Solid Edge with synchronous technology enables faster, easier design modifications

Leutenegger + Frei AG designs better with Solid Edge. Food processing machine manufacturer reduces design time from three weeks to one day. Solid Edge’s synchronous technology enables design modifications to be made significantly faster and easier compared to prior methods and other systems and the company enjoys a tenfold improvement in design time turnaround.

In business for more than 50 years, Leutenegger + Frei AG, based in Andwil, Switzerland, is a leader in electric bakery equipment, fermentation stopping installations and complete cooling systems. Product innovation, compelling aesthetic designs and high quality production enable the company to regularly meet and exceed today’s market demands. For example, the freshness trend requires good-looking devices with smart functionality that can be permanently usable in bakeries and integrated bake-off-stations in combination with cold storage units. Such devices, while more expensive, represent an exceptional investment for the buyer. The devices provide superior aesthetics and productivity yet can be effectively amortized through energy efficiency, higher productivity and longevity.

In the mid 1970s, Leutenegger + Frei established a second, but equally successful line for industrial surface engineering, which involves applying appropriate treatments to the applicable components. Today, the company’s portfolio comprises cleaning and pre-treatment stations, paint finish and powder coating cabins as well as baking and enameling furnaces, which operate in combination with independent material handling systems. In paint shops all over Europe, Leutenegger + Frei’s single piece, task-specific designs provide the right brightness. To produce such equipment, the company faces completely different requirements than those faced in series or mass production. In this domain, comprehensive consulting is essential, with the result being installations according to very particular customer needs.

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K S Electromech - Industrial Machinary Solid Edge Case Study India

K S Electromech using Solid Edge, a leading India-based manufacturer cuts design cycle time by 30 percent, parts rejection by 70 percent and assembly errors by 80 percent, resulting in double-digit manufacturing cost savings

“With Solid Edge, especially its powerful synchronous technology, we are far more agile. Design changes can now be made right away to meet customer requirements. When we need to import data from other systems, we can work on the designs without having to know how they were created, which eliminates the stressful and muddled process of best-guessing our way through history-based designs.”

“Using Solid Edge has given us a measurable advantage in customer responsiveness and market competiveness.” Kamal Kant Director of Business Development K S Electromech Pvt Ltd

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Achieving speedy compliance with aviation industry regulations

Aero Technics Design Ltd, based near London Heathrow, UK, offers a specialist design and certification service for interior modifications to commercial, VIP and corporate aircraft, including interior refurbishments, reconfigurations and equipment redesigns. The company also performs cabin electrical system upgrades and provides certification for new manufacture equipment.

As would be expected, for legislative and safety reasons, all changes to the design of any aspect of an aircraft need to be closely monitored and certified by a governing body. In Europe this body is the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Working for high profile customers such as Virgin Atlantic Airways, First Choice Airways and BMI, Aero Technics Design Ltd prepares the detailed designs and as an EASA Part 21 subpart J approved company, approves minor changes to their aircraft and liaises with EASA to obtain the necessary major change approvals.

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Speed and flexibility boost development of space-borne instruments

Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), a unit of the Utah State University (USU) Research Foundation, is a nonprofit research corporation owned by USU. Charged with applying basic research to the technology challenges presented in the military and science arenas, SDL specializes in electro-optical sensor systems, calibration, thermal management, reconnaissance systems, and small satellite technologies.

Among advancements, SDL developed and operated one of the first successful spaceborne, solid-hydrogen-cooled infrared sensors, developed real-time reconnaissance data visualization hardware and software for operational military applications, delivered successful sensors and subsystems for more than 400 spaceborne and aircraft-based payloads, and initiated, in a joint effort with USU, the first student involvement program for the NASA Space Shuttle. In fact, SDL serves as the U.S. Defense Department’s University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) for sensors and supporting technologies.

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A Survey, Few Facts and INNOVATION

In our daily conversation, terms like innovation, invention and creativity are often used interchangeably. But, for academics, researchers and policymakers there are important distinctions between these terms and these distinctions give each term a unique, specific meaning.
Competition today it isn’t about big things, elements that are very easily seen but it is about small things that anybody else haven’t seen. This is why almost all enterprises are in a search of creating competitive advantage against its competitors.

