ESI and DAHER showcase Immersive Virtual Prototyping at the French-German Digital Conference in Paris

20 November 2015
Paris, France
Groundbreaking digital technology fosters industrial development and innovation

Paris, France – November 20, 2015 – ESI Group, pioneer and world-leading solution provider in Virtual Prototyping for manufacturing industries, was invited to participate in the French-German Digital Conference, held on October 27 at the Elysée Palace in Paris. During the conference, French Minister Emmanuel Macron and German Minister Sigmar Gabriel presented their “Action Plan” for an ambitious digital strategy in Europe, and related societal challenges. They were then joined by French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junker to witness demonstrations of selected innovative technologies, including ESI’s Immersive Virtual Prototyping solution as used by aircraft manufacturer Daher.

ESI demonstrates Daher’s use of its Virtual Reality solution ESI IC.IDO at the Elysée Palace. ©Présidence de la République/ C.Alix.

ESI demonstrates Daher’s use of its Virtual Reality solution ESI IC.IDO at the Elysée Palace. ©Présidence de la République/ C.Alix.

French company Daher uses ESI’s Virtual Reality solution ESI IC.IDO to optimize their assembly lines and increase productivity. Thanks to Virtual Reality, Daher’s engineers can assess assembly processes very early in the product development phase, before they commit to major investments and before any real prototype is built. The demonstration at the Elysée showed officials how Daher uses ESI’s solution to fine-tune the final assembly lines (FAL) of the TBM 900, the latest addition to the Daher’s very fast turboprop aircraft family.

Nicolas Orance, Chief Innovation Officer of Daher comments:

One of the current challenges of industrial companies is the digital transformation, and Daher has been implementing a number of solutions for the Aerospace and Nuclear sectors. Virtual Reality helps us bridge the gap between design solutions and ideas, and the shop floor implementation, by gaining time and efficiency.

During the demonstration, an ESI engineer connected from the Elysée Palace in Paris to a colleague based at ESI’s subsidiary in Stuttgart, Germany. Remotely, both engineers were immersed in the same 3D scene. They demonstrated a typical collaborative project review, working on the same virtual prototype — a best practice to enable reliable decision making, upfront in the product development process.

Vincent Chaillou, COO, ESI Group comments:

With its unique Virtual Prototyping offering addressing various industrial sectors, ESI is well equipped to support European initiatives for developing digital technologies, such as Industries du Futur and Industry 4.0.

Fouad El-Khaldi, General Manager of Strategy and Innovation, ESI Group, puts it in the context of the local economic development:

This event illustrates the great potential of European companies, and especially Mid-Cap companies, to drive industrial growth in Europe with the help of digital technologies. Such collaborations with industrial players, as well as governmental bodies act as an efficient catalyst to increase Europe’s innovation ecosystem and industrial competitiveness. To this aim, ESI takes part in many research projects financed by the European Union through Private-Public Partnership, including EFFRA and EGVI.

For videos of ESI’s Immersive Virtual Prototyping solutions, please visit ESI’s dedicated YouTube playlist.

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ESI Group – Media Relations
celine.gallerne [at] esi-group.com (Celine Gallerne)
+33 1 41 73 58 46

Press relations Daher - Agence Wellcom:
Camille Pan / Marion Obadia / Cécile Soubelet
Email: daher [at] wellcom.fr (daher[at]wellcom[dot]fr)
+33 (0)1 46 34 60 60


About Daher

Daher est un équipementier qui développe des Systèmes Industriels Intégrés pour l’aéronautique et les technologies avancées.
En associant ses savoir-faire de fabrication industrielle, ingénierie des produits et des process, logistique et transport, et services industriels, Daher conçoit et développe des solutions à valeur ajoutée pour ses partenaires industriels, qui bénéficient de cette convergence d'industrie et de services. Daher affirme son leadership sur cinq domaines d’activités : constructeur d’avions, aérostructures et systèmes, logistique intégrée, services nucléaires et vannes.
Daher réalise un chiffre d’affaires proche d’un milliard d’euros et son carnet de commandes représente environ 3,5 années de chiffre d'affaires. Tourné vers l’innovation depuis sa création en 1863, Daher s’impose aujourd’hui comme l’un des acteurs majeurs de la 3e révolution industrielle.