Collaborative engineering software looks more likely

Will this finally be the year of PLM (product lifecycle management) systems? Certainly, larger manufacturers are increasingly bearing out software vendors claims for the power of collaborative engineering. This Spring has already seen the likes of Alcoa, Webasto, Raylase, Aircraft Braking Systems Corp (ABSC) and EAD Motors on record with improved efficiencies and competitive edge well beyond engineering design. Alcoa, for example, which is rolling out PLM systems from IBM and Dassault Systèmes, is using Smarteam software for both facilities management and design collaboration, also now improving integration between engineering and production. Alcoa’s Cleveland Works deployed the system for facilities management across four locations, streamlining change management and providing unified access to the more than 60,000 AutoCAD and TIF drawings of presses, buildings, and support systems. Says Dora Tripp, system administrator at Alcoa Cleveland: “Smarteam’s flexible data model has enabled us to build a complex, scalable knowledge structure for accessing and collaborating within our organisation.” Meanwhile, Alcoa Wheel Products’ Commercial Vehicle Wheel Division implemented Smarteam in a two-year pilot to vault and manage all its Catia v5 product design data. That’s now being extended to manage Catia v4, SolidWorks and Pro/Engineer legacy CAD data, while also providing a gateway to the company’s ERP system. The story is similar at automotive sunroof and heating systems tier One supplier Webasto, which has rolled out its Windchill system from PTC to more than 1,000 users golbally – making it the main backbone system for data management, workflow and collaboration. That expansion builds on an initial implementation in 2001, which now also looks after the firm’s programme management and execution. Windchill handles change management, BoM (bill of materials) generation, APQP quality processes and the rest for all sites and is now integrated with the firm’s local ERP systems. “Collaboration has become crucial for us, as our customers increasingly work on cross-brand or cross-platform projects,” says Bernd Göllnitz, Webasto CIO. “Windchill enables product development teams from different sites to collaborate more efficiently on global projects.” Then at laser components developer Raylase, another Smarteam user, it’s a classic case of faster, cheaper time to market through engineering collaboration – so much so that the company says it’s expecting payback in less than a year. And ABSC, formerly part of Goodyear, is also a Smarteam PLM user but in the aerospace supply sector. It reckons is similar – using the system for concurrent engineering, also bridging to its SAP ERP system to enable collaboration between engineering and production. Says Mark Gilbert, manager of Design, Modelling and Configuration Control: “One item that clinched our decision was Smarteam’s intelligent approach to handling the actual record, such as revisioning within the same profile card, and high usability that makes interaction easy even for those outside engineering.” For SMEs, it’s worth noting that these kinds of facilities are increasingly becoming available. Latest news from UGS and Autodesk, for example, is of a strategic alliance to extend collaboration across supply chains potentially to 10 million users. The pair are calling for companies to build on the success of UGS’ JT and Autodesk’s DWF (Design Web Format) – two open and complementary formats for sharing digital product design, engineering and manufacturing data – to facilitate interoperability between applications. Each of the software vendors is joining the other’s developer network. “By combining technology strengths and leveraging the widespread adoption of our data formats, UGS and Autodesk will help customers advance to a higher level of manufacturing productivity,” predicts Tony Affuso, chairman, CEO and president of UGS.