CATIA is one of the most impressive Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing solutions that we at 4D Systems provide for customers across a range of industries. This software suite streamlines design and manufacturing throughout a product’s lifecycle, providing faster, more efficient workflows for engineers and manufacturers.

If your company does not currently utilize CATIA, you may be missing out on a solution that could cut your engineering design process almost in half. Read on to learn more about this state-of-the-art software and twelve reasons why customers prefer it over other engineering programs.

What Is CATIA?

CATIA, which stands for “computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application,” is a software suite of computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering tools. This software, created by Dassault Systèmes, is a popular solution throughout the manufacturing industries, and especially among Original Equipment Manufacturers, to streamline design, analysis, and project management.

CATIA supports several stages of product development, ranging from conceptualization and design to engineering and manufacturing. The software uses innovative technology to model any object or product within a lifelike context.

This software also enables close collaboration among designers and stakeholders through its 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This platform allows multiple project members to view 3D models and make changes to designs, creating a comprehensive understanding of projects among technical and non-technical departments, such as marketing.

Professionals across a range of industries utilize CATIA every day, including:

• Aerospace
• Architecture
• Automotive
• Construction
• Consumer packaged goods
• Defense
• Industrial equipment
• Petroleum
• Plant design
• Process power

CATIA is undoubtedly one of the most popular, widely used software suites in the technical field.

What Is CATIA V5?

Dassault Systèmes has continually released new versions of CATIA since its initial launch in 1977. Today, the most widely used version of CATIA is CATIA V5. However, Dassault Systèmes has since released CATIA V6, which offers more updated features and innovation than V5.

At 4D Systems, we can help your business determine the optimal CATIA version and configuration for your needs.

What Is CATIA Used For?

CATIA has a broad range of uses within design and product development. This comprehensive, intensive software bundle comes in over 50 configurations, each with its own industry-specific features and functionalities.

Organizations typically utilize CATIA for any combination of the following uses:

• Design: Perhaps the most common and widely recognized use of CATIA is product design. The program supports parametric and non-parametric 3D model design and incorporates a wide range of industry-specific tools to streamline the conceptualization and design processes. The program also allows designers to import 2D sketches and render them in a three-dimensional space without needing to draw them again.
• Active collaboration: CATIA allows for active collaboration among several professionals within an organization. The program supports real-time changes that enable professionals to collaborate virtually and work together on modeling and design.
• Modeling and simulation: CATIA supports 3D digital mockups, allowing designers to visualize and make changes to products within a three-dimensional space. Modeling and simulating designs in this way enables real-life analysis before beginning physical design manufacturing.
• Data management: CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE enables comprehensive product data management by storing design data in the CATIA database. Users never need to worry about crashes or data loss with the CATIA suite.

CATIA provides a comprehensive solution for every step of a product’s lifecycle, optimizing efficiency, design, and collaboration in the manufacturing workplace.

How Much Does CATIA Cost?

The exact price your company will pay for the CATIA software suite depends on which package or configuration you purchase and your license type.

You can either purchase a standard configuration, which includes a preset list of products and features, or a custom configuration containing a-la-carte style products. Purchasing add-on products for your software package will also contribute to your overall price.

CATIA is available as either node-locked or concurrent licensing at no additional cost to the end customer.  Node-locked licensing enables licensing on one machine with a single user, while concurrent licensing allows for multi-device installation and usage. At the time of purchase, talk to your contact at 4D Systems about how you want your licenses to be configured and we’ll help you install and set up users at no cost.

Finally, your organization will need to pay for a licensing term that allows you to utilize the software for a specified time. Dassault Systèmes offers licenses spanning one quarter, one year, two years, and three years.

With each of these factors in mind, you can expect your initial CATIA purchase to cost somewhere between $5,000 and $30,000. We can break down the exact CATIA solution  costs for your organization and determine a configuration that provides the most comprehensive solutions for your team.

12 Reasons Why Customers Prefer CATIA Over Other Software

Numerous  Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/ CAM) programs are available today. However, CATIA is undoubtedly one of the most popular software suites on the market. Here are twelve reasons why customers across various industries prefer CATIA over other programs.

1. CATIA Streamlines Design, Analysis, and Data Management of New Products

CATIA’s comprehensive suite of 3D design, computer-aided engineering (CAE), computer-aided design (CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions allow for a faster, more efficient workflow. Specifically, the software streamlines design, analysis, and data management when conceptualizing and manufacturing new products.

