Dassault Systèmes has expanded its AEC portfolio with Civil Design for Fabrication, a new industry solution targeting civil engineering and large-scale infrastructure projects. Developed in collaboration with SMEDI (Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute), a major Chinese public engineering firm, through their joint R&D centre in Shanghai, the solution is built on Dassault’s established 3DEXPERIENCE platform (CATIA).
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NEWS: Dassault Systèmes introduces Civil Design for Fabrication
What it does: The solution is designed to support the full lifecycle of major infrastructure projects — including roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, highways, and dams — within a large-scale working environment of up to 200km. Key capabilities include:
- Geolocation and terrain preparation – enabling accurate, real-world site contextualisation
- Reusable adaptive 3D templates – allowing engineers to leverage standardised design components across projects, reducing repetitive work
- Automated layout of structural components – speeding up the arrangement and coordination of complex infrastructure elements
- Data import and weight analysis – supporting engineering accuracy and structural validation
- BIM compliance – full compatibility with industry-standard data formats including IFC and Omniclass, ensuring interoperability across project teams and tools
Why it matters: One of the persistent challenges in civil infrastructure has been the lack of connected, end-to-end digital workflows. Large infrastructure projects typically involve multiple disciplines — design, engineering, fabrication, construction, and asset ownership — that have historically operated in silos with limited data sharing. Civil Design for Fabrication addresses this by providing a unified, collaborative platform that connects all these stakeholders in real time, improving coordination, reducing errors, and enabling more informed decision-making throughout the project lifecycle.
By bringing the same proven design and fabrication tools used in advanced manufacturing industries into the civil infrastructure space, Dassault Systèmes is positioning the solution as a means to raise the bar on accuracy, standardisation, and sustainability in global infrastructure development — addressing both current project demands and the longer-term infrastructure needs of a growing world population.