Dassault ticked off at Daimler's "dämlicher" switch

Dassault Systemes issued a brief press release today, expressing their ticked-off-ed-ness at Daimler's decision to switch its CAD design software from Catia to NX (by Siemens PLM Systems). Well, not so much ticked-off as shocked and horrified:

This decision came as a surprise to Dassault Systèmes as no CATIA V6 evaluation has been performed by Daimler A.G. We were informed by Daimler A.G. that, as CAD application portfolio was not their priority, its decision was based upon CAD integration in its home grown PDM system “Smaragd”.

The announcement by Daimler, who makes the Mercedes-Benz brand of automobiles, was a downer after Dassault's jubilant announcement just the day before of its latest release of PLM V6, named "R2011x."

V6 openness to other PDM systems is part of PLM V6 R2011x, which was announced yesterday.

So, Daimler had said nothing to Dassault; had made the announcement the day after R2011x; could it get worse? Yes, says DS, it gets worse:

On September 20, 2010, Daimler A. G. renewed its CATIA contract with Dassault Systèmes for five years. In addition to CATIA, Daimler A.G. uses the Company’s DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA, and 3DVIA brands. At this stage, we have no information as to which CATIA specialized applications would be replaced and which ones will have to remain in use.

So, DS can enjoy another five years of maintenance revenues while Daimler ramps up integration and replacement by NX.

The key to Daimler's decision is in Dassault's admission that "CAD application portfolio was not their priority" but that "its decision was based upon CAD integration in its home grown PDM system." As CAD writer Randall Newton noted earlier today, CAD today is a mere appendix to the PLM system.

(The headline is a pun. Daimler sounds a bit like the German word "dämlich," which means stupid. I'm not calling the switch stupid, but I wonder if the French may be muttering "imbécile" during the frantic board meetings that are sure to be taking place this week.)

 

Comments

[Randall Newton]

Good thing this is all happening in Europe. Leaves Americans to enjoy their Thanksgiving in peace. (I know, Ralph, Canada enjoys their Thanksgiving holiday on a more civilized date.)

[Bill Fane]

"Canada enjoys their Thanksgiving holiday on a more civilized date."

Civilized indeed. I was water skiing on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

[Derrekcooper]

These sort of announcements are like the movie groundhog day. Same old, same old. Big company X, has switched from CAD Y (i mean PLM) to CAD Z. I totally get where Siemens is coming from and get the motivation to highlight a "switch". But there always seems like there is way more to the story. "CAD wasn't the motivator, but CAD Integration into their homegrown PLM was the motivator".. What? :-) a side note, i've been recently working with NX 7.5, continues to amaze me how awesome NX is and how Siemens doesn't seem to highlight its awesomeness..

[Allan Behrens]

In my eyes this decision is much more important than a simple CADA vs CADB decision at Daimler.The German auto industry has some unique collaborative/competative characteristics; if other OEMs (in DE) agree on non-criticality then this may indicate the start of a much larger transformation across a broader set of German Auto manufacturers and their supply chains.

[Jack]

As a former Chrysler employee that worked during there during the ill-fated marriage with Daimler, I can attest to the fact that Smaragd pretty much drove all decisions. Even when Daimeler was using CATIA4 and CATIA5, the integration with smaragd was not the most optimal. Although DS would provide assistance with the integration, it was clear that smaragd wasnt about to go away, and DS with CATIA6 was diverging even further away from smaragd. Allan you are right, this portends bad news for DS in the german auto world in the coming years as it tries to push CATiA6 more.

[David Prawel]

It has always been clear that the vendor who gets closest to the data wins the longer-term, strategic relationships. SAP knows this strategy well. Siemens (then UGS) made the smart decision years ago to focus a lot of energy on the backend systems like NX (then Metaphase, etc.) and their integration into workflow and process. DS focused relatively more energy on the more visible desktop, and while they won many users, they traded market visibility for connectivity across the enterprise, and the type of integration that would have made them a must-have. The desktop is not strategic. The backend is, and NX is an excellent backend business platform (note I never said PLM once!).