CATIA’s highly technical design capabilities make it a popular program among manufacturing industries and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

2. CATIA Can Handle Larger Designs

CATIA has both the physical capacity and broad toolset necessary to handle large-scale designs for larger products and assemblies. The software’s interface is fast and robust, creating optimal performance for the most complex, extensive design projects.

CATIA’s powerful design tools also allow for more efficient large-scale design, enabling your technical and non-technical team members to create high-quality technical illustrations and 3D interactive experiences within their fields.

3. CATIA Is Versatile and Flexible

CATIA’s platform is versatile and flexible, allowing you to customize your package to suit your company’s specific design and manufacturing needs. Dassault Systèmes offers dozens of add-ons and modules that you can use in adjunct with its built-in standard features to increase functionality.

A few popular add-ons and adjunct programs from Dassault Systèmes include:

• Dymola
• ICEM Surf
• CATIA Composer
• Electre
• Catelectre
• SFE Portfolio
• Reqtify
• Autosar-Builder
• CATIA Magic
• Controlbuild
• STIMULUS

We can help you identify the right CATIA add-ons to optimize your workflow within the CATIA software interface.

4. CATIA Comes in 50+ Different Packages

CATIA is a broad-reaching program offering design and innovation across a range of industries. Because most companies limit their CATIA usage to specialized purposes, such as architectural design or mechanical engineering, Dassault Systèmes offers 50+ specialized packages, or configurations, that each home in on industry-specific features.

A few of these CATIA packages include:

• Aero Surface Modeler
• Architectural Detail Designer
• Class A Expert
• Composites Designer
• Electrical and Fluids Engineering
• Mechanical Engineer
• Styling Design
• Systems Engineering

You can choose the CATIA configuration that provides the most benefits for your specific organization.

5. CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE Is Available as a Cloud-Based Program and  On-premise installed Program

In 2014, Dassault Systèmes released 3DEXPERIENCE, a cloud-based platform that incorporates product data management (PDM) along with product lifecycle management (PLM).

As the company’s first cloud-capable program, 3DEXPERIENCE enables professionals across an organization to collaborate on design and manufacturing without needing to install CATIA on their individual computers. The cloud-based nature of the program also allows for seamless collaboration in real-time.

6. CATIA Is Popular Among Large OEMs

CATIA’s innovation and technicalities are evidenced in its widespread use among some of the world’s largest, most well-known Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The following OEM and automotive companies use CATIA daily throughout their design and manufacturing processes:

• Audi
• Bentley Motors Limited
• BMW
• Boeing
• Chrysler
• Fiat
• Ford
• Hyundai
• Porsche
• Toyota
• Volkswagen
• Volvo
• And more

CATIA’s popularity across these highly successful companies allows manufacturers and engineers worldwide to trust in this software’s powerful capacity and performance.

7. CATIA Provides a Comprehensive Solution, From Industrial Design to Class A Surfacing.

CATIA’s versatility across a range of industries and job fields is unmatched among PLM software. The program provides the best solutions for complete shape designing, styling, and surfacing workflows in sectors ranging from industrial design to Class A surfacing.

The suite acts as an all-in-one solution, preventing your team from needing to learn several interfaces and programs to complete the product development lifecycle. Instead, focusing time, energy, and training on the CATIA software alone improves efficiency and mastery within the CATIA interface.

8. CATIA Accelerates the Engineering Process by 30% To 50%

CATIA’s innovative solutions, smooth interface, extensive toolset, and numerous functionalities allow the program to accelerate engineering processes by anywhere from 30% to 50%. The software takes much of the burden out of the project lifecycle, removing mundane, remote design tasks and streamlining sketching and 3D rendering.

Speeding up design, modeling, manufacturing, and development processes allows your company to begin delegating more time to your most essential tasks, improving performance, speed, and overall profits as a result.

9. CATIA Gives a Complete Definition of Modeling, Simulation, Verification, and Business Process Management

CATIA allows for effective, comprehensive business process management within a range of industries. The program provides detailed insight into modeling, simulation, and verification within the greater process management discipline, allowing your higher-ups to analyze design processes and improve efficiency.

10. CATIA Enables Object Simulation Through a 3D Digital Mock-Up

If your organization does not currently utilize object simulation within your manufacturing processes, you may be wasting time and money that you could be delegating to other functions.

CATIA allows for enhanced object simulation through 3D digital mock-ups of products and objects. For example, you can import 2D sketches into the software and render them as three-dimensional images without having to re-sketch them in the 3D platform.

Being able to create 3D mock-ups enables your team to share complex design ideas across departments before transitioning them to production and development. Keeping everyone within your organization on the same page about designs produces a more seamless workflow and greater success throughout your PLM process.

