Comprehensive curriculum: Ford awards global training program responsibility to Dassault
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/9/2008 2:10:00 PM
Dassault Systèmes will support Ford Motor Company’s CP3 NG Preferred Service Provider program worldwide with a standard global training curriculum based on Dassault's CATIA, a product life-cycle management (PLM) design solution; and Companion, an e-learning solution.
In North America, Dassault Systèmes Services will deliver instructors, material, and training. Globally, it will work with trainers that Ford already has in place, delivering materials and curricula.
Ford began its transition to CATIA in 2003, relying upon it for body-in-white development of the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln Zephyr platform. Since then, the company has methodically rolled out CATIA to interiors, chassis, electrical, and powertrain systems.
The training program will help Ford standardize its methodologies across the global enterprise to gain the most efficiency from the CATIA portfolio. Using a modular approach, Dassault Systèmes Services will tailor each training module to meet Ford’s needs by business division, based on prescribed tracks. Course length is typically two to five days and much of the course material will be used in an online learning environment.
Ford uses a blended learning solution of instructor-lead training and self-paced computer-based training. To maximize the adaptability and flexibility of Ford’s training program, Dassault Systèmes Services will deploy Companion, its e-learning solution. Companion comprises more than 200 courses per release, including specialized courses for specific automotive industry domains.
Companion has already been used by numerous customers as the learning backbone for enterprisewide deployments of Dassault PLM solutions. As a complement to the flexible Companion platform, Dassault Systèmes Services will deploy mobile classrooms, which can be shipped anywhere in the world and set up in a few hours.
