Case Study: Pipistrel achieves 25% faster development of lightweight, eco-friendly aircraft with Dassault Systèmes' CATIA PLM Express

Constructing lightweight eco-friendly aircraft with CATIA PLM Express

Pipistrel, the Slovenia-based maker of lightweight, eco-friendly aircraft, faced the challenge of continuously innovating to produce the fastest yet most fuel-efficient light planes while moving beyond manual trial-and-error design methods. To address this, Pipistrel adopted Dassault Systemes' CATIA PLM Express, including the CATIA Composites module, to handle precise 3D composite design work.

Using Dassault Systemes' CATIA, Pipistrel replaced hand-built blending and guesswork with accurate 3D models that enable complex surface shaping, precise part assembly and material planning; this reduced development time for its new four-seater by 25% and supported a design capable of 400 km/h with a smaller 200 hp engine (vs typical 300 hp), improving weight, noise and fuel consumption. Pipistrel is also integrating CATIA data into its ERP and expanding CATIA’s use for material databases and analysis to further boost production precision and speed.

Pipistrel

Tine Tomazic

Research & Development