D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. Hosts Implementation Road Map 2001.

Business Editors

PORT CHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2001

D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. (DHBA) hosts Implementation Road Map 2001, its 8th annual conference covering product commerce, design, and engineering, November 13-14, at The Dearborn Inn, Dearborn, MI.

The conference examines critical current issues in the successful implementation of technology to maximize the business benefits from product-development automation. This year's theme is "Realizing your Product Value Chain Potential."

Participants from major manufacturing companies and software development firms select from seven tracks. A major track brings together the leading-edge users in collaboration and optimization in supply-chain management, who will share their experiences in value-chain convergence. A second series of coordinated sessions reviews the optimization of total product definitions. In parallel, top users and vendors will share their thinking on up-front simulation tools for the Super Designer, virtual product synthesis, and the emerging knowledge tools for CAD and CAE. Finally, discussions on systems issues will concentrate on interoperability, data exchange, web infrastructure and virtual product synthesis.

Speakers and panelists from Ford Motor Company, General Electric Aircraft Engines, General Motors Corporation, and Volvo Car Corporation, as well as from Alibre Inc., ANSYS Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Deere & Company, Delphi Automotive Systems Corporation, E2open, Eaton Corporation, Engineous Software Inc., Exostar LLC, Hewlett Packard, IBM Corporation, MatrixOne GmbH, MDS Sciex, MSC Software Corporation, MSX International, Robert Bosch Corporation, Visteon Corporation, and others will join senior analysts from DHBA to share the latest thinking on expanding the reach of technology in today's fast-changing environment.

More than thirty speakers and panel sessions will discuss the latest thinking and actual case histories on solution implementations in engineering, manufacturing, and design. Details of these presentations are available at the D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. website: www.dhbrown.com

Brief summaries of three of these presentations are provided below.

Insights Into Optimizing Manufacturing Processes and Systems

Reducing time-to-market and time-to-volume, while increasing throughput and enforcing consistent standards of quality and cost reduction can be achieved in product design and product development. Holger Erker, Industrie-Planung Fischer AG (IP Fischer) of Germany, will present a case study of work with Micro Compact Car smart GmbH (MCC smart), a division of DaimlerChrysler AG in Germany. The case study spans manufacturing logistics, plant systems, material flow structures, and organizational systems. In this collaborative project, IP Fischer worked with MCC smart to achieve significant results. Key to the impressive results were Manufacturing Process Management (MPM), a software solution developed by IP Fischer, and Tecnomatix eMPower(TM), a solution pioneered by Tecnomatix Technologies, Ltd.

Embedding CAE in CAD: Super Designer

In the past 18 to 36 months, Delphi has accomplished a profound change. John Swanson, Staff Engineering Manager, CAE, CAD/CAM Development and Design Groups at Delphi Energy and Chassis, suggests that the major challenge has been cultural. Delphi was deeply immersed in the old way of doing things. Even as recently as five years ago, design was predominantly package driven, with the design itself representing an initial placeholder. But, a design needs to demonstrate it is worth pursuing to be prototyped. Swanson will discuss the new system in place at Delphi and their successes. For example, the new approach enabled Delphi to complete a baseline and four alternative proposals for an induction system for Mazda in eight days. The savings represented months of work.

For further information, please click on this link:

http://www.dhbrown.com/dhbrown/conf/01Details/SuperEngineer-EmbeddingCAE.pdf

Capturing Engineering Knowledge

Today's parametric modeling offers innovative means which allow users to track whether a parametric change downstream in the design process has violated an upstream constraint. In the past, the typical parametric modeling scenario "rigidly" constrained geometry, and did not manage permissible ranges for key variables. Any successful knowledge capture and reuse environment begins by establishing a culture of knowledge management. But exactly where does a company find competitive advantage? In discrete manufacturing, a product embodies much more than the sum of its assembled piece parts. It manifests the aggregate knowledge of a company's engineering, design, manufacturing, and product support experience. That is the company's true competitive advantage. Dr. Ken Versprille, Program Manager in DHBA's Design Creation and Validation service area, will share his insights and experiences in working with the nation's largest manufacturing firms.

For further information, please click on this link:

http://www.dhbrown.com/cffiles/doc_viewer. cfm?SUBSID=101&ID=91924644&FILEID=89419445&/tt011009a.pdf

D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. research targets the key decision criteria challenging Engineering, Manufacturing, and Design (EMD) and IT executives. A cohesive suite of collaborative research programs provides in-depth analysis of implementation strategies, products, issues, processes, technologies, trends, case studies, and surveys. DHBA analysts clarify the strategic issues determining the use of, and investments in, technology and process reengineering.

To obtain a press pass for the conference or to learn more about this conference, please contact Bill Abramson, 828-243-2372 or e-mail: [e-mail].