Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation Optimizes Flexibility and Reactivity With PLM Solutions From IBM and Dassault Systmes

Market Wire, March, 2005

IBM and Dassault Systmes (NASDAQ: DASTY) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced that Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation (ABSC) has chosen their Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions to bridge to its SAP ERP system and optimize collaborative processes between engineering and manufacturing. ABSC will describe its current PLM benefits with SMARTEAM, as well as its ERP integration project, at the Annual COE conference in Phoenix this week.

Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation will extend SMARTEAM, an IBM PLM solution developed by Dassault Systmes, and, using it with CATIA V5, will facilitate engineering collaboration and knowledge management in its programs, such as a regional jet project for a Chinese airline. SMARTEAM will help support mission-critical concurrent engineering processes across ABSC's design team, including management of FEA associativity and analysis models, and of the multiple CATIA V5 files generated by these processes. ABSC undertook a year-long study to find the optimal system for integrating its PLM and ERP applications.

Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation, formerly part of Goodyear Corporation, is one of the world's three leaders in the manufacture and supply of aircraft wheels, brakes, and anti-skid systems to aerospace OEMs (including Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Dassault, Gulfstream, and Bombardier), and to military entities and parts distributors. It is a highly engineering-focused company facing demanding aerospace industry regulatory and safety-compliance needs.

"SMARTEAM will be bridged to our SAP system, not just for engineering configuration management, but for optimized collaborative processes between engineering and manufacturing," said Mark Gilbert, Manager, Design/Modeling/Configuration Control, Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation. "We like SMARTEAM's flexibility, customization, and seamless integration to CATIA, which together let us optimally manage our Finite Element Analysis (FEA) data. One item that clinched our decision was SMARTEAM's intelligent approach to handling the actual record, such as revisioning within the same profile card, and high usability that makes interaction easy even for those outside engineering."

"We are pleased that Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation has chosen to expand its SMARTEAM solution to achieve further enterprise integration and collaboration," said Avichay Nissenbaum, executive vice president, Sales and Marketing, SMARTEAM. "Core to our strategy is the full integration of business and product data, and the support of complex, mission-critical processes that streamline OEM-supplier collaboration."

ABSC is organizing a strategy team to define a clear division of labor between SMARTEAM PLM and their ERP system. They will soon be extending SMARTEAM to manufacturing teams which, according to Gilbert, "already have CATIA, and just need the SMARTEAM models to facilitate the making of tool paths," further increasing efficiency, reducing costs and speeding product development.

About Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation (ABSC)

ABSC, a wholly owned subsidiary of K&F Industries, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of braking equipment for commercial, general aviation, and military aircraft. The company manufactures a wide range of braking equipment including antiskid, auto-brake, brake-by-wire systems, and brake temperature monitoring systems as well as main and nose wheels, carbon and steel brakes, and ancillary equipment. Its products are installed on over 25,000 aircraft worldwide, more than those of any supplier.

About SmarTeam Corporation Ltd.

SmarTeam develops, markets, and supports rapidly implemented, yet totally customizable, product lifecycle collaboration solutions that drive efficiency, quality and responsiveness for customer-centric organizations and their value chains. Founded in 1995, SmarTeam is one of the fastest-growing companies in the PLM market, with more than 3,100 customers worldwide. Its broad solutions portfolio enables manufacturing organizations and their suppliers and customers to efficiently manage and leverage product knowledge and business processes from concept through maintenance. SMARTEAM solutions help companies of all sizes gain improvements in product quality, reduce costs, expedite project turnaround, comply with industry standards, and shorten time-to-market. SMARTEAM is a Dassault Systmes and IBM PLM solution and is delivered by world-class resellers on every continent. For more information, visit http://www.smarteam.com.

About Dassault Systmes

As world leader in 3D and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions, the Dassault Systmes group brings value to more than 80,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systmes 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, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SMARTEAM), mainstream 3D design tools (SolidWorks), and 3D components (Spatial/ACIS). Dassault Systmes is listed on the Nasdaq (NASDAQ: DASTY) and Euronext Paris (#13065, DSY.PA) stock exchanges. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com