CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
15 June 2004
Implementation Investments
Hexcel Chooses Goldfire InnovatorT
Invention Machine Corporation ( http://www.invention-machine.com/ ) announced Hexcel's purchase of Invention Machine's Goldfire InnovatorT software. Goldfire Innovator is an enterprise platform for innovation - bringing simplicity, structure, discipline and predictability to the innovation process - spanning idea generation and new product development, the renovation of existing products, and the improvement of production processes.
Hexcel is a manufacturer of carbon fibers, fabrics, adhesives, composite materials and structures. Hexcel, with sales of almost $1 billion, serves leading companies across the aerospace, automotive, wind energy, recreation and marine industries from manufacturing sites and sales offices in Europe, the Americas and the Pacific Rim. Hexcel joins Invention Machine's more than 1000 customers worldwide.
Under the agreement, Hexcel will make Goldfire Innovator available to engineers in the Research & Technology and Manufacturing/Operations Groups to provide them with a standard platform for problem-solving and an improved ability to generate engineering solutions.
Goldfire Innovator delivers:
• Problem-analysis tools and methodologies that guide users to solutions;
• Semantic knowledge retrieval, providing fast, pinpoint access to relevant content; and
• Access to worldwide patent databases and to over 8000 scientific effects and 2000 scientific websites.
"Improved access to engineering content throughout our current technology community as well as access to technical information across other companies and industries will better enable Hexcel to focus engineering efforts and reduce overlap - or 'reinvention of the wheel'," says Derek Swanson, Manager of Manufacturing Technology for Hexcel's Composites Business Unit.
"At Invention Machine, we have heard time and time again that engineers are constantly 'reinventing the wheel'. Analysts estimate that as much as 15-35% of the time a solution for the engineer's problem at-hand has already been developed within the user's own company - but they are not aware of it," says Mark E. Atkins, President and CEO of Invention Machine. "With Goldfire Innovator, engineers are better able to access prior art - not just within their own organization - but across that of other industries and scientific domains. The ROI on this alone is staggering."
For information on Goldfire Innovator, please contact info@inventionmachine.com or visit http://www.invention-machine.com
For more than a decade, over 1,000 innovative companies, representing more than 50,000 users worldwide, have leveraged Invention Machine's solutions to drive top-line growth, reduce costs and expedite time-to-market by improving process efficiencies and more rapidly fueling their product pipelines with higher-quality products.
Invention Machine customers include: Boeing, Delphi Automotive, Honda, HP, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Procter & Gamble, Peugeot, Samsung, Saipem, and Shell. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Invention Machine has development facilities in Minsk, Belarus, and offices in France and the United Kingdom.
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