PwC carried out a survey of 246 CEOs from around the world, and the surveys showcases changing role and nature of innovation in today’s businesses. 64% say innovation and operational effectiveness are equally important to the success of their company. What emerges from the latest survey is that CEOs are now taking personal responsibility for directing and inspiring innovation as it becomes an ever more vital element of business survival and success. The problem is that while the eyes of the CEO are fixed on innovation, the body of the organization may not be following. The ‘antibodies’ that inhibit innovation include a culture that sees it as separate from the mainstream operations of the business and is slow to commercialize new ideas.

This is where we at Panso Solutions differentiate ourselves from our competition. Innovation is part of our DNA. Be it a technical developer or the C level executives; each individual tries to imbibe their respective knowledge with a flavor of innovation. Trying to do things differently and efficiently is what we strive for but apart from that we pride ourselves is to do things that others haven’t thought about.

The byproduct of our constant urge for innovation is the Solution studio which showcases some of the most innovative solutions which has helped our customers in terms of cost saving, time to market, process simplification and much more.

Having an innovation doesn’t mean that a company has sustainable competitive advantage. In order the innovation to be used in gaining competitive advantage; companies need to have appropriate strategies in order to use these innovations in a proper way. Without these strategies having innovation is like having the latest smart phone but with no battery!

Boyang Hardware employs Solid Edge dramatically improves productivity and throughput

Boyang designs better with Solid Edge. Marine hardware manufacturer created an error-free design environment, boosted product development 20 percent, reduced manufacturing errors 10 percent and increased orders and enhanced competitiveness.


For 30 years, Boyang Hardware (Boyang) has produced industry-leading products, such as ship cabin equipment and other steel and aluminum products for major shipbuilders and shipyards throughout Asia. Boyang has invested in technology development and innovation and has increased its competency by earning ISO 9002 Standard Quality certification, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard HGMS certification and WPS Shipping certifications.

As Boyang attempted to expand its business from the core shipbuilding business to the marine plant field, the company faced internal challenges due to increasing demand for its products. The organization also faced quality issues as it ramped up production. There were too many errors and inaccuracies in product design that led to an increase in scrap. Reviewing and editing 2D drawings was time-consuming. In addition, the inherent difficulty in interpreting 2D drawings by designers and manufacturers led to even more physical losses.

The company tried to solve these issues by hosting stringent internal reviews and lengthy meetings revolving around 2D design data. However, the legacy system’s product data management capabilities were inadequate, so the company started investigating new solutions for both designing and manufacturing.

Boyang needed a solution in which design errors could be easily spotted and corrected, as well as one with that enabled quick problem-solving. Eventually, the company reached a consensus to replace its 2D design approach with a hybrid 2D/3D approach, concluding that the older 2D system was the main reason for most of the design errors. An important point in selecting a new system was its ability to minimize any losses during the migration of its enormous amount of 2D data to the 3D environment.

Learn how 

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Boat designers quickly capture customers’ preferences

Back Cove Yachts designs better with Solid Edge. Using synchronous technology, motorized yacht manufacturer makes more design iterations than it could with traditional history-based modeling processes. It also increased productivity and creativity, spent more time to refine boat aesthetics and gained better ability to respond to customer and dealer input.

Learn How

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Teamcenter – Sap Integration Gateway

Bill of Material Concept

BOM management is most important functionality of PLM system. BOM is most critical component in a product based industry and managing it is still most challenging aspect in PLM system. The complexity increases as BOM lifecycle doesn’t reside just in one system or domain but in multiple Enterprise systems. Also Bill of Material for a given Product or Part means different to different section of people in the company based on their perspective and functionality for the given BOM.

