The evolution of Geovia – Dassault’s portfolio brand for targeting natural resources – had its catalyst in 2012 when the firm acquired privately-held Vancouver company Gemcom, which specialised in the sector.
During its 27 year history prior to the Dassault acquisition, Gemcom transitioned from an owner-managed company to being publically listed following a merger with Surpac Minex Group in 2006, before being taken private again in 2008.
As a result of this previous merger and acquisition activity, GEOVIA now has perhaps the most enviable suite of mining and exploration software solutions globally, with its products including GEMS, Surpac, Minex, Whittle, MineSched, PCBC, Hub and InSite.
The clout of the global scientific firm is hard to ignore, with its operations employing 11,000 people globally, including a staggering 4,500 engineers in its research and development division.
Ranked number 31 on the Forbes 2013 list of the “Most Innovative Companies” in the World and number three for the “Software and Programming” section, Dassault provide solutions for 12 different industries in 140 countries including 170,000 enterprise customers.
In a briefing to ILN sister publication MiningNews.net late last year, the France-headquartered firm believed its solutions enabled quicker and more accurate decision making and allowed processes to be made more efficient, mineral resources used more effectively and wasteful practices eliminated.
The company said the end goal with all Dassault applications was providing a healthier bottom line for its customers, including improved financial returns and an increased free-cash flow.
Dassault’s solutions are targeted at bridging the divide between information technology and operational technology, with a view to managing the entire lifecycle of a resources asset – including exploration and feasibility; design and construction; exploitation; plant beneficiation; site logistics; customer delivery; and closure and restoration.
“Trying to run a mining company using only ERP financial systems is like trying to drive a car using only the rear-view mirror,” the company said.
Further reinforcing their reputation for research and development, Dassault last month announced that the renowned Georgia Institute of Technology would adopt the company’s “3DEXPERIENCE” platform.
The platform is set to be rolled out to 10,000 users, both students and educators, including its full range of capabilities in the design authoring, digital manufacturing, collaboration, scientific simulation and visualisation fields.
Dassault said the announcement came after almost 12 years of collaboration between the organisation, where they have partnered to establish an ambitious science, technology, engineering and mathematics education program unique in academia.
Georgia Tech’s “Integrated Product Lifecycle Engineering” laboratory and Dassault jointly developed a new pedagogical model to educate tomorrow’s engineers through a cloud-based design and manufacturing infrastructure.
“Our relationship with Dassault has been exceptionally durable and produced substantial outcomes,” Georgia Tech IPLE director, professor Daniel Schrage said.
“We now pave the road for further, broader achievements, especially in student learning educational innovation.”
Georgia Tech had recognised the need for advanced systems engineers was fast approaching a peak, according to Dassault, as more industries competed with smarter products involving more complex systems.
At the same time tens-of-thousands of engineering professionals were about to retire and to address this potential crisis point and bring advanced systems engineering education to a new level, Georgia Tech’s “Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory” – a world leading centre of expertise for complex cyber-physical systems – has commenced leveraging the established relationship with Dassault.
ASDL, focusing on bringing the concept of an engineering “digital thread” to new learning and working practices, will include in its curriculum new graphic-based analysis and decision making in the engineering of complex systems.
“Industry faces a dramatic need for talent in systems engineering – our programs are strongly driven by industry cases and we trust that our collaboration will bring new advances in the way complex systems are analysed and designed,” Georgia Tech professor of Advanced Aerospace Systems Analysis and ASDL director, Dimitri Mavris said.
“ASDL is one of the top labs in the USA on this topic and they will use Dassault’s unique systems engineering capabilities to bring integrated geometric, logical, functional and requirement modelling to tomorrow’s engineers.”
Dassault executive vice president global affairs Philippe Forestier said the company and its partners at ASDL and IPLE had heard the need from industry.
“Our relationship with Georgia Tech is a shining example of the way we approach academia by helping transform the learning experience,” Forestier said.
“Together we are bringing more industry realism into curricula and addressing the entire STEM pipeline to provide industry the employable and competitive workforce it needs.”
