Luxury yacht-builder Construction Navale Bordeaux says it’s see a “significant improvement in product quality” since moving over to PTC’s product development system end-to-end.
The company, which makes single-hull boats and catamarans, as well as patrol boats for the Gendarmerie, fishing boats and trawlers, is using Pro/Engineer 3D CAD for design, ProductView for digital mock-up and collaboration between departments and suppliers across Europe, as well as Windchill PLM (product lifecycle management) software for content and process management, and Arbortext for technical authoring.
In September, the company is also due to go live with Mathcad, PTC’s engineering calculations software.
Wilfried Cadiou, who heads up CNB’s Digital Department, says that, while the number of hours worked in the design office initially increased with the change from 2D to 3D, the end-product has improved significantly in quality.
He cites digital mockups, which help customers to view project progress, Arbortext, which has eased assembly instructions, and the overall PLM system, which, being integrated with its ERP system, he says has streamlined the whole engineering cycle – leading to CNB’s flagship product, The Lagoon 620 62-foot catamaran.
“The combination of Pro/Engineer and Windchill is undoubtedly the best PLM solution available. PTC solutions have revolutionised how we work and are ideal in meeting the needs of expanding companies. In 2001, we had 80 employees in the company and today we have more than 500. Our boats win awards each year. With PTC software we can design very high-end products within a minimum allotted time,” says Cadiou.
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