Concept of Bill of Material: BOM is defined as “A comprehensive list of raw materials, components and assemblies required to build or manufacture a product”. Hence it is a detail recipe of product which help to define, build and maintain a product. Since product goes through various lifecycle and interacts with various discipline or domain from Design to Manufacturing to Service to Finance, Bill of material also goes through similar lifecycle and various discipline or domain. Hence for a given product there resides many BOM based on the lifecycle and discipline which required using it. For example Design Engineer mainly deals with Functional aspect of product where as Manufacture Engineer deals with manufacturability aspect of product. Hence the way the Design Engineer look same BOM is different from manufacture engineer. Same is true for Service Engineer, Procurement etc. Each one has his own way of looking of BOM.

There is numerous ways for defining the BOM for same product. In technical terms, BOM can mainly classified as follow

a) Design BOM (EBOM): This deal with functional aspect of product. This is mainly first steps of BOM creation for a product. The design BOM usually originates from CAD model or Functional architecture breakdown. Manufacturing BOM usually derived from Design BOM.

b) Manufacturing BOM (MBOM): This BOM deals with manufacturing aspect of Product. Hence it can have detail related to manufacture information along with part detail of product. For example Tools or Fixture can be part of Manufacturing BOM (or it can be reference in the Part). Also some single design part can be consider combination of component ( Ex : Welding two plates ).

c) Material BOM: This BOM mainly managed in ERP system for inventory and process planning. They deal with actual physical aspect of parts. Design or Manufacturing BOM can have component which might not be real or perishables item. For example MBOM can have component for intermediate manufacturing operation which doesn’t exist as storage or tangible part.

d) Service BOM: This BOM deals with Serviceability of Product. This BOM has only that information which defines the service aspect of Product. Hence it deals only with list of part which is serviceable. Therefore this BOM doesn’t have detail for subassembly which constitute as a single part from service perspective.

Apart from above BOM type there are some other BOM type like Order BOM, Procurement BOM etc which are derivatives of above BOMs with some variation. Also BOM can also be distinguishing based on configurability of BOM.

Configurable BOM: From single BOM, based on certain rules or condition you can derive various resultants BOM. For example for a given model of a car, you can multiple versions. The Configurable BOM is used to dynamically create "end-items" that a company sells. The rule as basically variant and condition are option for those variant. For example based on engine type, power train can be selected in a given BOM. Configurable BOM provide a means to company to manage single BOM for multiple products variant. This saves considerable time and cost to company. All major PLM tools provide configurable BOM management modules.

Master BOM: Looking at so many BOMs variant for a given product, it is always a night mare for the company to manage all BOM and synchronize all when there is any change in either upstream (Design) or downstream (Service). To overcome this challenge, the concept of Master BOM has come.  Master Bill of Material can be defined as single source of BOM having all aspect of information for various configuration and discipline. Hence Master BOM by definition is single source of truth for all BOM. Industry is still struggling to find the exact solution in term of defining and managing Master BOM. Also it become more complex due to the facts that different BOM types are managed in different systems. PLM vendors including Siemens PLM has come various solution and tools, but still required to show the success and maturity of managing Master BOM as a single source of truth across various BOM lifecycle and discipline.

Source : http://teamcenterplm.blogspot.in/2014/01/bill-of-material-concept.html

Excel to Aras Solution Showcase

A company implementing a PLM solution faces many challenges. One of the most typical challenge is to get data from various other data sources like excel into the PLM system. There are certain risks involved while performing these activities :

* It is a messy, time-consuming undertaking if done manually
* High potential for loss of information
* Difficult and unattractive task
* Engineers’ non value-added activities hinder productivity

Excel to Aras Solution - bridging the gap between EXCEL and PLM!

Panso’s Plug-in to excel and PLM solution bridges the gap between excel and PLM implementation.
The Excel to Aras Solution :

* Provides a framework to perform bulk operations
* Create customized reports
* Easy import of bulk data records to Aras Innovator architecture

Making Teamcenter 10.1 Licensing Work with Older Teamcenter Versions

As more and more of you may be discovering since the Teamcenter 10.1 release a few weeks ago, Siemens PLM has changed many licensed feature names in Teamcenter 10.1 which do not work with older versions of Teamcenter. Also, the new Tc10.1 license file does not yet contain entries for some licensed features that exist in your pre-Tc10 license file.

