Dassault Systèmes acquires Ortems

The acquisition of Ortems, based in Lyon, France, will extend Dassault Systèmes' 3DEXPERIENCE platform and its industry systems experiences for next generation manufacturing, supply chain and delivery, by reinforcing production planning and scheduling along with DELMIA Quintiq supply chain planning and optimisation capabilities, in order to plan, execute and optimise global industrial operations in manufacturing industries. Ortems complements Dassault Systèmes' DELMIA brand applications, including DELMIA Apriso, which offer a unified experience to all users in digital manufacturing, manufacturing operations management, and supply chain planning and operations, built on a single referential data model.

Ortems' Agile Manufacturing and PlannerOne products are used in the manufacturing operations management of smart factories, where a highly synchronised manufacturing IT system supports the link between virtual design and physical production. More than 16,000 users in 60 countries at aerospace, automotive, industrial equipment, high-tech, life sciences, packaging and consumer goods industrial companies, use its systems to schedule their daily production runs. Customers include AIA, Almirall, Courvoisier, Depuy, Eckes Granini, Europastry, GE Power, Givaudan, Heineken, Knauf, Mecaplast, Merck Serono, Nexans, Monin, Sanofi, Sidel, Solvay and Thalès. Ortems' 2015 revenue was close to 5 million euros.

Bernard Charlès, President & CEO, Dassault Systèmes, says: "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. 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."

Manufacturing plants are inherently unstable due to machine stoppage, workforce and skills shortage, changing orders and supply chain disruptions. Ortems provides scheduling decision support tools to absorb the complexities of a business and to produce the optimum schedule based on unlimited "what if" simulations, instantaneous interactive modifications, impact analysis and exception management to support demand and short- and mid-term production schedules. Users can automate, optimise, compare production schedules to meet delivery dates, and increase resource utilisation and profitability.

Agile and demand-driven

Fr©d©ric Marcotte, Supply Chain Senior Manager, Mecaplast Group, says: "Ortems is a cornerstone of business transformation to become more agile and demand-driven while optimising cash and assets, as well as an effective answer to the challenge of tier one suppliers to continuously synchronise flows with OEM manufacturers' assembly line requirements. Mecaplast Group chose Ortems in order to standardise and optimise the production scheduling process across our 26 automotive equipment plants in 18 countries. Following a first step defining and validating the core model in one of our facilities in Spain, 15 plants on three continents have already been successfully deployed in only 10 months."

Ren© Desvignes, President & CEO, Ortems, saya: "Manufacturers in both discrete and batch industries face critical challenges due to increased globalisation, and seek to stay ahead in a global competitive market through digital transformation. As part of Dassault Systèmes, we can bring a unique manufacturing operations management portfolio to the market that closes the loop between process design and production execution on the shop floor, and supply chain planning in global industrial operations. Manufacturers can respond rapidly to constantly changing customer requirements by enabling agile manufacturing strategies with more flexible, connected, sustainable and smart factories."

Matthew Littlefield, President and Principal Analyst, LNS Research, says: "Advanced planning and scheduling with constraints-based optimisation is a critical component for capturing increased value from a manufacturing execution system and manufacturing operations management implementation. Our research shows that it can improve on time delivery significantly. The Ortems acquisition by Dassault Systèmes is a clear continuation of its strategy to extend beyond manufacturing simulation and address the complete set of execution and planning requirements of manufacturing customers. LNS Research expects Ortems to be synergistic with its other recent acquisitions, including Apriso and Quintiq."

Xavier Mathias, Industry and Procurement Business Applications Leader, Airbus Helicopters, says: "Three years ago, Airbus Helicopters selected Ortems as its backbone system for planning under constraint. After several implementation projects in various functional domains around the same application instance, Ortems is fully integrated in our information systems landscape, strongly connected to SAP ERP. From sales and operations planning to daily manufacturing operations, soon Ortems will be our single tool supporting our challenges around planning optimisation."

This transaction was completed on May 31, 2016. Go to www.3ds.com for more information.