Dassault Systemes Partners With NIAR on Advanced Manufacturing Center

Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research and DassaultSystemes will partner on an advanced manufacturing center on the Innovation Campus.

The 3DExperience Center, which will be located within the Experiential Engineering Building, will focus on enabling advanced product development and manufacturing of next generation manufacturing materials and technologies. The center is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The center will employ students and up to eight staff from Dassault Systemes, a global company serving 190,000 customers in 12 industries and 140 countries. The center will be available to industry and for university research and coursework.

"The whole learning model of classroom learning, practicing in a lab environment and performing production work with one of the industry partners is embodied in the 3DExperience Center," said Jeff Smith, director, Ideas Lab, aerospace and defense industry, Dassault Systemes. "Students will be able to engage in the future of advanced product development and manufacturing."

The 3DExperience Center will focus on enablingadvanced product development and manufacturing, next generation manufacturing materials and technologies using Dassault Systemes' 3DExperience platform and brand applications, including:

• Development of new engineered materials
• Simulation and optimization of materials, additive manufacturing processes and systems
• Multi-Robotic Advanced Manufacturing
• Certification of the end-to-end process, integrating various levels of complexity and scale -- from specific molecular material to the whole product, from specific manufacturing process to integrated and global production processes, and from system to systems of systems, with the 3DExperience platform.

"Dassault Systemes is an essential partner in WSU's Innovation Campus, a world-class center where researchers, students and industry come together to experience their ideas," said John Tomblin, WSU vice president for research and technology transfer and NIAR executive director. "The 3DExperience Center provides the capability to go from the concept, to a full experience of the idea, to the realization of seeing that idea being developed and manufactured. It will be a core enabler of additive manufacturing in aerospace as well as other industries."

Additive manufacturing promises companies the ability to design any shape without restriction, giving the opportunity to create a paradigm shift in the industry. Manufacturers can reduce waste by up to 90 percent and eliminate mistakes that impact quality and cost.

"Additive manufacturing has high potential for aerospace and other industries and goes far beyond just 3D printing. It requires an understanding of new materials down to the molecular level, how those materials perform under any scenario, how they can be expediently and cost-effectively manufactured and how each piece of the ultimate system can be certified," said Michel Tellier, vice president, aerospace and defense industry, Dassault Systemes. "The center will leverage the 3DExperience platform's immersive and robotic applications and Dassault Systemes' expertise in materials and simulation. Tomorrow's materials will push the evolution of airplane design, production and operation into a new era."

Funding for the laboratory equipment was provided by a $1.9 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant awarded in 2014. It is being configured and tested in NIAR's Robotics and Automation Lab at the National Center for Aviation Training.

Dassault Systemes and WSU/NIAR have long collaborated on developing a common roadmap targeting aviation innovation. Most recently, the two entities worked together to finalize Dassault Systemes' "Passenger Experience" industry solution experience launched in June 2015.   

About Dassault Systemes

Dassault Systemes, the 3DExperience Company, provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systemes' collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. The group brings value to over 190,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com.

NIAR supports the aviation industry by providing research, development, testing, certification and training services. Its laboratories include Advanced Coatings, Aging Aircraft, CAD/CAM, Composites & Advanced Materials, Computational Mechanics, Crash Dynamics, Environmental Test, Full-Scale Structural Test, Mechanical Test, Metrology, Nondestructive Test, Research Machine Shop, Virtual Reality and the Walter H. Beech Wind Tunnel. NIAR operates on a nonprofit budget and is the largest university aviation R&D institution in the U.S., located in Wichita, Kan., the "Air Capital of the World." www.niar.wichita.edu