[PRESS RELEASE] IME Group Of Companies Launches SOLIDWORKS 2018 in Kuching

KUCHING, 4 November 2017 – IME Group of Companies (IME), a strategic partner of Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Bumiputera Sarawak (TEGAS) in the #InnovateSarawak campaign, brings IME SOLIDWORKS Innovation Day (IMESWID) to Sarawak for the third time.

In collaboration with Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (CREST), Penang Skill Development Centre (PSDC) and other industry partners, IME has jointly organised the event with TEGAS and Dassault Systèmes, with the support of Ministry of Education, Science & Technological Research and Centre of Technical Excellence (CENTEXS), at TEGAS Digital Innovation Hub (TDIH) today.

The month-long event saw a total of some 1,200 participants from Penang, Selangor, Johor, Perak, Kuantan and Melaka, with Sarawak being the last stop. It is organised annually by IME since 2007; with the aim to cultivate innovation among the industry, and to serve as a platform to gather innovators and industry thought leaders as well as the academians. The event expanded from 3 locations to 7 locations in Malaysia, and has touched more than 9000 technology enthusiasts to date.

Themed ‘Great Designs Get Built’ this year, the event focuses not only on technology trends and updates, but also industry 4.0 implementation. Local success have been shared and showcased to illustrate the role of technology as catalyst in creating great products.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between TEGAS and IME in August, IME vowed to extend its support to the maker community in Sarawak with a full suite of solutions for CAD design, simulation, realistic rendering, and prototyping, by providing no-cost licenses to the leading 3D design solution – SOLIDWORKS as well as a 3D printer, through the state-initiated incubator, TDIH.

Being the most widely used CAD(CAM) software, SOLIDWORKS is one of the tools under Dassault Systèmes for users to design, conduct virtual simulation and virtual manufacturing before beginning production of a product. 3D printer complements this process and enables makers to digitally produce any product direct from their CAD file. With such technology combined with 3D printing, it allows makers to bring their ideas into life without conventional manufacturing constraints.

In today’s marketplaces, competition is fierce and consumer loyalty is nurtured by businesses that can create compelling experiences that go beyond simply purchasing or using a product.

With the newly launched SOLIDWORKS 2018, teams can collaborate concurrently to more rapidly and cost-efficiently design a product or part, validate its function and manufacturability, manage its data and related processes, streamline and automate its manufacturing, and inspect it. Any changes in design or manufacturing are fast and easy to manage and automatically flow to all related models, programs, drawings and documentation, thanks to intellectual property embedded early on in the design process.

Lau concluded, “We have been in the CADCAM industry for 37 years and we have partnered with SOLIDWORKS since its inception in 1995. The partnership with TEGAS would strengthen our presence in Sarawak and enable us in reaching greater mass to cultivate innovative thinking and promote technology adoption to expedite product development.”