This is type of thing causes us customers a lot of frustration since we need to install newer versions of license files to support development and upgrade testing of the newer versions while at the same time having to continue supporting the current production environment. This leaves customers in a bind since they (or at least I) do not plan to buy duplicate licenses of everything just for testing purposes.

There is a workaround to this problem that I have used over the years: combine the old and new license files into one file that serves both Teamcenter versions at the same time. I have successfully done this to support Tc10.1 development while still maintaining our Teamcenter 8.3 production environment.

To do this,

1) Copy the problematic or missing feature entries from your pre-Tc10 license file to your new Tc10 license file.

2) Install the latest version of the Flexlm licensing software.

3) Use the newly merged license file.

4) Reread license file using ‘lmreread’, or restart your license service.

I did this and am now to able to plan our next upgrade again while at the same time continuing to support our current Teamcenter environment.

Source : http://www.plmworld.org

Increase Profitability by Taking Control of Procurement Costs

When procuring a part, it is important for procurement officers to understand the supplier’s costs, their material costs, manufacturing costs, machine rates, labor and burden costs, etc. This wealth of  information provides a foundation for procurement officers to judge if the price quoted by the supplier is realistic, improving their negotiating position and allowing them to take control of procurement costs.

Unfortunately, obtaining these information is not easy, the efforts required to gather these information varies from one industry to another. In automotive, mechanical engineering or aerospace for example, it is especially difficult because a large portion of the purchasing budget applies to complex systems and assemblies. Another factor affecting costs is the lack of viable supplier choices, because only a few suppliers are able to produce such complex parts.

Traditional methods for cost analysis are based on stale and anecdotal after-the-fact data. Teamcenter Product Cost Management allows you leverage the same product lifecycle management (PLM) system you use to manage product development to predict and control product costs using data such as geometry, materials selection, part volumes, assembly and product definition. Teamcenter also provides a common database for critical information such as labor rates and material costs so that they can be updated once with the most recent data and reflected across multiple cost models.

Teamcenter Product Cost Management efficiently and accurately calculates costs and prices of purchased components from various material groups by performing process-based “shadow calculation” and bottom-up validation of purchase prices. With Teamcenter Product Cost Management you can easily calculate target prices for project purchasing, perform price verification for series purchasing, compare costs across multiple production sites to determine the best-cost country to source from, and perform make-or-buy analyses.

By having more accurate cost models and knowing the cost composition of a product, its materials, manufacturing and overhead costs, you can take control of the procurement negotiation to arrive at the desired product costs and increase your profitability.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

The phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” is generally attributed to a newspaper editor, Arthur Brisbane, who first used it in a 1911 article about journalism.  At the time, photography was relatively new and Brisbane was conveying the notion that images (i.e. visualization) make it easy to communicate complex subjects compared to text. It was true then and it remains true today.

Visualization in the PLM domain is extremely beneficial because it increases clarity and understanding of complex products and processes. It leads to faster decision making1  and increases productivity. Siemens PLM is a leader in PLM visualization with viewers that take advantage of the ISO standard JT format for visualization. Our portfolio of viewers includes sophisticated Product Mockup tools (Teamcenter Visualization Mockup), free viewers (JT2GO), and everything in-between including embedded viewers ( Teamcenter Lifecycle Viewer) and a software development toolkit (PLM Vis).

In fact, there are so many viewers that I’d like to take this opportunity to give you a “picture” (well, ok, it’s a table) of all of our viewers so you can pick the one(s) that meets your needs.

Most of these products are self-explanatory, with the exception of PLM Vis, so I’ll elaborate a bit. The basic explanation is that PLM Vis enables our customers to enhance and create custom applications that include visualization based on our commercial technology and the JT standard.

Of course, some development effort is required, but our customers think it’s worth it because “a picture is worth a thousand words”…..

By enhancing existing applications, customers are able to continue to work using their existing processes while improving productivity through the addition of graphics; for example:

An automotive company developed an in-house Issues Tracking application that referenced JT files. The company embedded PLM Vis into this application so that the 3D models are visible alongside the issue description.  This increased clarity and improved the solution time.

