French manufacturer adopts My Product Portfolio to aid creation of luxury porcelain items
Toby Ingleton |
Bernardaud, a manufacturer of luxury porcelain based in Limoges, France, is now using Dassault Systèmes’ My Product Portfolio industry solution experience to help revolutionise its product development processes.
Manufacturing more than two million pieces of luxury porcelain each year, Bernardaud wanted to accelerate both the creation and launch of new pieces through digitisation.
My Product Portfolio offers a unified digital environment via the cloud. This will allow Bernardaud to carry out product design, engineering and management tasks quickly and efficiently.
“Our customers expect a high level of quality and functionality from each of our pieces and this drives our thinking and our entire approach to business,” said Michel Bernardaud, CEO, Bernardaud. “Porcelain manufacturing techniques have never been as sophisticated as they are today nor porcelain as elegant as it is today.”
With My Product Portfolio, company staff can create 3D virtual models of each piece. Shapes colours, decorations, enamel and engraving can all be incorporated into these models, which then serve as a point of reference for the mold that is used to make the piece.
The solution offers Bernardaud flexibility, and factors in whether a piece is made from liquid, paste or powder. The solution also accounts for any change to shape or size during the firing stage of the manufacturing process.
Furthermore, with the solution, Bernardaud can create digital records of existing products, allowing for better preservation of the company’s work.
“My Product Portfolio allows us to digitally enrich this technical expertise and make it more efficient,” said Bernardaud. “Will the shape of a teapot’s spout prevent drips? How much gold must we blend into paint to obtain the desired look around the rim of a plate? We can virtually explore and answer such questions without the need for costly physical prototypes.”
“Companies in the home goods and tableware segments, from mass-market to high-end, require new strategies to build digital transformation into their processes that accelerate the launch of products that differentiate them in the eyes of their customers,” said Chris Colyer, vice president, Consumer Goods and Retail Industry, Dassault Systèmes. “My Product Portfolio supports the skilled expertise required for innovation in leisure goods. This cloud-based solution is particularly suited for small and medium-sized businesses that benefit from its easy implementation and the flexibility to scale up as their business needs evolve.”