Bell Helicopter consolidates on Dassault V6 for engineering data

Bennie Peek, CIO of Bell Helicopter, explains that, under its Business Systems Modernisation project, the firm is upgrading outdated software to increase its manufacturing capacity, reduce time-to-market and enhance collaboration with business partners. "We sought a PLM solution that could facilitate collaboration across the extended supply chain, reduce unnecessary costs during the design and production process and increase innovation," explains Peek. "This partnership with Dassault Systèmes enables us to meet increased global demand for our aircraft and create a single version of the truth for our product data," he adds. Peek says that Bell intends to consolidate data into one system, which will manage the engineering BoM (bill of materials) and allow for traceability across business disciplines, all the way from contracts and requirements to the final product. Meanwhile, DELMIA will be used for machining and ergonomics, 3DVIA for illustrated planning and work instructions, CATIA for product authoring and SIMULIA's simulation lifecycle management for company-wide management of engineering simulation.