European multinational Dassault Systèmes (NYSE Euronext:DSY) is known for developing 3D design, 3D digital mock-up, and product lifecycle management software.
Company representatives attended MINExpo International 2016 with the idea of showcasing their Natural Resources and Industrial Equipment Solutions, aimed at optimizing mining operations.
Besides demoing how its software works for modeling, design, simulation, collaboration, execution, and monitoring, the France-based company had a virtual reality section at its booth where attendees were able to explore an underground mine in 3D.
Interviewed by MINING.COM, Marni Rabasso, Dassault’s VP of Natural Resources Industry, explained how using three-dimensional technology might be a major cost-saving option for the industry.
Transcript of the full interviewed is attached for clarity.
MINING.COM: What is Dassault Systèmes?
Marni Rabasso: Dassault Systèmes is global enterprise software company that specializes in creating designs and simulations for products. Almost every product, whether it’s a car or an airplane or the suit on your back has been designed in our software.
As you can see behind us we have a compass that’s not just the logo for the company, but also the user interface for our software. It has four quadrants, the north, the south, the east, and the west and within those quadrants are the key components of our software. One quadrant is the 3DS quadrant which has our modeling and design applications for our customers and this is where the CAD, and the visualization, and the geological modeling in mine design portions are.
Dassault Systèmes’ IFWE Compass
MINING.COM: What miners have used this software and how have they benefitted?
Marni Rabasso: Many miners have what’s been known to many of your readers as the Gemcom software and we are now able to augment the software with software from other industries and from the broad porfolio that Dassault Systèmes has.
MINING.COM: How does virtual reality help people to understand mines better?
Marni Rabasso: So for being able to understand what’s going on in a mine there’s no better way than to be able to immerse yourself in it. So right now for someone to go out and visit an underground mine is a large process, it involves traveling, it involves maybe stopping what the operations are doing… By providing virtual visits it enables whether it’s people who just want to understand the mine or consultants that need to interact with people about the mine, it allows them to experience it completely without actually going into the mine.
MINING.COM: Why is it important to have 3D modeling?
Marni Rabasso: 3D modeling allows you to really understand and visualize what your project is going to look like when it’s done. And it goes beyond 3D modeling through the simulations to understanding the behaviour of the objects through to the usage of those objects in real life.
MINING.COM: Can you talk about some applications right now with 3D modeling?
Marni Rabasso: So there’s lots going on in 3D modeling and even in the world of automated design. We have parametric design, which has been around for a very long time, but it’s still fairly new into the mining industry.