By Gina Roos EETimes Supply Network (06/20/2008 11:05 AM EST)

Paris, France — Dassault Systemes, a provider of 3D and product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, has released an update to the ENOVIA Materials Compliance Central solution to help automotive and high-tech companies meet environmental regulations. Built on the ENOVIA V6 platform, this business process application is designed to help companies adopt proactive environmental compliance strategies throughout a product's lifecycle from design to disposal.

The ENOVIA Materials Compliance Central now includes "Eco-Design" capabilities to enable automotive and high-tech manufacturers to meet environmental regulations mandated by the EU, specifically the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV), Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) directives. These regulations are focused on the European market, but automotive and high-tech/electronics manufacturers must concern themselves with other regional compliance mandates such as China RoHS, Korea RoHS-ELV, and California RoHS, said Dassault Systemes.

"With the world's attention focused on 'green' issues, manufacturers are facing increased societal pressure beyond EU, Chinese and Korean regulations. Given the thousands of parts and multitude of suppliers necessary to bring a car or semiconductor to market, complying with these regulations is an incredibly complex process," said Mike Zepp, director of material compliance solutions for Dassault Systemes, in a statement. "With ENOVIA Materials Compliance Central, we're taking this to the next level by empowering companies to build compliance and, ultimately, green initiatives into the entire product lifecycle, starting with product design."

By leveraging the ENOVIA V6 platform, ENOVIA Materials Compliance Central provides key stakeholders with access to material compliance information throughout the product lifecycle from product development to manufacturing to end-of-life recycling.

The latest version of ENOVIA Materials Compliance Central includes the following features:

• Materials compliance analysis: Engineering can easily generate part-level reports to help determine compliance with customer or market specific requirements. Engineering can also analyze the product's compliance using what-if scenarios.

• Reuse of compliant components: Design engineers can make component selection decisions based on the component's compliance rating.

• Assess impact of new restricted substances: Advanced "where-used" capabilities allow engineers to quickly identify non-compliant components and the products that they are used in. Engineers can then leverage the extensive search capabilities to identify alternatives, or "green parts," as well as the identification of lead-free options.

• Manage supplier material declarations: Compliance engineers can initiate and send material declaration requests, with due dates and instructions, to its supply chain. Compliance engineers can monitor the supplier's progress and review, validate and approve/reject all received supplier submissions.

Built on a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), all deliverables related to collecting, integrating, analyzing, and reporting material compliance information are accomplished in a single platform and environment.