A consumer electronics company enhanced their in-house workflow application by using PLM Vis to visualize 2D and 3D data. This greatly enhanced the approval process by eliminating the need for a separate viewing application. Stakeholders benefited from greater clarity throughout the process.

Customers also use PLM Vis to create new sophisticated applications that include visualization using the same robust commercial technology we use in our own products. These custom applications increase productivity because they are company and data specific and have a focused, streamlined Ux. They may also enable sophisticated capabilities that are not available in “out of the box” solutions. For example:

An aerospace company embedded controls in their drawing files to launch a 3D model view of the corresponding location.  This reduced the time required to understand a complex drawing, identify potential problem areas and make modifications if required.

Hopefully, you now have a better “picture” of what can be done with PLM Vis. PLM Vis provides our customers with the ability to enhance or create custom visualization applications using the same technology that is the foundation for our entire visualization portfolio. It’s an important part of the Siemens PLM visualization portfolio and offers the ultimate in flexibility with respect to Ux and non Teamcenter data integration.  PLM Vis based applications are robust, tailored to a company’s specific needs and enable faster, smarter decision making.

Latest Release: Aras Innovator 10 PLM Platform

Aras Innovator 10 provides a new level of PLM platform scalability for enterprises with global supply chains, and introduces an HTML5 browser interface which redefines usability making PLM more accessible for business users.

The latest release of Aras Innovator is technology focused with Firefox browser support, the top-rated, most-wanted item on our Roadmap, and includes inputs from ECCO, GE, MAN and other members of the Aras Community.

"The HTML5 browser client together with scalability for over 100,000 users enables true collaboration within companies and across the extended enterprise making Aras Innovator 10 the best PLM platform for businesses with complex products and complicated processes," said Peter Schroer, President of Aras.


Release Highlights

• Scalable - Scales from 100 users to over 100,000 users providing enterprises with global supply chains and companies of all sizes with a new level of power
• Lean - Fewer lines of code for greater efficiency and performance on standard hardware configurations
• Modern - New roles-based Web browser interface features an Office 13-style look & feel with new SVG icons, controls and shortcut keys for common functions

Get the release notes and download Aras Innovator.

Is April 2014 the Next Y2K?

Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014.  If your company is still running XP on ANY computers, you should act now.

Here are 3 reasons why you should act:

1. Your unsupported and unpatched environments could be vulnerable to new exploits that come out after April 2014.

2. XP may be working just fine, but it’s more than a decade old.  You should upgrade to take advantage of new OS technology.  Better memory management for NX, better file search, improved User Interface and more.

3. Your other business applications may no longer be supported after April 2014.

In 1999, there was the fear that key computers around the world would  fail and cause a global “meltdown” as  January 1, 2000 approached.  While there wasn’t a massive “meltdown” of computer systems, many companies used this as an opportunity to upgrade their systems,  re-evaluate and re-engineer their processes.  We can’t think of a better excuse to modernize your PLM system than this.

Tips for a Successful PLM Implementation

How do you ensure success with PLM? We've put together a complete guide of best practices for PLM implementation but to get you started, here are a few tips:

• Use an iterative approach. Start with a well-defined problem and implement the solution in manageable phases that comprise the complete project.
• Gather requirements at a high level. Plan near tern phases in detail and longer term phases more loosely as they will likely change in scope over time.
• Involve users early and often. Users drive requirements, develop use cases, validate prototypes and more.
• Don't underestimate the value of training. Train your team early in the process so they are familiar with Aras.
• Test. Test. And test again. Create visual and behavioral prototypes to test and validate with users.

 

How to Claim the Benefits of PLM

If you asked 10 people in your company to give you a definition of PLM, you would likely get 10 different answers. That's because people have very different experiences with PLM, or maybe a lack of experience with PLM. To claim the benefits of PLM there are some steps you must follow. This post will not try to mention every single step that you must follow, that would take way too long and I want to eat lunch. But, this list represents some of the key activities that you must follow in order to claim the full benefits of PLM for your business:

Education

The first step in any PLM activity is to education everyone. By that I mean the executives, the PLM team participants, and others that will be supporting your PLM initiative. Once people are education, and they understand the comprehensive nature of PLM, they will be more likely to support your efforts. A good PLM definition to start with is:

PLM is the collaborative creation, use, management & dissemination of product related intellectual assets.

