Francis Bernard (born 1940) is a French engineer. In the 1970s, he initiated
CAD/CAM
CAD/CAM refers to the integration of Computer-aided design (CAD) and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Both of these require powerful computers. ''CAD'' software helps designers and draftsmen; ''CAM'' "reduces manpower costs" in the manufactur ...
developments at
Dassault Aviation
Dassault Aviation SA () is a French Aerospace manufacturer, manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets.
It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Dassault, Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marc ...
. They led to
CATIA
CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product lif ...
3D, which was made available worldwide after he co-founded
Dassault Systèmes
Dassault Systèmes SE () (abbreviated 3DS) is a French software corporation which develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and other 3D related products.
Founded in 1981, it is headquartered in Vélizy-Villacoublay, Fr ...
in 1981.
Early life and education
Francis Bernard was born in
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
in 1940,
still part of
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
, today
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. His father was an engineer in the coalmines of northern Vietnam. He attended primary school in Haiphong and Dalat. In 1952, his family returned to France and settled in Paris. He joined the
Janson-de-Sailly high school, following the course of preparatory classes before being accepted at
Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace
An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countries, institutes can ...
(Supaero), a French university specialising in
aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
, in 1965.
After his military service, he joined
Dassault Aviation
Dassault Aviation SA () is a French Aerospace manufacturer, manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets.
It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Dassault, Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marc ...
's technical division headed by Jean Cabrière, and within it the Advanced Design Department headed by Pierre Bohn in charge of aerodynamics, flight quality and performance optimisation. He specialised in theoretical aerodynamics and quickly got involved in software development of
computer-aided design
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
(CAD) and
computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) also known as computer-aided modeling or computer-aided machining is the use of software to control machine tools in the manufacturing of work pieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most ...
(CAM) programs.
Professional career
From GEOVA to DRAPO: beginnings of CAD at Dassault Aviation (1967-1981)
Bernard's career began developing calculation tools for aerodynamic optimization. Several military aircraft programmes were then underway, including the
Alpha Jet
The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform trainer and light attack missions, as ...
, or the
Mirage III
The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...
successors and the civilian aircraft programs
Mercure
Mercure may refer to:
* MERCURE, an atmospheric dispersion modelling CFD code developed by Électricité de France
* Mercure Hotels, a chain of hotels run by Accor
* French ship Mercure (1783), French ship ''Mercure'' (1783)
* Dassault Mercure, a ...
or
Falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
. Heading a 5 to 6 people team, Francis Bernard developed three-dimensional CAD tools to define wind tunnel models with improved accuracy, as well as numerical control programs for machining structural parts. GEOVA (Génération et Exploitation par Ordinateur des Volumes d’Avions, meaning Computer aided Generation and Operation of Aircraft Volumes) was an integration of various software tools around a single database. The main objective was to prevent software developments diverging by structuring them around their common data.
For a decade, from 1967 to 1977, he developed GEOVA, a comprehensive set of 3D CAD applications. GEOVA evolved to benefit from many computer technological innovations, such as interactive graphics terminals replacing alphanumeric terminals tools, and to interface with the
computer numerical control
Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a pie ...
(CNC) machines. As for the other aircraft manufacturers, these were internal developments defined according to very specific and urgent requirements. The level of integration tended to be low. This was the time of mainframes and punched cards, requiring a high level of software applications expertise. User friendliness was not feasible yet. Design offices had to submit calculation works to Bernard's team, which was responsible for both software development and operation.
Birth of CATIA
While 3D gave excellent results for
wind tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
models or surface optimization, 2D remained the key modeling practice in design offices where dozens of drawing boards were aligned in large open spaces. In the 1970s, the CAD offers available on the market were mainly aimed at draftsmen. In 1974, Dassault Aviation purchased licences for
CADAM
CADAM (computer-augmented design and manufacturing) is CAD-related software that was developed by Lockheed. CADAM was originally written for IBM mainframes and later ported to UNIX workstations, including the IBM RT PC. A variant of CADAM call ...
('Computer Augmented Design And Manufacturing'),
Lockheed's interactive drawing application, aimed at replacing drawing boards. Francis Bernard developed interfaces between GEOVA and CADAM as well as 2.5D improvements on CADAM. The latter aimed at modeling and machining wing ribs and fuselage frames on 5-axis CNC machines (incidentally, these functions were also later sold to CADAM Inc). DRAPO (Définition et Réalisation d’Avions par Ordinateur - computer-aided aircraft definition and realisation) was the acronym given to this integration of GEOVA 3D and CADAM 2.5D.
In 1977, facing the integration problems inevitably created by constant needs of new applications, but also facing the rapid improvement of computer user-friendliness, Bernard conceived a complete rewriting of GEOVA.
