SAP integrates its PL with Catia for full collaboration

Enterprise software giant last month released a full integration of it mySAP PLM (product lifecycle management) suite with Catia V5 CAD/CAM. The integration work was done by Cenit in Germany, and is aimed at enabling online collaboration between engineering, procurement, production and sales right across a business. Essentially, it means that engineering, product, materials, planning, scheduling, customer and process-orientated data can flow seamlessly between departments, with users seeing information in their own application environments. Engineers, for example, will be able to import data from other applications and work with them in Catia to adjust designs according to product-related feedback, or modifications required for customers. Likewise, relevant Catia data will be available to the business and the extended enterprise, allowing, for example, procurement, production and contract suppliers to adapt purchase orders and schedules. Alcan Mass Transportation Systems, which has Catia and mySAP PLM for its integrated product data management, is an early adopter. “Our business is delivering efficient assembly technologies for custom transport systems in the shortest possible time with the lowest possible life-cycle costs,” says Reto Bachmann, IT manager. “To achieve this we’ve got to integrate all business processes, from development to support, including technical, logistic, and financial processes.” In his case, the system links project management with budgeting, cost monitoring, and percentage project completed monitoring systems, as well as accounts. “[It] enables seamless engineering processes and ensures that key data in the value chain remains available throughout our extended enterprise.”