11. CATIA Allows for Offline Design Modifications

CATIA’s new “design anytime and design anywhere” feature lets users capture and send design modifications offline to other team members. Your design team can utilize this feature to create quick designs on the go, while traveling, out in the field, or anywhere that they may not have access to their desktop or internet connection.

CATIA’s offline capabilities allow design modifications to remain secure within the CATIA database without needing internet access, ensuring that any changes do not disappear while offline.

12. CATIA Provides a Cohesive, Productive 3D Design Environment

Finally, CATIA offers a productive design environment that facilitates collaboration and efficiency between departments and professionals. Your designers can work with stakeholders to share designs, discuss product modeling, modify existing mock-ups, and communicate ideas.

CATIA’s tools and processes range from simple to complex, but working within the newer 3DEXPERIENCE platform allows your organization to collaborate seamlessly with professionals who may not use CATIA every day. Similarly, departments and stakeholders who simply need to view designs without making modifications can easily access the platform through the cloud.

Altogether, CATIA makes it easier and more effective to share designs and ideas across various teams.

Contact Us Today

At 4D Systems, we strive to provide organizations with the most innovative, strategic automation solutions for their specific business processes. With a focus on the automotive, government, oil and gas, and medical industries, our company is committed to providing the best solutions to maximize efficiency and improve profitability through a more streamlined workflow.

CATIA is one of the most innovative Computer-Aided Design solutions we offer to clients every day. As experts in this versatile program, we are prepared to inform you about the benefits CATIA can provide for your workflow and help you determine if CATIA is the right software suite for your company.

CATIA could be the perfect CAD solution to enhance and optimize design and manufacturing workflow within your company. If you’re interested in learning more about CATIA and the other automation solutions we provide, please contact 4D Systems today at 800-380-9165 or email us at [email protected].

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When it comes to manufacturing solutions for your customers, streamlining your research and development processes with a PLM solution can help reduce the amount of time and resources spent on each aspect of the product lifecycle without sacrificing quality. In fact, many using a PLM suite can actually improve results when implemented. 

At 4D Systems, we’ve delivered and maintained best-in-class product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions for Fortune 500 companies across the world. We partner with Siemens and Dassault to integrate their PLM solutions into our client’s workflows. 

Today, we are going to cover how you can select the best PLM option for your business. We will start with explaining what PLM systems are, why we choose to partner with Siemens and Dassault compared to other competing solutions and explore relevant data that should help you make your decision. 

What is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)?

When it comes to enterprise solutions, PLM is one of those rare instances where the acronym is a good self-descriptor all by itself. PLM solutions help manufacturers manage product flows across the entire lifecycle, from ideation to simulations, production, and beyond. 

Discrete product manufacturers tend to be heavily vertically integrated. This has significant potential advantages, in terms of cost, design flexibility, and turnaround time. But it requires that you’re able to manage the product and see it through, every step of the way. PLM solutions, like the Dassault and Siemens solutions 4D Systems implements, can help you do this.

The primary benefits that a PLM solution offer include, but are not limited to: 

Improved Accountability 

PLM solutions provide your internal and external teams with greater information-sharing capabilities. Account for resource usage, changes, and product data within a dedicated solution that creates a comprehensive overview of the entire product lifecycle. 

Cost Savings 

Simply stated, PLM systems help improve efficiency at all levels of the lifecycle. This results in the more efficient use of time and resources by removing operational barriers due to the lack of a comprehensive management solution. 

Reduced Time to Market 

With greater communication, documentation, and information-sharing capabilities, you can significantly reduce the time to market your products. This allows your teams to scale operationally without sacrificing the quality of the outcome. 

What should you look for in a Product Lifecycle Management Solution?

There are a number of PLM solutions currently out on the market. At 4D Systems, we focus on Siemens and Dassault PLM because they offer enterprise clients the best value in terms of feature sets and scalability. Let’s take a look at why this is the case. When you’re making a decision about what PLM solution to leverage, there are three core areas you’ll want to consider: 

• Core features
• Integrations
• Pricing

The Core Feature Set in-Depth 

By definition, PLM solutions are comprehensive in nature. This means that a top-tier PLM solution should be able to guide your manufacturing process end to end. With this in mind, here are a few of the key features you’ll want to look out for:

• BOM Management
• Change Management 
• Product Data Management 

BOM Management

Discrete products are made out of a number of parts, each with its own price implications. The BOM management modules in Siemens Teamcenter and Dassault Enovia enable you to go beyond order quantities and unit costs, factoring in different sub-assemblies and a range of BOM hierarchies. This lets you discover and rationalize cost centers with a high level of granularity. 

