That’s a wrap! 3DEXPERIENCE World was originally planned as a hybrid event with both in-person and virtual sessions streaming live from Atlanta, GA. There are many reasons why people can’t attend in-person such as travel restrictions, not meeting the venue requirements or limited funds for the trip. A hybrid event gives attendees the flexibility to design an event experience that suits their individual needs. As I mentioned, that was the original plan. Unfortunately, with rising concerns of COVID, the in-person portion of the event was cancelled. This disappointed a lot of people including myself. I was looking forward to the normal in-person experience at 3DEXPERIENCE World.    

The decision to make the event 100% virtual was confirmed less than three weeks before the start date. Pivoting an event from hybrid to fully virtual is not an easy task and I have to say that this event was no disappointment. The organizers did a great job of pulling the event together to make it fully virtual and continue to deliver the awesome quality content we expect from 3DEXPERIENCE World. I personally enjoyed having the “SOLIDWORKS Live” broadcasting on YouTube every day before the General Session and after the last session of the day. Presenters and attendees were able to stream impromptu live interviews with other 3D technology enthusiasts, which gave the feeling of an in-person conference.

General Sessions on Day One

The General Session on day one started out great with Gian Paolo Bassi traveling around Boston looking for insight and innovation. Visiting four different companies utilizing the power of the 3D Experience platform to grow their businesses. It was inspiring to see how all the companies started in an Incubator as a startup and a few of them are now up and running selling commercial products. He took us on an exciting journey through all these different companies.

After coming back from that interesting trip, it was announced the new CEO for the SOLIDWORKS is Manish Kumar. With this change, Gian Paolo Bassi will takeover as Executive Vice President 3DEXPERIENCE Works to oversee and manage the growth of the new brand.

The next announcement came from Bernard Chernard Charles, CEO of Dassault Systems walking us into the future. He explained that “3D will be more than just geometry on a computer but something that will exist in life”, and everyone will be able to experience immersive environments. They also announced a new group of software product offerings based on all the different collaborative apps on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The new offering is SOLIDWORKS Cloud, which will run through a web browser on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and will not need to be installed on any device. After many years, this is an offering from SOLIDWORKS that is truly hardware agnostic because it runs within a web browser.

Later on in the session, Philippe Laufer, executive VP of 3DS Global brands for Dassault Systems interviewed La Machine, a French company that creates amazing art by using robotics to build incredible life-size creatures.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Hakeen Oloseyi

Dr. Hakeen Oloseyi, the keynote speaker to end our first day of general sessions led the interview by saying, “Hello fellow Nerd! Let’s Nerd out”. After a comment like that, as a technical person or engineer you know it’s going to be good. He walked us through his career, how he started off in humble beginnings, worked his way to Ph.D. in Astrophysics and now does a cooking show centered around science. The one thing you see through the whole interview is his passion for learning and sharing with others. His knowledge and excitement is contagious. What a great way to end the general session on day one.

3DEXPERIENCE World Day Two

The new CEO of SOLIDWORKS, Manish Kunis, kicked off day two of the general session. Manish interviewed several innovative companies currently utilizing 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS and all of the apps on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Each company walked through how they’re currently using the tools, how it has been helpful to the business and then introduced several new applications that are available now including some that will released soon.

• 3D Whiteboard
• 3D Experience SolidWorks for makers now includes NC Shop floor
• HomeByMe
• 3DbyMe

Panel Discussion: Industrial Designers

At the end of the second general session, they had a fantastic panel of some of the most creative and modern industrial designers today.  The panel was managed by Jordan Tadic, Senior Industrial Process Consultant from 3DEXPERIENCE Works.  On the panel was: Jason Pohl, Industrial Designer at Dassault Systems, Leigh Christie, Co-Founder of MistyWest, Marc McCauley, CEO & Lead Designer at Center of Advanced Design and Jesse Hahne, President and Lead Industrial Designer at Center of Advanced Design. To have any one of these individuals talk about their own experience alone would be impressive. Listening to all of these brilliant and creative people together on one panel as they talked about some of their projects was the highlight of the day. This was the perfect way to end the second general session at 3DEXPERIENCE World and truly inspiring.

3DEXPERIENCE World Day Three 

Day three of general sessions for 3DEXPERIENCE World start to wrap up the event. Here we saw companies that were invited to past events including students, teachers and organizations that worked closely with Dassault Systems throughout the year. We also saw the awards session, where SWUGN leaders awarded Reseller Application Engineer of the Year award to Tracy Wetting from TriMech. Plus, this year’s Model Mania winner was officially announced to the community. 

Customer Story: GE Healthcare

Next, we heard an interview with Joseph Lacey, Senior Principal Mechanical Engineer, & Dahachezhian Duraikannu, Lead Mechanical Engineer from GE Healthcare.  Joseph and “DD” discussed how they are taking their designs and leveraging all the Simulation applications that are available on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. These tools are allowing them to reduce their time for design changes now that they can simulate all of the different aspects of other designs from individual parts to complex assemblies. In summary, 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation tools have helped improve their engineering workflow. 

Panel Discussion: Manufacturers

The final group of speakers for the closing session was another panel. On day two we had a panel of industrial designers. On day three the panel was made up of people that work downstream from the manufacturers.  The panel was led by Michael Buchli, 3DEXPERIENCE Senior Platform Manager at Dassault Systèmes.  The panel of manufacturers included Meaghan Ziemba, Host at Maven of Manufacturing, Jeff Hohlfeldt, Vice President at Northern Industrial Manufacturing, Scott Harm, President of MetalQuest Unlimited, Scott Volk, Vice President and COO at MetalQuest Unlimited.

They covered a complex range of topics from what their business does and the parts they are producing. There were discussion topics on supply chain bottlenecks and the challenges of finding experienced staff. Each expert on the panel offered great insight on all of these topics and how we can improve for the future.  

What’s New! 

Last but certainly not least was the annual “What’s New” presentation giving us a sneak peek of the new features to be released in SOLIDWORKS 2023. This year, the presenters did a great skit “preparing for the demo, or not preparing for the demo”. This was a presentation to remember and I suggest watching it more than once since they do a great job incorporating different YouTube influencers along the way. What a great way to end the last session! Hit rewind and make sure you didn’t miss anything. 

Although this year turned out to be fully virtual,  Gian Paolo announced that next year’s event; 3DEXPERIENCE World 2023 is back in Nashville, TN. I hope to see you next year!

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