CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

27 March 2007

Company News

As Product Complexity Continues to Increase, PLM Systems Will Need Cross-disciplinary Functionality to Satisfy Engineering Requirements, UGS Executive Vice President Chuck Grindstaff Tells Leading PLM Academics

Executive Vice President, Chuck Grindstaff, head of products for UGS Corp . said that in the era of ever increasing product complexity, design, engineering, manufacturing, maintenance and repair cycles must be integrated processes in a distributed, multidisciplinary and highly automated environment.

Grindstaff made the statements during his keynote address at the Future of Product Development Conference ( http://www.ipk.fraunhofer.de/cirp2007/ ) being held in Berlin from March 26 to 28.

Grindstaff added that rapid innovation cycles demand reduced decision time. Practitioners from all disciplines must coordinate their decisions early and concurrently. Considerations from requirements, aesthetics, engineering as well as manufacturing must be balanced and reconciled as early and accurately as possible. Domain specific intelligence incorporated into the design digital product development environment is now routinely employed to augment engineering judgments. New tools must extend the automation to a distributed and scalable network of innovation.

UGS has partnered with the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK) ( http://www.ipk.fraunhofer.de/en ), to conduct research in conjunction with leading automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from Japan, Germany and USA, on the Powertrain development processes. The goal of the project is to evaluate the current state and working with automotive OEMs, define a road map for the next generation Powertrain development processes. This research will enable UGS to develop future PLM technology which will assist OEMs to realize the future vision of Powertrain to have an end-to-end solution with complete digitalization.

"Academic research, responsive IT development teams with domain specific knowledge as well as defined and maintained business processes are prerequisites for new successful practices in the future of our industries," said Grindstaff. "These types of studies are win-win situations for all involved and are effective for all industries. In this case the definition of the next generation process is a win for the OEMs; a clear set of requirements to help create better software is a win for UGS; and the resulting end product that meets the future needs of consumers is win for the industry."

"To anticipate the next generation product creation process for Powertrain is a first step towards a roadmap of sustainable innovation for the entire industry," said Professor Frank-L Krause, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology. "Virtualization, extending the view to non-mechanical engineering as well as globalisation and cooperation between OEMs and suppliers are essential for future success."

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