[ With the agreement of his management, Jean Cabrière and Pierre Bohn, he started designing a new architecture encompassing the whole set of functions as well as interactive graphical interfaces addressing non-computer specialists. This was the beginning of CATI (Computer-Aided Tridimensionnal Interactive application) that in a few years became ]CATIA
CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product lif ...
(Computer-Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application).
Formation of Dassault Systèmes
In 1981, the decision to market CATIA led to the creation of Dassault Systèmes. This was a bold decision; at that time no other aircraft manufacturer would have made public its design tools (for 3D at least). Founding a software editor, Dassault Systèmes, ran the risk of CATIA technology spreading to competitors. There was a precedent in Lockheed's marketing of CADAM, but that was an exception and 2D knowledge was not a breakthrough technology. CATIA, by contrast, was not only a new software tool, it was a business transformation.
Bernard also had a smaller workforce than competitors, and Dassault Systèmes was created later than other well-established companies in this sector, mostly American, such as CADAM, ComputerVision or CALMA, with hundreds of employees. Moreover, among French competitors, Datavision had a fairly comparable offer with Euclid. Dassault Systèmes started with barely 20 people and a single customer, Dassault Aviation.
The capital was initially shared between three owners: Benno-Claude Vallières (CEO of Dassault Aviation) with 10%, Charles Edelstenne
Charles Edelstenne (born 9 January 1938) is the general manager of Dassault Group. He was the CEO of Dassault Aviation until replaced by Éric Trappier in 2013, and he is also the chairman of Dassault Systèmes.
Trained as a French chartered acc ...
(general secretary of Dassault Aviation) with another 10%, and the remaining 80% with the Dassault
Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, and led by son Ser ...
family. Edelstenne was appointed board chairman and Bernard CEO.
IBM partnership
From the beginning, a partnership with IBM was key to Dassault Systèmes' success. IBM ensured the entire marketing of CATIA. Getting CATIA enter the IT leader’s catalogue demanded a huge effort. The qualification process, which began in 1980, took several months. Competition against other software options was fierce. But "IBM had identified CADAM's shortcomings and was looking for a product for its catalogue that would complement it, particularly in the field of three-dimensional representations. After a long and thorough analysis by IBM technicians assigned at Dassault in its CADCAM center in Saint-Cloud, CATI was selected against its competitors, respectively presented by Northrop, and by Nissan.”
To comply with the partnership, Bernard and his team had to understand, translate and implement IBM's requirements, while properly positioning new products to accommodate CADAM, already in the IBM's catalogue for years. The similar look and feel as well as the interface between the two software packages (already developed at Dassault Aviation) was decisive in convincing the IBM sales force of the CAD/CAM solution consistency, and complementarity between CATIA and CADAM. This focus on consistency was rewarded at the end of 1991 when Dassault Systèmes acquired CADAM from IBM, which had acquired it two years earlier. In exchange, IBM took 10% of Dassault Systèmes shareholding. The deal also included an agreement whereby Dassault Systèmes became IBM's only CAD/CAM partner.
Company growth
In its first year, Dassault Systèmes gained major customers including Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
in Japan, Mercedes and BMW in Germany (West Germany at this time), SNECMA
Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma (''Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation'') or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It ...
(today part of the SAFRAN Group) in France, and Grumman Aerospace
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...
in the United States. IBM's salesforce showed its strength, helping convince a major company, Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
, though Bernard spent several years managing a demanding pre-sale effort to convince Boeing of the business value.
Meanwhile, Bernard managed the company's workforce growth. In eight years, the company rose from 20 people to more than 500. In 1991, for its tenth anniversary, it had more than 800 people, and about 2500 customers (40% in automotive, 30% in aeronautics, 30% others). It had almost 8000 customers in 1993; subsidiaries were set up in the United States and Japan.
To meet customers’ needs, CATIA had to be constantly adapted to include new functions or interfaces to new hardware and software. The start-up was being challenged by continuous requirements for new applications while maintaining the consistency of the whole.
In 1988, Bernard created a subsidiary, Dassault Data Services (DDS), to enter the growing IT professional services market. The growing complexity of IT environments generated demand for tailored solutions and skills able to integrate diverse software packages. However, DDS business remained basically intertwined with Dassault Systèmes products, offering training, consultancy and specific development. Currently, 95% of DDS shares are owned by Dassault Systèmes.