While Aras Innovator, Arena Solutions, and Oracle PLM do feature built-in, hierarchical BOM management, their capabilities are not as comprehensive. Siemens and Dassault shine through in terms of cross-domain BOM management. Both of these solutions let you break down costs in terms of different functional domains. This means you can monitor just engineering costs, or just sub-assembly costs, resulting in finer-tuned controls. 

Change Management

Change is a natural occurrence across the product lifecycle. Products evolve at every stage, and it’s important that key changes are reflected across the board for consistency. 

Change management software can help your team document and track occurrences of change at every step of the lifecycle. The Siemens and Dassault PLM suites feature exceptionally complete change management modules.

Siemens Teamcenter, for instance, allows you to configure change hierarchies. Simple changes can be implemented by the process owner, but the system can flag significant changes that will require vetting by decision-making personnel. Teamcenter’s closed-loop change management process provides organizational leaders with comprehensive feedback regarding the impact of a given change, helping you to optimize and iterate. 

For example, if you’re a car manufacturer and you’re tracking the impact of engineering changes to comply with new safety standards, Siemens Teamcenter’s closed-loop system will notify you about updated safety characteristics after the change. A leader in your organization can then review these notifications and make a far more informed decision regarding the next steps after the change has occurred. 

Arena Solutions and Aras also feature change management capabilities. However, Arena’s CM module focuses on Engineering and Aras places greater emphasis on collaborative change, which might not be useful if you have approval processes and channels in place. Relative to Enovia and Teamcenter, change management capabilities are a bit more niche and less feature-complete.

Product Data Management

The product lifecycle is increasingly data-driven. From multiple CAD models to requirement specifications and manufacture instructions, there’s a large range of data, per product, that needs to be tracked and managed. 

Both Teamcenter PDM and Enovia Smarteam feature sophisticated product data management capabilities. They prioritize security and process enablement while administrative functions and version checks ensure that your IP is in the right hands at all times. 

These two PDM solutions can tightly integrate with your processes, change management, and BOM management capabilities. This enables you to ensure that process owners at every step of a project have access to the right product data and the ability to update the changes that are made at any point in the product lifecycle. 

Integration Capabilities

You are likely using a wide range of software solutions at different stages of the product lifecycle. This highlights integration capabilities as a critical factor when deciding on the right PLM solution. When your business systems are united, this provides a complete picture of the various stages, changes, and generated data that results from processes and operations. 

Both Siemens Teamcenter and Dassault Enovia are tightly integrated with a range of tools across the product life cycle. This ranges from CAD/CAM at the ideation stage to OLP solutions for manufacturing to your accounting and ERP.

As market leaders, Enovia and Teamcenter possess broader compatibilities than their competitors and it is why 4D Systems deploys these solutions to our customers. Simply put, Teamcenter and Enovia solutions are more likely to work right out of the box with your existing process flow when compared to other available solutions.

Pricing Models

As enterprise solutions, all the PLMs we have discussed require thoughtful consideration from a financial investment standpoint. When making an important decision that impacts your operational budgets, selecting the right option that will generate the most value for your business is paramount. 

While setup costs may be slightly more, we’ve found Enovia and Teamcenter to be more cost-effective for businesses of all sizes, relative to Arena and Aras, with enhanced cost scaling at 250-500+ seats. And because 4D Systems handles implementation and support, your TCO comes down further as well. As you scale up, Enovia and Teamcenter can offer a 2-3x cost advantage as you scale up. 

Start Implementing a Better PLM Solution for Your Business

At the end of the day, selecting the right PLM solution for your product lifecycle processes involves identifying the capabilities, integrations, and pricing that best align with your business needs. When you decide to invest in improving information sharing and operational efficiency across your teams, you deserve to receive the value that you expect.

With over a decade of experience in enterprise-scale PLM integration, our team at 4D systems can help you generate the most value from your investment in a top-tier PLM solution. We have provided solutions across a wide range of use cases and industries worldwide. 

Our team has thoroughly tested and vetted a broad range of PLM solutions to identify the top-tier systems that can generate the most value for your business. We offer Teamcenter and Enovia because we have found that these two offer consistent, cost-effective results across the most use cases. 

If you are considering integrating PLM solutions across your workflow, please contact 4D Systems at (800) 380-9165 or by emailing us at [email protected]. Our team looks forward to speaking with you about aligning Siemens Teamcenter and Dassault Enovia with your business needs by improving accountability, saving costs, and reducing time to market. 

