Westford, MA October 30, 2002 The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W), a global supplier of power generation systems and equipment, is set to use a collaborative design solution from software company MatrixOne in a bid to bring its complex engineered-to-order projects to completion more quickly at reduced cost.
B&W, a unit of McDermott International, designs and builds major power generation systems. The company's systems and equipment can be found in more than 800 utilities and industries in more than 90 countries.
Building these multi-million-dollar systems can require two years or more to complete, and managing such complex projects requires extensive documentation, often more than a million documents for a single project.
B&W will deploy MatrixOne solutions to create a secure, online business collaboration environment to help manage these unique, engineered-to-order projects and bring them to completion more quickly at a higher quality and reduced cost.
Specifically, B&W will implement the provider's eMatrix Global Collaboration Platform and Value Chain Portfolio applications. MatrixOne said its Team Central application will provide the collaboration workspace and project management capabilities necessary to realize consistency and greater profitability in delivering power plant projects in which a significant number of variables are introduced by suppliers and third-party groups.
The software company's DocuManagement Central application will support project management by enabling B&W to manage such documents as customer specifications, which are legally binding documents in engineered-to-order projects, and formal correspondence between B&W, its suppliers and its customers.
The Engineering Central application is intended to reduce costs and cycle times, while improving quality, by streamlining engineering change processes through B&W's engineering design programs.
"MatrixOne's collaborative [product lifecycle management] solutions will bring a greater degree of operational effectiveness to our organization, giving us the balance we seek between project control and engineering enablement," said Penny Sherrod, director of enterprise systems at B&W.
The deal with MatrixOne is valued at $2.5 Million, according to the solution provider.
