Use of Solid Edge cuts development time and reduces the financial risk of innovation

Fripp Design and Research designs better with Solid Edge. Product design company reduces development time 30 percent and enhances its innovation reputation. Solid Edge’s synchronous technology enables easy manipulation of models, fostering design creativity.

From the first notion of an idea to the fine detail of a complex and highly engineered item such as a facial prosthetic, award-winning Fripp Design and Research is recognized for its expertise in taking a concept through computer-aided design (CAD) realization and rapid prototyping to manufacture. Experienced in the registration of high-value intellectual property (IP) and the commercial development of additive manufactured products, the company provides a range of services that support innovation and business growth.

Fripp Design and Research’s customers range from single inventors to large corporations such as Boots, Marks and Spencer, and Fellowes UK. Having built strong relationships with both commercial organizations and academic centers of excellence, the company has a track record of leading public/private collaborations and helping clients access grant funding to develop and establish IP. The CAD software that the company’s designers now turn to is Solid Edge® software from Siemens PLM Software.

“One of the problems we were having with our previous CAD software was compatibility,” says Tom Fripp, managing director at Fripp Design and Research. “And this was not only with other CAD packages. A customer might send us a file created in a later version of our own package, but if we had not upgraded we would not be able to open it. We had to open a separate program, import the data and translate it into another file format, such as IGES (initial graphics exchange specification). The big problem with this was that we could not manipulate the content and, for us, this blocked potential modeling innovation.”

Later, when the company learned that support for the underlying operating system of its CAD software was going to be changed, he knew it was time to act. Realizing that the company would have to upgrade the CAD operating system to help safeguard the security of its own data and that of its customers provided the impetus to evaluate and upgrade its CAD software. “It was at this point that we attended a seminar put on by Siemens PLM Software partner Majenta. Immediately it was clear to us that Solid Edge offered exactly what we needed in a CAD package. We were particularly impressed by synchronous technology.” After just two days of training, designers at Fripp Design and Research were up and running.

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A Brief overview of CAE

Introducing Computer Aided Engineering (CAE)

Today, companies irrespective of their  size or the turnover figure, face a great challenge of improving in terms of reducing cost, cycle-time, better quality, reliability along with advanced features. Apart from this, continuous improvement in terms of innovation is also one of the most daunting task companies have to face. These all seem like an unachievable milestones especially for design and manufacturing industries. To meet these demanding challenges, design offices and manufacturing companies can leverage Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) means to ease their burden. CAE is used to simulate the product before manufacturing the prototype models and test them virtually. This ensures that the design meets the standards and specifications before production. Thus by using CAE, designers and manufacturers can analyse the product behaviour earlier in the design cycle (stage), and get it Right First Time to reduce expensive and lengthy prototype manufacturing processes.

CAE is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering analysis for wide range of industries. CAE software tools have been developed to analyse the robustness and performance of components and assemblies. CAE has become the ultimate tool to support design teams for decision making. It includes Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Multibody dynamics (MBD), and Optimization of products.

CAE has become indispensable in recent years in the field of engineering and is now the basis of a multibillion dollar turnover per year industry. In design, not all problems can be solved analytically with equations, and therefore Numerical Methods (CAE) has to be used to solve day-to-day engineering problems. CAE has a wide array of application, and is extensively used in the structural, thermal and fluid analysis domain.

CAE is comprised of three major phases:

(1) Pre-processing, in which the analyst develops a finite element mesh to divide the geometry into sub domains for mathematical analysis, and applies material properties and boundary conditions

(2) Solution, during which the model is solved using an appropriate mathematical formulation of the underlying physics

(3) Post-processing, in which the analyst checks the validity of the solution, examines the values such as displacements and stresses

The key advantage of using CAE comes from the fact that it allows user to innovate new design concepts, test and validate the design virtually on a computer. Virtual design can significantly reduce the need to manufacture and test physical prototypes. From the reduced physical prototype testing, the design phase is shortened thus saving time and money. Therefore, the new design concept can be completed and delivered to market much faster. An existing product which is failing, having a design error or is simply being improved, can be analysed to speed an engineering change and reduce its cost. In addition, CAE can be performed on any of the increasingly affordable computer workstations and personal computers.

It is also important to recognise the limitations of CAE. This method can reduce prototype product testing, but cannot totally replace it. Another limitation arises when an inexperienced user delivers an incorrect answer, upon which expensive decisions will be based. CAE is a demanding tool and requires engineers with extensive knowledge in elasticity, fluids, mathematics, computer science and especially the CAE tool.

However, CAE is to an advantage for an innovative design with an experienced and knowledgeable analyst in a manufacturing company. The benefits far outweigh the limitations. With a much shorter design process, more time is available to allow design variations to be investigated, which promotes innovation.

Click here to know more about CAE and applications of Femap. 

Packaging equipment manufacturer cuts R&D cycle time by 17 percent

PharmaPack designs better with Solid Edge. Packaging machinery manufacturer shortens R&D design cycle by 17 percent and production preparation time by 20 percent. The company also used Sold Edge to reduce unnecessary drawings by 30 to 40 percent.

PharmaPack Asia Limited is a packaging machinery company that was established in 2001 in Hong Kong. The company is dedicated to the marketing, development, design, manufacturing, installation, debugging and after-sales service of pharmaceutical packaging equipment. Its products include an automatic tablet/capsule packaging line, end-of-the-line packaging line and ink-jet printing machine, a particle inspection machine and labeler. In October 2002, PharmaPack established its manufacturing facility, PharmaPack Packaging Equipment Co., Ltd (PharmaPack), in the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development District.