Software versioning
Bernard initiated a product policy based on versions (major changes) and "releases" (updates and further functions), strongly influenced by IBM. Its realization in a young company like Dassault Systèmes was achieved because of a strong internal consensus, an entrepreneurial spirit focused on flexibility, and a confidence in the company’s technological advance. « … he CATIAmajor advance over CADAM was the 3rd dimension. In 1984 drafting capabilities were added to CATIA, enabling it to function independently of CADAM. By 1985 CATIA Version 2 contained fully integrated drafting, solid and robotics functions, making it the aeronautical applications leader. By 1988 CATIA Version 3 contained AEC functionality and was ported to IBM's UNIX-based RS/6000
The RISC System/6000 (RS/6000) is a family of Reduced instruction set computer, RISC-based Unix Server (computing), servers, workstations and supercomputers made by IBM in the 1990s. The RS/6000 family replaced the IBM RT PC computer platform in ...
workstations. CATIA thus became the automotive applications leader as well. »
* 1981: CATIA Version 1, running on MVS
Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers. IBM developed MVS, along with OS/VS1 and SVS, as a successor to OS/360. It is unrelated ...
with applications of 3D shape design, multi-axis machining, a CADAM-CATIA interface, kinematics functions modelling for example the movements of a landing gear or wing slats and flaps.
* 1984: CATIA V2, running on VM in addition to MVS. On the functional side, it added 2D drawing features, it handled composite structures, and included functions for the automotive industry.
* 1988: CATIA V3, integrating IBM workstations under Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...
in connection to MVS mainframes. At the end of the 1980s, the demand for workstations was high, and manufacturers such as Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
or Hewlett Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
were becoming dominant in the scientific and industrial sectors. One of the key enrichments was the Digital mockup
Digital MockUp or DMU is a concept that allows the description of a product, usually in 3D, for its entire life cycle. Digital Mockup is enriched by all the activities that contribute to describing the product. The product design engineers, the ma ...
(DMU), which provided enhanced representations of assemblies and their components, in the 1990s. "''At the time of the Mirage's design, the process was highlighted by Friday afternoon meetings at Dassault Aviation, next to a prototype. Coordination of skills, exchanges between design office and factory, happened around the physical model. But to achieve it, we had to build a prototype aircraft on scale 1, realistic (with real materials) and it had to evolve permanently. In the 1990s, the physical model was replaced by a DMU, which became the repository for all company departments (equipment, structures, coating, circuits, etc.).''"
* 1993: CATIA V4, showing a profound evolution of the relationship with IBM. CATIA became independent from IBM hardware and, in addition to IBM Unix platform, operated on Hewlett Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
, Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
, Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...
workstations. “On the station side, the exemplary loyalty that Dassault Systèmes had shown to IBM was becoming unsustainable. Today, all major CAD publishers offer their products on at least two or three families of machines from Hewlett Packard, Silicon Graphics, Sun, IBM and Digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
(not counting the PC offerings)." Among the important enhancements was the parametric design
Parametric design is a design method where features (such as building elements and engineering components) are shaped according to algorithmic processes, in contrast to being designed directly. In this method, parameters and rules determine the r ...
introduced by a newly formed company, PTC, which had built its Pro/Engineer
Creo Parametric, formerly known, together with Creo Elements/Pro, as Pro/Engineer and Wildfire, is a solid modeling or CAD, CAM, CAE, and associative 3D modeling application, running on Microsoft Windows.
Creo Parametric should not to be confu ...
software on very new principles. It marked a major transformation of representation capabilities. Parametric allows dimensions to become variable and when one changes those depending on it change accordingly. In other words, a change in a drawing dimension is passed on to the parts concerned and all 2D drawings are automatically updated.
Retirement
By 1995, Dassault Systèmes had adapted to many major technology disruptions: computer hardware had been transformed in the 1980s and 1990s; workstations had spread into industrial enterprises along with connectivity through local networks, competing with mainframes. In response, Dassault Systèmes' product offers had expanded, and addressed more industries; numerous functions were added, and configuration management developed. The company also added customers in countries including Russia, India, China, South Africa, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, and Israel. CATIA was being complete rewrittem (V5), and the strategic decision to enter the Microsoft world was ongoing. With 1,000 employees, and subsidiaries in the USA, Germany and Japan, Dassault Systèmes had reached a leading position and wanted to deploy its offers on all PCs in the industrial sector. Between 1994 and 1995, Its net profit increased by 40% and the turnover by 10%.
In 1995, after managing the company for 14 years, Bernard quit his CEO position and handed it over to Bernard Charlès.
Bernard's career path as an engineer initially attracted by technology and innovation had evolved towards enterprise management with its manifold aspects: development, marketing, sales, partnership with IBM, human resources, and finances. He had anticipated the potential of 3D at a time it was just emerging, and imagined a digital platform (CATIA) that transformed design and manufacturing methods.
Honours and distinctions
Bernard received the following distinctions:
* "General Nicolau Award 2003" awarded by the International Academy for Production Engineering
* Grand Prize of the Academy of Air and Space in 1997
* Chaptal 1998 awarded by the National Industry Incentive Society
* Winner of the Aviation Week & Space Technology
''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviati ...
award, IT/Electronics, in 1998
External links
Dassault Systèmes history
*
Dassault Systemes: The French success story in the software industry
' by Francis Bernard (2006)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Francis
French aerospace engineers
20th-century French engineers
French chief executives
Supaéro alumni
1940 births
Living people
21st-century French engineers