Dassault Adds New Smart Factory Tools to 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform gets a smart manufacturing tool to improve manufacturing efficiency.

Dassault Systèmes has announced that it has signed a definitive share purchase agreement to purchase Ortems, a production and dispatch software firm.

I know what many of you might be thinking, “What’s production and dispatch software?” Don’t feel bad, until a few hours ago, I wasn’t in the know either. So, let me try and explain what Ortems does.

Today, smart factories are on the cutting edge of manufacturing. In a smart factory, robots, supply lines, conveyors and other automated systems are so tightly integrated via the industrial internet that efficiency can be controlled in real time, innovation can be enacted remotely and the ability to shift production gears can all be managed via computer, either in the building or a world away.

But none of these benefits of the smart factory can occur unless good software allows factory operators to control and manage the hardware at their disposal. That’s where Ortems comes in.

Dassault has decided to acquire Ortems, and fold the company into the 3DEXPERIENCE (specifically DELMIA) platform because it offers power technology to control the smart factories of today and the future. Using the company’s two solutions, Agile Manufacturing and PlannerOne, factory managers can streamline the worlds of virtual design and physical production. With Ortems’ software, manufacturers can quickly absorb the myriad complexities that happen on the manufacturing floor and build out interactive production schedules that can deal with the “what-if” scenarios that plague manufacturers. In addition, Ortems gives its user tools to analyze short-term and midterm production schedules to make a factory as efficient as possible in the long run.

“The art of manufacturing today means constantly inventing and reinventing. Advanced innovation and collaboration platforms that bring together great minds, ideas, solutions and information make this possible,” said Bernard Charlès, president & CEO, Dassault Systèmes. “In just over a decade, Ortems’ highly talented team has developed an ecosystem of technology, customers and partners in this specialized segment for large and midsize companies. We welcome Ortems’ contribution to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as we complement and extend the manufacturing experience for our customers.”

Today, Ortems can boast some 16,000 users across 60 different countries, and those numbers may have been too hard for Dassault to ignore.