The single-floor and low-volume model adopted by packaging machinery enterprises requires engineers to customize design solutions to meet the unique requirements of every customer. Generally, the packaging device involves machinery, electronics and other areas of expertise, which means the product design and research and development (R&D) teams must be divided by disciplines. It is critical that data flows seamlessly between the teams to guarantee smooth R&D, production and machining processes. The R&D process is challenging because it is not under the sole control of the production and machining enterprise. The packaging equipment purchaser must also participate in the R&D process and confirm certain key tasks, such as the first design examination, design review, delivery testing, transportation and production. As a result, the company must establish a sound project management system to effectively facilitate R&D projects. That’s why it was so important for PharmaPack to deploy a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution.

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Contradicting Belief: The CIO of SMB

How do tech marketers pinpoint true decision makers in SMB? By understanding what defines an SMB and who’s really calling the shots.

For tech marketers, it’s an all too familiar story: You’re faced with a staggering number of companies in the SMB space and the daunting task of reaching every last one of them. As a result, your company often goes to great lengths to ensure they’re “targeting SMBs.” There appears to be a common misstep in how companies have been carrying out their marketing approach: They assume that reaching out to the CIOs of SMBs will do the trick. Sure, there are a few exceptions, but when all is said and done, there are just not enough CIOs of SMBs to warrant spending time and resources on a lengthy marketing campaign.

What actually is an SMB? And who manages their $800B annual IT wallet?
Since no two companies targeting SMBs define them in the same way, let’s clear the air with a simple definition: SMBs are companies having fewer than 1,000 employees.

This leads us to a few global stats:

These 7M are the IT decision makers who are purchasing tech for SMB-size organizations. This means that IT decision makers manage purchasing for over 197M employees inside of 18M companies worldwide. That’s an estimated $800 billion yearly spent on IT and some serious buying clout.

Where to begin? Wrapping your brain around the scale of the SMB market is a great starting place for tackling your new marketing game plan. So first things first: let’s level set on what we mean by organization size.
 
The Home Office Market: (1 to 10 employees)

Starring: Your Friendly Neighbor, Fred

At the lower end of the SMB market, we typically find 1 to 10 employees often referred to as small office/home office (aka SOHO). These folks tend to purchase products from mass retail outlets (Best Buy/Wal-Mart)

or online retail stores (Dell.com/Amazon.com) and then often seek out help from IT-savvy friends or family members to set up and sometimes maintain their computers/networks.

The ‘S’ of the SMB Market: (10 to 250 employees)

Starring: The MSP & the IT Generalist

Picture your small neighborhood insurance office or vet clinic. These are the typical small businesses that make up a large part of the workforce around the globe, and where actual IT budgets (albeit small ones!) start to take shape. Because they lack the buying power of large companies, they’re extra careful about the dollars they spend. Don’t look for a large IT department here – these organizations usually only employ between 1 to 5 full-time IT pros. Not surprisingly, MSPs and VARs play a large role in this segment by complementing technology infrastructures or even running all of IT for them. That also goes for purchasing. As a large number of products and services are acquired through VARs/channel vendors, they trust these partners and have cultivated very strong relationships with them.

The ‘M’ of the SMB Market: (250 to 500 employees)

Starring: The IT Guru

As smaller companies evolve into bigger players in their industry, they find themselves working harder to compete in the medium business space. With an average, rather sizable IT budget of over $1M annually, these SMBs have “staffed up” with an IT department of 3 to 10 employees and sometimes even a VP of IT. They purchase large amounts, if not all, of their products through VARs and DMRs.

The Large SMB Market: (501 to 1,000 employees)

Starring: The VP of IT

The SMB “bulls-eye”: The fewest number of companies boasting the largest IT budgets with IT organizations ranging from 5 to 20 people. A VP of IT is not uncommon here but, as is the case in the medium space, these VPs are known for getting their hands dirty alongside their staff as they help put out IT fi res within their organization. SMBs in this space are using VARs and DMRs almost exclusively and this is where we start to see solution-driven IT deployments. These IT departments have larger-scale needs that may require on-site contractors and special employees who set up/deploy systems and move on to another large company opportunity.

The Enterprise Market: (Over 1,000 employees)

Starring: The CIO

This is where the big dogs play, and they’re easy to track down and network with. Sadly, this is where most IT vendors focus their efforts, leaving the IT pros of true SMBs largely ignored. No love for the little guy! Yeah, the CIO is here (as is the CISO, CTO, etc.), but then these are not SMBs by any measure. Not surprisingly, tech vendors work directly with these heavy hitters to purchase products, negotiate price, service levels, etc.

What’s a tech marketer to do now?

Even as IT organizations grow (in staff and responsibilities) the decision makers are “downstream” where you’d like your brand to be. Yes, the CEO, COO and sometimes the CIO are the ones who write the check, but don’t forget: While the regular guys and gals in the IT department may not have the power to say “yes,” they most certainly do have the power to say “no” and are usually the ones who shape the purchase discussion. Here’s what not to do: Focus on the CIO as the only decision maker and watch your sales plummet.

Just pay attention to the large number of voices and influencers in these IT departments when marketing and selling tech products, services and solutions. Voila: tech marketing at its finest! Through IT communities, tech conferences, and informative newsletters you can connect with these key players, speak to the C-Level suite, and make your marketing and sales efforts get more done.

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.

Learn how

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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

Contact us to know more

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.

Learn how

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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.

Learn how

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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.