Winning Vehicle Design Taken From Concept To Delivery In Less Than Six Months

LOWELL, Mass. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — July 31, 2011 — Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, announced today that it has teamed with Local Motors (Chandler, AZ) to deliver the first co-created military vehicle. Local Motors’ community was asked to develop a vehicle body design that could support two types of missions – Combat Reconnaissance and Combat Delivery & Evacuation. Thanks to Dassault Systèmes’ Version 6 platform and Local Motors’ expertise in crowd-based design and manufacturing, the winning vehicle went from concept to working prototype in less than six months.

FLYPMode Vehicle - Local Motors partnered with Dassault Systemes to deliver the first crowdsourced military vehicle, which went from concept to prototype in less than six months. (Photo: Business Wire)

Participants in the challenge submitted their designs online for review. Feedback from the community of more than 12,000 designers and enthusiasts enabled participants to incorporate novel ideas and concepts from their peers, helping to create a better vehicle in an open source process. After receiving and validating more than 150 design entries, Victor Garcia’s FLYPMode design was named the winner of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Crowd-derived Combat-support vehicle (XC2V) Design Challenge and was subsequently built into an operational prototype.

“Dassault Systèmes is a natural partner choice for us on this project,” said Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors. “We both see the future of product creation based upon an open process where we gain wisdom from the masses in order to deliver truly relevant products. We could not have achieved the same outcome on this project without their intuitive design and collaboration tools and support.”

Dassault Systèmes supported the project on several levels by providing technology for individuals to design independently and collaborate amongst each other. Dassault Systèmes’ 3DVIA Composer was provided to each design participant as part of the project ignition kit; CATIA was used for packaging and component designs; ENOVIA was used to store and manage both CATIA and SolidWorks design data; and SIMULIA was used for virtual testing and analysis.

With a focus on streamlining product development, Local Motors is pioneering a new manufacturing paradigm based upon online crowdsourcing for product co-creation where a virtual community collaborates to leverage the collective knowledge base in order to develop the most optimal solution.

“Product co-creation as envisioned by companies such as Local Motors requires a new holistic approach to product development,” said Al Bunshaft, managing director, North America, Dassault Systèmes. “This is a great example of how our technologies are enabling true social product development to take place. By empowering individuals to use 3D to share ideas, create products and give feedback, the voice of the end-user can be heard earlier in the process, making sure the end-product is even more closely attuned to actual market need.”

The widely implemented PLM solutions of today deliver efficiencies, but are based upon a parallel product development process. Dassault Systèmes Version 6, run entirely through a browser, offers a Web-scalable platform that addresses today’s increasing use of social networks. This collaborative approach encourages innovation and allows users to be involved in the process, experiencing how products will perform prior to physical production. Manufacturers can use consumer input to hit the right market with the right product faster and at the lowest cost.

About Local Motors

Local Motors is a new American car company setting an exciting and sustainable course to design, manufacture, and sell cars. Revolutionary yet simple, Local Motors creates a direct connection with customers who guide and participate in design development based on personal desires. The process is open source and the result is meaningful, exciting cars designed specifically for car enthusiasts. All chassis and body vehicle data is shared to make the car building and modding experience more enjoyable. Local Motors will build micro-factories in regions where demand is highest. Cars are built and sold from the micro-factories on a just-in-time basis. Both the products and process are sustainable. Local Motors vehicles feature best-in-class fuel efficiency. The development and manufacturing process dramatically reduces waste while maintaining the flexibility to incorporate new, efficient technologies as they emerge. For more information, please visit www.local-motors.com.

About Dassault Systèmes

As a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 130,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systèmes applications provide a 3D vision of the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance to recycling. The Dassault Systèmes portfolio consists of CATIA for designing the virtual product - DELMIA for virtual production - SIMULIA for virtual testing - ENOVIA for global collaborative lifecycle management, EXALEAD for search-based applications- SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design and 3DVIA for online 3D lifelike experiences. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com .