ESI Group, Paris, France – January 3, 2007: ESI Group (ESIN FR0004110310) is pleased to announce that PAM-QUIKFORM for CATIA V5, developed under the CAA V5 Gold Software Partnership Agreement signed with Dassault Systèmes (DS) (NASDAQ: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, is available starting January 2007. PAM-QUIKFORM is currently implemented in CATIA V5 Composites Design, Dassault Systèmes’ composite design module. The purpose of PAM-QUIKFORM for CATIA V5 is to enable decision-making early in the design process, by eliminating bad design choices that would later lead to manufacturing problems.

“This new product from ESI Group will allow users to leverage CATIA V5 Composites Design, which increases productivity by performing fiber simulations that are directly built upon the laminate definition in CATIA.” said Frederic Vacher, Manager of Partnership Business Development at Dassault Systèmes.  "This additional CAA V5 product complementing the V5PLM composite portfolio will strongly benefit our PLM customers from the aerospace industry."

ESI Group’s PAM-QUIKFORM software is a simulation tool capable of predicting the deformation of the reinforcement of composite parts during manufacturing. PAM-QUIKFORM is based on geometrical methods and can tell, in a matter of seconds, if a selected material can be used to form a part without potential problems, like wrinkling. The flat pattern of the plies of the laminate are computed simultaneously and can be used for nesting and cutting machines.

PAM-QUIKFORM features a unique capability on the market that enables the simulation of unidirectional composite deformation during the draping process. The PAM-QUIKFORM algorithms capture the specific deformation mechanisms occurring in unidirectional draping, like intra-ply sliding, or the spreading of the fibers.

The benefits resulting from the integration of PAM-QUIKFORM in CATIA V5 Composites Design are important and numerous. The simulations can be directly performed based upon the laminate definition built in CATIA V5 Composites Design, dramatically increasing productivity. All the existing CATIA V5 Composites Design options are available, like flattening and 2D/3D transfer, and they are exportable to digital manufacturing machines like Automatic Laser Pointer or nesting and cutting programs available in CAA V5. Generally speaking, PAM-QUIKFORM customers will benefit from the powerful CATIA V5 3D-PLM collaborative engineering environment.

PAM-QUIKFORM for CATIA V5 integration follows the integration of resin transfer molding and infusion simulation in CAA V5. The next steps include the enhancements of PAM-QUIKFORM for CATIA V5 capabilities, like the simulation of the draping of a non aligned ply along a seed line. Automatic tape laying (ATL) and automatic fiber placement (AFP) will also be considered.

“The integration of PAM-QUIKFORM for CATIA V5 is an example of the physics-based simulation brought by ESI Group that can be embedded in CATIA V5 Composites Design in order to offer a complete solution that covers the design and the virtual manufacturing of composite parts. This kind of step should accelerate the current effort of aeronautics toward a simulation-based design,” declares Patrick de Luca, Composites Center of Excellence Manager at ESI Group.

ESI Group is a world-leading supplier, and a pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry oriented applications to realistically simulate a product’s behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and evaluate the environment’s impact on product performance. ESI Group’s products, which have a proven track record in manufacturing and have been combined in multi-trade value chains, represent a unique collaborative and open virtual engineering solution known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner. This integrated protocol allows all the company’s solutions to work with each other and with applications developed by independent software vendors. By significantly reducing costs and development lead times and enabling product/process synergies, VTOS solutions offer major competitive advantage by progressively eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company generated sales of €62.2m in 2005, employs over 500 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in Eurolist compartment C of Euronext Paris. For further information, visit www.esi-group.com.