CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
13 October 2004
Implementation Investments
Kobelco Accelerates Engineering Innovation With PLM Solutions From IBM and Dassault Systemes
IBM and Dassault Systemes announced that Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., a global manufacturer of construction machinery, has successfully used their PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions to streamline the development and improve the quality of its hydraulic excavators.
Using CATIA V5, Kobelco has created full digital mock-ups of its hydraulic excavators and can now view the entire product and correct potential problems early in the design process. At the stage of making a prototype machine, CATIA V5 has delivered improved product quality, a 30 percent reduction in the time required for design changes, and a 50 percent reduction of design defects. CATIA V5 and SMARTEAM, for collaborative product data and lifecycle management, have also improved efficiency by enabling the sharing and re-use of intellectual assets within the company.
Kobelco also plans to use CATIA V5's knowledgeware functionality for the reuse of designs and 3D data usage at manufacturing and sales divisions, as well as take advantage of SMARTEAM's Web functionality to strengthen its collaboration with group companies, thereby improving efficiency even further.
"In this industry, as competition becomes more severe, we need to develop products to meet the customer requirements for high-quality, affordable products produced in a short time," said Tetsutaro Yanaka, group manager, Engineering Administration in the General Engineering Dept. at Kobelco Construction Machinery. "CATIA V5 and SMARTEAM have enabled to strengthen processes within the design team. We achieved this positive outcome thanks to a powerful, integrated solution."
"IBM PLM solutions have helped Kobelco speed up time to market and constantly improve the quality of its product," said Junichi Takeuchi, Asia Pacific director, IBM Product Lifecycle Management Solutions, IBM Asia Pacific Service. "Those key ingredients helped the company strengthen its leading position in a most challenging environment. We are committed to continue helping manufacturers implement a winning strategy with our world-class PLM industry-specific solutions and methodologies."
"Kobelco's success clearly demonstrates the value PLM solutions developed by Dassault Systemes deliver," said Christian Nardin, managing director, Dassault Systemes Asia. "A key aspect for Kobelco is the ability to simulate and optimize concurrently all aspects of excavator engineering, packaging, operation and ergonomics, while capitalizing on and re-using engineering knowledge to more rapidly derive the multiple variants the market requires."
Kobelco will present details on the benefits of this implementation today at the European CATIA forum at Disneyland Paris.
Centered on the construction machinery division of Kobe Steel, Ltd., Kobelco was established in 1999. Including the time since the division manufactured an electric mining shovel in 1930, the company has a history of over 70 years of manufacturing construction machinery. As a global company, Kobelco has production and sales bases not only in Japan but also in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In 2001 the company entered into business ties with CNH Global N.V., farm machinery and construction machinery manufacturer in the FIAT Group, thus forming one of the world's foremost integrated machinery manufacturing groups. Through the combined production and sales bases of both companies, a system has been put into place for providing products and services with high value to customers around the world.
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