MatrixOne Solutions Drive New Paradigm for Automobile Design at Honda
WESTFORD, Mass.--Dec. 11, 2001--MatrixOne Partners with Fujitsu to Deliver First Phase of Honda R&D's
New Engineering Bill of Materials System Earlier than Expected
As further corroboration of its market position as the standard for collaboration in the automotive industry, MatrixOne, Inc. , a leading provider of product collaboration solutions for the value chain, today announced a wide-ranging agreement with Honda R&D Co, Ltd., the R&D Company of Honda Motors.
Honda is widely recognized as the most consistent innovator in the automotive industry. The R&D company is using MatrixOne's product design collaboration platform, eMatrix(TM), as part of its initiative to drastically change its methodology for designing automobiles. A new Internet-based system is being deployed throughout Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom as a key component of its engineering infrastructure.
It is a visionary approach for an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to apply an Internet-based commercial product to manage and author the overall engineered product bill of materials (BOM). This includes managing and configuring platforms, options, features, local and global variations, interface rules, assemblies, components, specifications, supporting of documentation, cost, engineering change, and real-time interface with manufacturing and costing systems in a fully integrated and role-based system.
The new system will allow Honda R&D's design engineers to share design information from the early stages of development, resulting in significantly improved accuracy of the engineering BOM. The single, accurate view of the engineering BOM across the enterprise ensures that most design and development issues are resolved earlier in the design and manufacturing cycle. This adds to its ability to solve many problems that previously were worked out later in the design process, which requires many more resources to resolve. This results in higher quality, decreased costs, and the ability to bring automobiles to market faster. Consequently, Honda R&D has been increasing its engineering productivity and improving collaboration among its global research and development and manufacturing teams.
OEM companies are transforming traditional automotive manufacturing to better keep pace with consumer demands. The R&D Company chose eMatrix for its ability to quickly create a tailored implementation for its rich functionality, flexibility, and robust and cutting-edge Internet architecture.
MatrixOne partnered with strategic systems integrator Fujitsu to lead the implementation. Through a multi-stage deployment of eMatrix, this project intends to link Honda R&D's global design activities in various worldwide locations. The first phase of the rollout, completed in October 2001, connects several thousand design engineers throughout Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Thailand.
"The first step of the new engineering bill of materials system was implemented well ahead of schedule," said Koichi Matsushita, senior vice president of systems integrations, at Fujitsu. "Honda R&D attributed this to eMatrix's rich functionality and ease of use, and to the strategic systems integrator capabilities of Fujitsu. They were pleasantly surprised to find a commercially available software package that enabled the first phase of this project to be so quickly implemented."
MatrixOne partnered with Fujitsu to deploy the eMatrix platform and integrate it with Honda R&D's key legacy applications. Working with Fujitsu, Honda R&D is not only reaping the benefits of increased productivity and accelerated innovation in product development from the MatrixOne solution, but it is also optimizing existing IT investments. Fujitsu implemented eMatrix quickly and easily, assuring the customer of a comprehensive, robust, and highly scalable product collaboration implementation.
"MatrixOne is the industry leader in helping global automotive companies drive improved efficiency, speed, and innovation into the way they bring products to market," said Mike Segal, senior vice president, customer success, for MatrixOne. "Honda has always been recognized as a leading innovator in the automotive industry. Greater collaboration and automation within design and development processes will dramatically enhance its ability to bring new automobiles to market that keep up with the needs and desires of consumers."
About MatrixOne
MatrixOne, Inc. is changing the way the world brings products to market(TM). The Company's eMatrix(TM) product collaboration platform and out-of-the-box Value Chain Portfolio(TM) applications enable online collaboration across global value chains and secure access to independent trading communities in private and public marketplaces. A trusted partner to innovative companies, MatrixOne helps customers accelerate the right products to market. MatrixOne's more than 575 global customers represent the aerospace/defense, apparel, automotive, consumer packaged goods, general machinery, high-technology, and medical equipment industries, including GE, Procter & Gamble, Nokia, Siemens, JDS Uniphase, and Honda. Headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, MatrixOne (www.matrixone.com) also maintains offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, with additional distributors in Latin America and Australia.
MatrixOne and Adaplets are registered trademarks, and eMatrix, Changing the Way the World Brings Products to Market, Leading Provider of Product Collaboration for the Value Chain, and Value Chain Portfolio are trademarks of MatrixOne, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
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