PLM for All Gets Easier
Recent developments seem to bring product lifecycle management (PLM) a lot closer to the ideal. Granted, vendor claims to the contrary, PLM is not quite “out of the box.” Information technology (IT) that touches all the data and people within an enterprise has too many “gotchas” in hardware, software, data definition, infrastructure, network, and people management, to name a few “issues.” Still, continued tweaking is making PLM software and systems easier to purchase, install, configure, and use. As evidence, consider the latest in Teamcenter 8 from Siemens PLM (siemens.com/Teamcenter) and across a score of brands that make up V6R2010 from Dassault Systèmes (3ds.com).
Integration with Microsoft Office
Both PLM systems “play nice” with Microsoft Office Suite (2007 and higher) so users never need to leave Office to access the PLM system. Both enable drag-and-drop functionality. Both have PLM-based emails appear in Outlook as tasks. Both let users sign, approve, or otherwise check off tasks in the Outlook “to-do” list, and have that status show up as PLM milestones for everyone to see. Both have menus embedded in popular electronic computer-aided design and electronic design automation tools. These menus let users pull down a PLM menu for, among other things, check-in/check-out. Both provide bidirectional data flow; for example, V6R2010 users can save Enovia data directly into Office documents.
New features
Both PLM systems have a slew of new and enhanced features. Here are a few. A new JT format in Teamcenter 8, called “JT ULP” (Ultra-Lightweight-Precise), creates files just over 1% of the size of the original CAD file. (There are tradeoffs, of course. At that level of compression, the outline of a hole can look like a stop sign, admits Siemens PLM officials.) Teamcenter’s new Content and Document Management merges the business document authoring process with PLM. Users can embed PLM functions within Office documents, and use and manage structured content (SGML/XML) that’s linked to product data.
In V6R2010, engineers can use Dynasim’s Dymola components to model the dynamic behavior of multi-disciplinary design of products and systems. The V6 robotics module has 700 robot models from all major manufacturers, plus offline programming translators for all body-in-white controllers. Catia Life Shape lets people interact with a 3D model just as they would with clay. This helps bring PLM to casual users by integrating direct editing with traditional feature-based modeling. ShadowCaster creates contour lines and shadows that normally would be drawn by hand. Simulia V6 DesignSight Structure brings advanced, non-linear finite element analysis and simulation to casual users. And 3DVIA Composer Player Pro lets people create interactive 3D documents, such as assembly instructions and service guides.
Expressly PLM
Both companies have an “express” version of their PLM software. These versions let mid-market and smaller enterprises buy just what they need. Teamcenter Express Version 5 sports an updated user interface, new cost analysis tools for products and projects, enhanced integration with Microsoft Office, and expanded project scheduling capabilities. V6 PLM Express is now on a single architecture, database, and data model. This makes so much a lot easier: implementation, integration with other software, and growth into a full PLM system. Note that latter benefit. The “express” versions of PLM are packaged subsets of a vendor’s larger PLM system. Each express package is based on a user’s roles (for example, V6R2010 includes industrial designer, mechanical engineer, and manufacturing process planning). Capabilities beyond the express subset may cost extra.
Industry needs
Both companies also offer industry-specific features. For consumer packaged goods, Teamcenter links discrete and formulated product development with packaging, artwork, and brand management. Users can define specifications as structured data, configured data, documents, reports, items, and properties, including formula/recipe information, as well as manage all package and artwork components—all within a single software environment (PLM). For industries in softlines, footwear, and accessories, new scheduling templates help in line planning and assigning start/end dates, associating styles to items in the line plans, and managing styles, such as defining color palettes per season, specifying grade rules, and managing samples and fit evaluation for multiple vendors.
V6R2010 links PLM capabilities to medical device test scenarios and results (Teamcenter now does this, too), component and formula raw materials in consumer packaged goods, authoring applications for shipbuilding and energy industries, risk management at the program level for aerospace, and integrated hardware and software system-on-a-chip development for the semiconductor industry.
Infrastructure components
Both companies have newly formalized alliances to help integrate PLM and IT infrastructure into preconfigured packages, resulting in fewer stumbling blocks, faster implementations, easier IT maintenance and tech support, and lower total cost of ownership. For example, Teamcenter is now “certified” to run on IBM Blue Stack components. These include IBM DB2 database for information management and IBM WebSphere Application Server for reusing and running existing software across a variety of computing systems. Optional Blue Stack components include Tivoli Access Manager for enterprise authentication through a reverse proxy; Tivoli Storage Manager for off-line data storage; and Rational ClearCase for managing software development.
This alliance does not obviate existing alliances. Teamcenter is still available on the Oracle database and on Microsoft SQL Server. And IBM will continue to resell CAD/CAM/PLM software from DS. DS has broadened its infrastructure base, too: Enovia V6 can now run on Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