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Digital twin technology is an emerging innovation that’s helping manufacturers to iterate and improve on their products at every stage of the product life cycle, from ideation and design to long-term maintenance. What are digital twins? They’re physically accurate digital representations of your physical products. IoT devices attached to a real product in physical space collect data across parameters to build a digital twin that performs and reacts to forces in exactly the same way as its real-life counterpart.

At 4D Systems, we offer Siemens and Dassault Systemes digital twin products. Both of these best-of-breed digital twin solutions can help you develop, build, iterate, and maintain products faster, cheaper, and more intelligently. In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the key opportunities Dassault and Siemens digital twin solutions have to offer.

Faster, Cheaper, Smarter: Optimizing Your Product Lifecycle Pipeline

Digital twins help optimize every stage of the product lifecycle, allowing you to build out new products faster and cheaper than before. The benefits of our Siemens and Dassault digital twin solutions start from the ideation and prototyping phase.

Physical prototypes are expensive to manufacture and replace, take time to make, and can’t always be subject to a full range of testing. Physical prototyping constrains the design team by making it harder to fail fast: building testing, and iterating on a failed prototype can take weeks or months, stretching development cycles, and adding to costs.

Digital twins can transform both product and process design. First, leverage a solution to build a physically accurate digital twin of your product. Then, you can test out product iterations in digital space to identify tolerances, weak points, and design flaws.

Solutions like Tecnomatix Process Simulate can help you do the same thing for specific parts of your manufacturing process. You can import models, specify parameters in your production process, validate robot actions, and more.

Digital twins enable a rapid iteration loop, with testing, development, and improvement taking place in a matter of days. Physical prototyping still has its place: key milestone builds can be physically prototyped. But digital twins allow the design team to assess the impact of tweaking minor parameters, paving the way to optimal product design.

Fewer physical prototypes and a faster turnaround time can potentially save thousands of man-hours, in terms of time and development costs. These costs can be passed onto clients, allowing you to deliver better solutions with quicker turnaround, for cheaper.

Beyond the Point of Sale: Exceeding Expectations with Predictive Maintenance

Great products don’t just deliver at the point of sale. When clients invest in your products, reliability and long-term value are key priorities. Aftersales maintenance forces clients to make a tough decision: either operate a product until component failure — which can increase downtime — or replace parts early, increase costs.

Manufacturers typically rely on the preventive maintenance paradigm to mitigate risk and manage maintenance costs. Preventive maintenance relies on the useful life estimate, a metric that describes the average lifespan of a particular component, the point at which the component has a roughly 50 percent chance of failure. The issue with preventive maintenance is that, statistically, there’s a high likelihood that any given component could last slightly longer or slightly shorter than the useful life estimate. More granular data, including data about the product’s operating environment, could help get a more accurate picture about their specific maintenance needs. This is where predictive maintenance solutions like Dassault 3DExperience comes into the picture.

According to a Deloitte study, the predictive maintenance paradigm can extend an asset’s lifetime by 20 percent and reduce costs by upwards of 12 percent. These long-term benefits extend across the entire life of a product, increasing its value manifold.

What exactly is predictive maintenance, though? Predictive maintenance involves using digital twin technology to identify long-term stressors and weak points in your products, across a range of operating environments and parameters. By modeling the effects of different stressors on digitally twinned components, you can fine-tune estimates for component life span. This can help customers optimize their maintenance cycles, saving down-time, and costs.

Modeling Expectations: Adding Value to Your Sales Strategy

Enterprise sales cycles are long and clients require proofs-of-concept and capability demonstrations. Physical PoCs and capabilities demonstrations can be expensive and high risk, especially in earlier stages of the sales cycle. How can manufacturers demonstrate product excellence while managing development costs?

Digital twin solutions offer manufacturers the opportunity to develop virtual PoCs and showcase product functions and capabilities to clients right at the first or second meeting. Digital twins can be built to spec, perfectly aligned with client requirements. Once the sales conversation has started in earnest, they can be used as a blueprint to build real, physical PoCs and prototypes. By taking complexity and cost out of the equation, digital twin technology allows sales teams to spread their wings, reach a wider client base, and get more projects in the pipeline.

Conclusion

As leaders in the PLM space, 4D Systems helps clients optimize every stage of the product lifecycle. Our digital twin solutions help cut costs, increase flexibility, and enhance R&D capabilities. In a rapidly changing manufacturing environment, 4D Systems’ digital twin products can help you stay a step ahead, exceed your goals, and align your approach with Industry 4.0 best practices.

Reach out to us at 800-380-9165 to chat about driving transformation at your manufacturing facility.

If you’re looking to make the change, reach out to us here. Let’s schedule a strategy call.

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