Horst Dassler, the founder of Arena and son of Adidas founder, was on the pool deck at the 1972 Munich Olympics to witness Mark Spitz win his historic seven gold medals while setting seven new world records. Dassler immediately started forming plans for a swimwear company dedicated to aquatic sports and performance swimwear. Just one year after the Games, Arena launched Skinfit® as its first competition swimwear line. The new ultra-light fabric only weighed 18 grams and was designed to cling to a swimmer’s body like a second skin.Today, Arena is headquartered in Tolentino, in central Italy, and is still fully dedicated to producing premium swimwear, equipment, and accessories for swimmers.

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Fast forward to the present. Arena Chief Information Officer, Andrea Mazzanti, understood that the company needed to reduce the time spent preparing prototypes of new swimwear and related products. At the same time, he wanted to reduce the company’s carbon emissions. By moving to a 3D printing model, the company was able to shorten the life cycle for producing new product prototypes. Plus, by adding 3DEXPERIENCE® Works, Arena was able to ensure all its designers had up-to-date feedback to create, test, and optimize models in real time.

According to Mazzanti, “Before 3DEXPERIENCE, the company’s workflow was messier—less predictable and more manual, and they often transferred data via Excel spreadsheets. With 3DEXPERIENCE, we have a single environment where designers can work together and quickly exchange information, which also greatly helps them collaborate with our partners.”

Mazzanti said, “3DEXPERIENCE is helping us create an ecosystem, connecting all the necessary people with our designers.” Arena mainly uses 3DEXPERIENCE with Solidworks® and 3D Sculptor, along with Simulation. With 3DEXPERIENCE Works, the company has reduced its prototyping cycle by 70 percent while decreasing time to market and enhancing quality by reducing the number of product defects.

Leveraging Simulation to Preserve Resources

Another welcome benefit of decreasing the prototype cycle is the increase in sustainability from reduced carbon emissions. Mazzanti continues, “By simulating everything in our design office, we don’t have to create multiple product samples or use third-party product samples, which reduces our CO2 emissions.” He predicts that digital technologies will continue to help Arena improve products for swimmers, particularly in capturing images and measuring and tracking data regarding the performance of fabrics on swimmers in the water. Technology can also help designers develop and test smart fibers.

3DEXPERIENCE® Works collaboration tools ensure that Arena designers have up-to-date feedback to create, test, and optimize models in real time. Besides reducing their prototyping cycle, Arena experienced a decrease in time to market, and enhanced quality by reducing the number of product defects.

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