Airbus selects Thales to develop its European Product Data Management Centre

Thales has been selected by Airbus to project-manage the development of its Product Data Management (PDM) Centre.
The contract should be worth more than €20 million a year over a three-year period. This new system, based on Windchill software for the A380 and A400M programmes, will allow Airbus to:
° Track the production of aeroplane structures based on the various configurations requested by customers,
° Provide interface with the design tools (CAD),
° Use a common tool at the different production sites (France, UK, Germany, Spain).

Teams at Airbus sites in France, Germany and Great Britain will provide local services and act as the interface with the European PDM development centre in Toulouse. As part of its Information System Improvement Programme (ISIP), Airbus is adopting a trans-European approach to the development of its information systems, one that will be better adapted to market demand and that will rely on a long-term partner. To meet this objective, Airbus has decided to create a new centre in Toulouse that will serve as a focal point for all of its PDM projects.

The determining factors in Airbus’s choosing Thales were the company’s industrial know-how, its technical and operational expertise in the field of engineering and its experience with major manufacturing projects and Europe-wide operations.
Thales’s information services business is recognized as a leading service provider of international scope. Its offering is based on three major areas of expertise: consulting, integration and outsourcing within an industrial process.
About Thales
Thales is an international electronics and systems group, serving defence, aerospace and security markets. The group employs 62,000 people worldwide and generated revenues of 10.6 billion in 2003.
Press contacts:
Thales
Verena Adt - Tel: +33 (0)1 57 77 86 26
Thales IS
Elisabeth Valensi - Tel: +33 (0)1 41 48 00 24