PLM / PDM

Windchill Product Analytics software gives engineers visibility into product during the complete development cycle.

Integrated DNA Technologies Inc., a large supplier of custom nucleic acids, needed a better way to control the many versions of its CAD files and Office documents. After benchmarking several different design and document control packages, IDT opted for software from Siemens PLM, Plano, Texas.

PTC points out things to consider regarding Daimler’s move to switch CAD suppliers.

Teamcenter PLM software helps make product development more flexible at Mercury Marine, a large manufacturer of recreational boats and marine engines

The Product Development Company (PTC) announced that Continental has selected Windchill, PTC’s product lifecycle management (PLM) solution, as its global standard for product development in its Automotive Group.

PDMWorks Enterprise (PDMWE) 2008 lets users easily manage engineering documentation that includes specifications, supplier data, CAD models, and drawings.

The latest software for managing product life cycles is more capable and easier to work with than it was just a few years ago.

Until recently, Evernham Motor-sports LLC in Statesville, N.C., built its team race cars and R&D vehicles mostly by hand.

A drawing and data vault for AutoDesk Inventor gets credit from engineers at score-board maker Fair-Play, Des Moines, for cutting up to 70% off the wheel-spinning involved in delivering designs.

I was invited by a large defense contractor to speak at their annual "PDM Summit." Leading PLM vendors participated, as did two other consulting firms.

Precision plastic parts maker Montaplast, Morsbach, Germany, costs new projects with a PLM (product-life-cycle management) shared database.

"Ask most design engineers what an ERP system means to them and you are likely to hear 'nothing' or 'more work,'" suggests Roger Meloy of Encompix Inc., an Engineer to Order (ETO) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software maker based in Cincinnati.

According to CIMdata, Inc., overall growth in the worldwide Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market approached 10% to reach $16.9 billion during 2004.

An engineering-document management (EDM) system lets Delphi Inc., Warren, Ohio, use one standard database to track engineering drawings in three formats.

Thinking of PDM systems as having low, middle, and high-end capability helps select the most appropriate.