CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

20 August 2007

Implementation Investments

Machinery Industry Moving Towards PLM

UGS PLM Software , a division of Siemens Automation and Drives ( A&D ), has experienced an increase in demand for its products among machinery companies around the world. Nearly 15 percent of UGS PLM Software's customers now operate in the machinery industry, a percentage that the Siemens division expects to grow even further in the years to come.

The increased attention for PLM in the machinery industry does not come as a surprise, according to Paul Vogel, senior vice president and managing director, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), UGS PLM Software, who cited globalization as one of the primary drivers. "According to various industry reports, in 2004, China superseded the United States as the most important market for machine tools and absorbed a fifth of the world's products in this area. Machinery manufacturers realize they must transform their organizations if they are to benefit from the many partnering and selling opportunities in these markets."

PLM is an enterprise strategy that brings together all knowledge, data and processes related to a company's products. Among other things, it lets distributed organizations develop, support and retire products as a single company by enabling real-time virtual collaboration and data sharing among geographically-distributed teams.

Europe Taking the Lead

Interestingly enough, European machinery manufacturers appear to be leading the transition to PLM. Even though UGS PLM Software operates on a worldwide scale - 60 percent of all multinational machinery companies use software from UGS PLM Software..

"The attention for PLM among European machinery companies is understandable, as they were among the first to invest in offshore facilities," explains Henry Seddon, vice president, EMEA Marketing, UGS PLM Software. "In addition, the European machinery market, which used to be highly fragmented, has in recent years seen strong consolidation. Not only does PLM help these distributed companies to manage their product lifecycle, it also enables them to get the most out of their existing resources."

PLM in Small- to Medium-sized Businesses

Despite the advantages for distributed organizations, it's not only large machinery companies that drive the shift towards PLM. Of the customers UGS PLM Software has in the machinery industry, more than 80 percent have less than 100 employees. "We believe many of these are specialized companies that serve a particular niche market. They use PLM primarily to innovate faster and complete more effectively," said Seddon.

For more information about PLM solutions for the machinery sector, please visit: http://www.ugs.com/industries/machinery/

To view a five-minute overview video about PLM solutions for the machinery sector, please visit: http://www.ugs.com/industries/machinery/demo/index.html

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