Some key aspects of PLM include the following:

•     PLM is a strategic business approach, not just a collection of technologies.
•     PLM supports the extended enterprise.
•     PLM spans the full product life-cycle, from concept to end of life.

Once you have educated people about PLM, you will be able to have important discussions about your business on a level playing field. When everyone is on the same page regarding PLM, you will find that making progress is much easier. To claim the benefits of PLM for your business, you must educate your people.

Information Management

Managing the information within your business is one of the core features of PLM. Without managing your information (intellectual assets), you won't be able to have the confidence to make decisions. This leads to delays, mistakes, redundant reviews, unnecessary signatures, and an overall inefficient business process. Until you can manage your information effectively, and guarantee that all information is valid, complete, and available, you will struggle to claim the benefits of PLM for your business.

PLM is Strategic

Understanding the strategic nature of PLM will lead you to seek out more understanding about your strategic business objectives. Once you understand the strategic direction of your business, you can craft a PLM vision that supports your business. This leads to a long list of business requirements. This, along with other requirements will drive the selection and implementation of PLM in your business.

In order to claim the benefits of PLM you must consider three important factors:

•     People - How will people be encouraged and supported through the changes that PLM will bring.
•     Processes - What new processes are needed to support the implementation of PLM.
•     Technology - What is the proper technology to support strategic business objectives and the PLM vision.

You cannot consider just one of these three in isolation if you want to get the most out of PLM. All three will have a major impact on the success of PLM at your company. Our experience shows us that most of the failed PLM implementation we have seen are not a result of bad technology, but more often a result of process or people issues.

Measure PLM Benefits

It is important to convince your executives, and your users that PLM has benefits. That also means that you need a way to measure and illustrate the degree and timing of PLM benefits. We recommend using a spreadsheet model that allows you to calculate cost vs. benefits and then show a valid ROI for PLM. Once you have charts and graphs of how PLM will impact you business, it becomes much easier to convince others about the value of PLM.

We recommend an early benefits appraisal analysis for feasibility to show the potential benefits of PLM. Do this early and use this to sell PLM to the organization. Then, you can gauge additional benefits as your PLM program progresses to determine the real ROI. This repeatable methodology also allows you to do this benefits analysis as often as needed. To claim the benefits of PLM for your business you will need to sell these benefits to many organizations using a repeatable appraisal methodology.

Conclusions

Making PLM successful requires education, managing your information, strategic planning, and measuring benefits. There are many other activities and plans you will need to be successful with PLM, but if you start with these key items, you will be well on your way to claiming the benefits of PLM for your business.

Source: http://plmjim.blogspot.in/2013/12/how-to-claim-benefits-of-plm.html

Teamcenter Product Cost Management

Increase profitability by taking control of procurement costs

When procuring a part, it is important for procurement officers to understand the supplier’s costs, their material costs, manufacturing costs, machine rates, labor and burden costs, etc. This wealth of  information provides a foundation for procurement officers to judge if the price quoted by the supplier is realistic, improving their negotiating position and allowing them to take control of procurement costs.

Unfortunately, obtaining these information is not easy, the efforts required to gather these information varies from one industry to another. In automotive, mechanical engineering or aerospace for example, it is especially difficult because a large portion of the purchasing budget applies to complex systems and assemblies. Another factor affecting costs is the lack of viable supplier choices, because only a few suppliers are able to produce such complex parts.

Traditional methods for cost analysis are based on stale and anecdotal after-the-fact data. Teamcenter Product Cost Management allows you leverage the same product lifecycle management (PLM) system you use to manage product development to predict and control product costs using data such as geometry, materials selection, part volumes, assembly and product definition. Teamcenter also provides a common database for critical information such as labor rates and material costs so that they can be updated once with the most recent data and reflected across multiple cost models.

Teamcenter Product Cost Management efficiently and accurately calculates costs and prices of purchased components from various material groups by performing process-based “shadow calculation” and bottom-up validation of purchase prices. With Teamcenter Product Cost Management you can easily calculate target prices for project purchasing, perform price verification for series purchasing, compare costs across multiple production sites to determine the best-cost country to source from, and perform make-or-buy analyses.

