Zuri is on a mission to transform the way that people travel. The Czech aerospace startup is in the process of developing a hybrid VTOL passenger aircraft, which is a cross between a conventional airplane and a multicopter – combining wings for fast horizontal flight with electric motors that allow for vertical take-off and landing. Instead of having to travel out to a regional airport to catch a flight, passengers will simply book a journey with Zuri and take off from a remote spot in their hometown’s periphery or a skyscraper’s roof – no long landing strips required – and head to their desired destination.
Zuri required a sophisticated design platform to handle the product development of its vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft and bring together its designers in one place to collaborate effectively, validate prototypes and innovate. The company is using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud with the Reinvent the Sky industry solution experience to design and produce its VTOL aircraft, create a virtual experience twin and connect its engineers and suppliers together. Zuri now has access to enterprise-level design and simulation applications in a single, secure, standards-based environment.
The cloud-based platform acts as a springboard for Zuri to grow its business and accelerate product development. Designers and engineers have access to industry-standard design tools and can collaborate in real time to define requirements and ensure full traceability from initial concept to manufacturing. Developing a virtual experience twin of the aircraft is helping to speed up the production and certification process, while allowing Zuri to present its vision to investors and customers before the final physical version exists.
“With our previous tools we got into a situation where it wasn’t possible to model the planes with the quality and precision we needed,” Michal Illich, Zuri founder and CEO, said. “Now, we can achieve that and bring together the entire team on the platform to validate each prototype. This is really important as every individual provides input from their area of expertise. We also want them to think like future customers and share their personal thoughts from a user perspective to ensure we deliver the best possible experience.”
ENOVIA supports Zuri to define requirements, collaborate in real time and have full traceability from initial concept through certification and manufacturing. ENOVIA also allows Zuri’s team to access and reuse common processes and parts to speed up time to market.
“The unified 3DEXPERIENCE user environment allows us to collaborate efficiently not only within the internal team but also with part suppliers,” Illich said. “With the cloud, we can develop much faster and reduce the number of errors we make from incorrect versioning. We also like that configuration management and commenting functionality is interlinked with modules so we can measure the lifecycle of all the different components of our product.”
Zuri will also use the platform to navigate the complex process of testing and certifying its plane, using integrated safety processes and full traceability to comply with the multiple regulations governing the aerospace industry. Taking advantage of sensitivity analyses and what-if scenarios, it will be able to evaluate the reliability and robustness of its design while integrating cost and manufacturing models in the development process. This will give Zuri confidence to move forward from concept to final delivery stage, and guarantee reliable performance.
To learn more about how Zuri is benefiting from 3DEXPERIENCE, read the full case study.
