Aepro Uses DELMIA Systems to Boost Production Line for Tata Motors; Vehicle Output to Double Thanks to IGRIP and UltraSpot

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. & MANCHESTER, England--Aug. 1, 20057, 2005--Dassault Systemes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced that U.K.-based engineering consultants Aepro have used its DELMIA digital manufacturing products to help achieve the goal of doubling the production of Tata Motors' Indica vehicle at the company's Pune Plant from 375 to 750. The Indica is the first car to be designed and manufactured entirely in India and it has proved to be extremely popular. In the four years it has been available, 250,000 have been sold.

Chris Downs, a director of Aepro, explains, "This project had all kinds of constraints, but that just made it a challenge for us. Apart from the distance between Tata and ourselves and the inevitable time zone problems, we were also told that demand for the car was such that no outage could be permitted. All the work to increase the capacity of the line had to be completed in the one day a week that the plant shuts down. To complicate matters even further, all the layouts for the original line were presented to us as 2D drawings and the robots populating it were diverse -- a mixture of new and used Nachi and Fanuc."

Aepro, which is under contract to German automotive specialists Drauz Nothelfer, part of the Thyssenkrupp group, first reverse engineered the line using CATIA to create the tooling documentation. Once they had an accurate representation of the status quo and understood all the processes and process documentation, DELMIA UltraSpot was used to create a simulation of the robotic weld procedure. The simulation featured all the actual robot programs, which were integrated into the simulation via IGRIP. It soon became apparent that the heavily automated line was taking 105 seconds to complete a cycle, which, if the target was to be reached, had to be completed in just 90 seconds.

Downs continues: "We recommended the addition of a parallel mini line that we expected would be operational within seven months. Eight new ABB robots capable of ergonomically difficult welds were purchased for this largely manual line, but we sidestepped any compatibility issues by simply uploading all the individual robot programs from UltraSpot's extensive robot library. All the offline programming and simulation for this line was carried out in UltraSpot, so we were able to prove its 250 units a day capacity."

Once the mini line was complete, attention was then turned to the main line. Seventeen new robots were added, bringing the total robot population of the line to 90. However, it was not just a matter of adding more automation; all the welds had to be redistributed all along the line in order to meet the 90 second target. The resulting, detailed simulation has full kinematics to all its tooling systems, as well as a complete robotic simulation. Downs concludes: "The end result is extremely realistic and has helped communicate our aims and methodology to both the main contractor and the end user. When so much is at stake, as was the case here, confidence is key."

About Tata Motors

With more than 130 models spanning a wide range of commercial vehicles, passenger cars and multi utility vehicles, Tata Motors provides the wheels for India's growth. Established in 1945, the Company has spread its manufacturing facilities across India by setting up plants at Pune, Lucknow and Jamshedpur. This is coupled with a nationwide service and spare parts network. Information about Tata Motors is available at http://cars.tatamotors.com

About Drauz Nothelfer

Drauz Nothelfer is the renowned service provider to the automotive industry and provides complete system body engineering solutions for its customers. In this capacity as "system partner", Nothelfer assumes overall responsibility beginning with the product development phase and prototype build to production equipment and all the way to after market service. The emphasis is always on a low piece price with high quality and part availability and on services and processes. Another part of Nothelfer's philosophy is specific and goal-oriented supplier development. Information about Nothelfer is available at http://www.nothelfer.com/eng/index.htm

About DELMIA

DELMIA is a premier brand for digital manufacturing solutions, focused on two unique software applications that can be used to streamline manufacturing processes. DELMIA serves industries where the optimization of manufacturing processes is critical, including automotive, aerospace, fabrication and assembly, electrical and electronics, consumer goods, plant, and shipbuilding sectors. Information about Delmia is available at http://www.delmia.com.

About Dassault Systemes

As world leader in 3D and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions, the Dassault Systemes group brings value to more than 80,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systemes develops and markets PLM application software and services that support industrial processes and provide a 3D vision of the entire life cycle of products from conception to maintenance. Its offering includes integrated PLM solutions for product development (CATIA(R), DELMIA(R), ENOVIA(R), SMARTEAM(R)), mainstream 3D design tools (SolidWorks(R)), and 3D components (Spatial/ACIS(R)). Dassault Systemes is listed on the Nasdaq (DASTY) and Euronext Paris (#13065, DSY.PA) stock exchanges. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com