Dassault Systemes Partners with Focus:HOPE

Dassault Systèmes (Vélizy-Villacoublay, France), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, recently announced that Focus: HOPE?s Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT; Detriot, MI) is implementing its DELMIA digital manufacturing and CATIA digital design solutions as part of its manufacturing engineering education process. This opportunity was made possible through grant monies received by Focus: HOPE and through the DS Academic Partnership Program, whereby educational institutions receive software, training and certification at a fraction of its commercial value.

?Equipping our students with skills that prepare them for entry into the workforce is a critical part of our education process,? said Manager of Focus: HOPE?s CAT Joanna Woods. ?CATIA?s dominance as the design tool of choice in many industries is an important skill set for our students. In combination with an understanding of the DELMIA digital manufacturing tools, our students gain a definite advantage when they apply for engineering positions after graduation.?

The Focus: HOPE CAT students earn their engineering degrees through Lawrence Technological University, University of Michigan Ann Arbor or Dearborn, Wayne State University, or the University of Detroit Mercy. The DS solutions will be used at the Focus: HOPE CAT?s engineering labs to provide additional practical hands-on training to the students as well as in the student?s capstone senior project where they simulate product creation from design through manufacturing, including all processes and costs involved.

The DS solutions made available to the Center will educate students in virtual product development where all product design and manufacturing processes are created, simulated and optimized in a virtual 3D environment on the computer, prior to anything being built in the real world. This helps companies achieve maximum production efficiency, lower cost, improve quality and reduce time to market. CATIA is the world's leading solution for product design and innovation and DELMIA enables the virtual definition, planning, creation monitoring and control of all production processes.

Ms. Woods added that students receiving training in these DS solutions will be prepared to serve as manufacturing engineers in a variety of industries including medical, food, energy, consumer products, aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment, etc., noting, ?All of these industries rely upon sophisticated computer programs to create their products and plan their manufacturing processes.?

?We are proud to be partnered with such a distinguished institution as Focus: HOPE,? said Roy Smolky, DELMIA Worldwide Academic Relations, Dassault Systèmes. ?It is through efforts like this that we can foster interest in the engineering careers that are vital to our nation?s economic advantage.?