Dassault Systemes to train jewelry artisans in India

BANGALORE: French Product lifecycle management (PLM) and 3D software provider Dassault Systems plans to roll out an exclusive, India-specific initiative aimed at the Indian jewelry industry.

Elaborating on the initiative Bernard Charles, president and CEO, Dassualt Systems said that the company is partnering with the JSS education group to enable the program. “We plan to set up a competency center for jewelry design in Bangalore along with JSS. The Government of Karnataka is also funding this program.”

Charles said that JSS would act as a facilitator in training jewelry artisans to use company's CATIA software. Dassault will also take in the necessary inputs and expertise from the jewelry industry. Kamal Kumar, MD, Delmia India, subsidiary of Dassault Systemes, said that the company and JSS have plans to take the educational programs to the villages through Edusat.

Explaining the rationale of the program, Charles said, “We want to help in shifting the value proposition from the traders back to the people (artisans) who are doing the job.” This initiative, which is especially targeted at the jewelry industry, is a first for the company.

Charles said that even in advanced countries, the jewelry industry is still dependent on artisans and not on design software. Dassault will invest around one million dollar into the center.

Dassault has 600 engineers spread across three development centers in Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore. Most of these engineers have a mechanical and manufacturing engineering background. Kumar said that he expects high growth in India from sectors like automotive, aeronautics, energy, ship building and manufacturing. The company counts customers like Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, HAL and NAL among its customers. The company sells its software through channels like EDS, IBM, and CSM in India.

Charles said that the company views India, not just to outsource software development, but to make use of the domain industry skills and also to serve the Indian manufacturing market. India is currently the company's fourth largest market in Asia Pacific and also the fastest growing one.