By having more accurate cost models and knowing the cost composition of a product, its materials, manufacturing and overhead costs, you can take control of the procurement negotiation to arrive at the desired product costs and increase your profitability.

A Brief Guide to Integrating Teamcenter with other Enterprise Systems

Executive Summary
Companies are often faced with the challenge of integrating standalone PLM systems with ERP and there are clear business benefits that can be derived from achieving a robust bi-directional flow of bill of material (BOM) information between the two environments.

The sheer variety and complexity of the integration challenge means that ‘off the shelf’ ERP connector products may not always provide the level of flexible bi-directional integration that is demanded.

In these circumstances a more bespoke approach becomes necessary. In this context, there are a number of different ways for integrating to Teamcenter ranging in complexity from the very simple file based to a more sophisticated SOA type approach. The most appropriate approach will take into account the complexity of the integration challenge as well any infrastructure and financial constraints.

The paper begins by looking at basic XML approaches with a particular focus on PLMXML. The various ways of exporting PLMXML are reviewed and the appropriateness of using PLMXML is also discussed. The paper explains when & why PLMXML may not always be the most effective approach and discusses alternatives.

This leads into a fuller discussion of the various Teamcenter APIs. Server side approaches are discussed with particular focus on the Teamcenter Integration Toolkit (ITK) and the new C++ API which is an alternative to ITK with Teamcenter Unified.

The paper then discusses how server side customisations (or user services) can be made accessible from a Teamcenter client via another module in Java (weaved into the Teamcenter Rich Client interface).

The paper explores variations on this theme. For instance, how ITK can be bypassed completely and Java integration programs written directly into the Teamcenter Rich Client Platform using the Teamcenter Portal API. There is also a discussion of how & why it may be desirable to expose server-side (ITK) functionalities through the thin or web client.

The final part of the paper explores the Teamcenter SOA client toolkit. The SOA approach becomes very useful when you have other enterprise applications that cannot be run in the context of a Teamcenter client or server environment but which still needs to access Teamcenter functionality or data.

Read more at AESSiS
 

Vishwakarma Engineering Works - Solid Edge Case Study

Business challenges: Make parts that are more standardized Promote design re-use Develop new products consistently

Keys to success: Convert to a 3D process Utilize experienced users in training of new users Implement synchronous technology

Results: Enabled faster product development Eliminated non value-added work Reduced errors found during manufacturing stage

Limitation of 2D Drawings: Although 2D drawings had been the primary design deliverable for many years, Vishwakarma Engineering Works (VEWorks) found that there were drawbacks to a 2D approach. If there was a design change, 2D drawings could not be easily updated in a timely manner. Changing complex assemblies involved considerable drafting hours. Engineers faced pressure to revise the drawings, which was not only time consuming, but also arduous. Moreover, VEWorks often is tasked with producing a prototype to be approved by customers before getting the go-ahead for production.

“The conventional way of designing in 2D was an impediment,” says Jay Patel, CEO. “It was time-consuming and often human errors would surface during the manufacturing stage.”

He notes, “Our production orders are usually for small batches in varying sizes. Any change in dimension requires updating the entire assembly. This is more common when we are manufacturing process equipment.”
The solution was to convert to a 3D design process.

Choosing Solid Edge: VEWorks chose to implement Solid Edge® software from product lifecycle management (PLM) specialist Siemens PLM Software. The most complete hybrid 2D/3D computer-aided design (CAD) system, Solid Edge with synchronous technology enables a company to accelerate design, makes changes faster, and improve the reuse of imported CAD data.

Patel notes, “One meeting with Siemens PLM Software was sufficient for our management to understand the advantages Solid Edge had to offer. The biggest advantage with Solid Edge is that it offers far better editing and updating capabilities than any of its competitors. It’s backed by support that is among the best in the industry. Plus, Siemens PLM Software offers a comprehensive range of product development solutions that can be easily integrated into our growing organizational structure.” Read Full Story.