Dassault Systèmes DELMIA Robotics Drives Bilsing Automation Business

Pressroom and Bodyshop Simulation Attract Automotive Clients.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich – Dassault Systèmes has announced that Bilsing Automation GmbH (Attendorn, Germany), a global provider of flexible tooling and handling systems for press and body shop applications, has seen important competitive impact due to its deployment of DS DELMIA Robotic simulations.

“System simulation is a requirement in order to gain projects from many OEMs,” said Fabien Davaine, Bilsing project simulation engineer. “We have experience in different software, but DELMIA is really the best one–-the easiest, the fastest and the most effective. Without it, we would not have won some of the projects that we have.”

Bilsing’s success is built upon its ability to quickly develop a customized automation solution from the company’s vast catalog of standard components. Simulations help the company to deliver optimum product performance. By simulating robot motions in the virtual world, Bilsing Automation can verify that the robots will be able to achieve all the required motions and that there will be no interferences. This can eliminate re-tool time during the build phase, hugely affecting system launch time. Davaine cites an example where simulation indicated a collision with a die in a stamping press. If that had not been identified prior to production, hours would have been spent by the plant to mill the die down to size; instead the diemaker modified his die design prior to production.

Bilsing originally began applying the DELMIA IGRIP robotics solution with the stamping module add-on back in 2003 and is now migrating to the DELMIA Robotics software. This provides the added benefit of allowing the company to work in the native CATIA environment, which is the virtual design solution of choice of almost every automotive OEM. One common data model eliminates the potential of any data loss through translations, thus enhancing the quality of its projects and bolstering Bilsing’s ability to work with the automotive community.

Currently all of the Bilsing simulations are produced by the French subsidiary of Bilsing Automation in Valenciennes, but the simulations can be shared via virtual design reviews with anyone on the project no matter where they are located. Additionally, seeing a proposed automation system operating in the virtual world provides an added benefit of boosting customer confidence in the system’s ability to achieve all its specifications.

According to a CIMData study, smaller companies that invest in simulation can typically achieve a 5:1 annual return on investment.