,200 people at four sites generating annual revenues in excess of €150 million.
An intensely CAD-driven organization with long experience in product modeling for development and manufacturing purposes, Zodiac ECE nevertheless was experiencing an increasing number of difficulties in exploiting its product data beyond the traditional CAD domains. Like a growing number of visionary companies, Zodiac ECE identified the immense potential for enterprise-wide efficiencies if product data could be easily accessed and shared corporate wide as well as with its customers and partners.

But the company’s staff found it hard to operate the complex tool provided: a mobilized CATIA® workstation. With CATIA, which is a CAD system from Dassault Systemes and IBM designed for engineers, design reviews were unwieldy at best. In addition, the absence of an easy-to-use system ruled out conducting demonstrations using 3D product information directly on customers’ premises. In short, Zodiac ECE wanted to eliminate the need for an excessively complex and expensive solution while making available to project managers a more dynamic, interactive customer validation process. Lastly, the company needed to be able to produce assembly files for manufacturing with simulations of exploded parts diagrams, which is only possible by leveraging 3D product information.

The answer they were looking for came from Seemage, specifically in the form of Seemage’s Viz and Mockup solutions. Viz is an intuitive and high-performance tool which enables its users to manipulate complex multi-CAD models containing tens of thousands of parts on a PC or on a laptop without any prior knowledge of CAD applications. Mockup is a technologically advanced digital mock-up, which contains collaborative tools for dimensioning, alignment, analysis (clearance and interference checking) that can be applied on complete products or subassemblies. Overall, low cost, user-friendliness and the lightweight files generated by the Seemage solution won over the aeronautical manufacturer.

Following a demonstration on the Zodiac ECE premises, the company engaged in a few weeks’ testing during which it discovered the easy-to-use features of Seemage as well as the systems’ ability to easily manage large files, its modeling and simulation horsepower and the ease with which the product could be deployed enterprise wide among non-CAD users.
“Ergonomics were a strong deciding factor for us. We could now give the tool to various non-CAD users in the company without any major need for training” said Stéphane Bureau, Design Office Manager at Zodiac ECE. “During the test period, we were immediately reassured by the Seemage application’s capable handling of the very largest assemblies. Given the complexity of the equipment we work on, we need to have the capability for modeling and simulating an impressively vast number of parts. We realized the software had what it took because it was able to handle our current projects.”

Satisfied with the tests, the company deployed Seemage to free the critical product information trapped in the CATIA 3D models to end users and to demonstrate components for equipping its customers’ aircraft.

“Previously, when the salespeople were traveling to our customers to show a model, the design office had to take photographs of the relevant objects from a limited number of angles,” explains Bureau. “Introducing digital modeling makes for far greater flexibility at customer validation phases. Once the 3D model is created, the project managers can work on the image themselves and prepare it to suit the customer company (varying the angle, changing the colors) and its needs”.

The Seemage models created by the design office are circulated to the Industrialisation Department at Zodiac ECE’s Rungis site facility where illustrations are prepared for the manufacturing instructions. According to Zodiac ECE, the Seemage system makes this department self-reliant, giving it the benefit of powerful software with the scope for updating the images should the design office alter its CAD drawings. This, the company said, results in substantial productivity gains.

“Today, Seemage meets all our project-review needs. It can be used to take dimensions, prepare different scenarios and make annotations. Although very powerful, Seemage nevertheless creates files of reasonable size compared with competing products we have tried”, concludes Bureau.

About Seemage

Seemage, Inc. (http://www.seemage.com/) has made product information available everyware for customers since 2002. With Seemage’s system for delivering product information in exactly the right form to the right person at the right time, enterprises’ investments in CAD, PLM, ERP and CRM are enhanced to deliver more value. With Seemage’s XML-based, CAD-independent architecture, products are delivered faster, with higher quality and at lower cost. Seemage customers like PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault F1, John Deere, Faurecia, Delphi, SNECMA, Alcatel Alenia Space and Thales are raising the bar on customer satisfaction through Seemage-created deliverables. Download trial versions of the Seemage system at www.seemage.com. Read Seemage’s blog at http://www.3dmojo.com/.