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37 facturing. (NX with Siemens Tecnomatix handle the digital-factory side of prod- uct design.) These software programs create massive amounts of data about geometry, simulations, analysis, and manufacturing execution. But, says Jockusch, "Engineers spend close to 60% of their time not doing engineering. They're looking for information and aligning information, aligning require- ments to attribute goals, and aligning attribute goals to technologies." This, too, is not new. Information management has always been a Holy Grail in product design and production. But therein lies the new idea: product lifecycle management (PLM) can be the foundation for all the software tools in design, analysis, simulation, visualization, control, and so on. That is, PLM enables SDPD. According to the product literature, Teamcenter, the PLM system from Siemens PLM Software, includes a con- sistent process and information infra- structure, cross-attribute simulation and test-based validation, confguration management, issue change and schedule management, and traceability throughout the product lifecycle—all based on open standards for hardware, software, and data integration. Grindstaf says all that much better: "Customers can take this 'backbone infrastructure' and link it to their analytical tools, whether the tools are from us, our partners, or our competitors." PLM turns raw data into something people can quickly look at and understand in relation to the whole product lifecycle process. "The big deal is that [these integrated software tools] work at the scale of a car," says Grindstaf. "The computers are fast enough, memory is cheap enough, the algorithms are robust enough, the simulators are accurate enough, the collaboration infrastructure is scalable Design and manufacturing engineering teams, says Grindstaf, "now have a common information fabric to com- municate their decisions and results." The benefts are many. PLM-fueled SDPD, says Jockusch, can capture and represent the detailed know-how that experienced, veteran automotive engineers have, readying automakers for the upcoming generation of engineers. t Here is a common depiction of systems engineering: The standard V Model, showing the process of decomposing product requirements into components (left), and the buildup of a test plan from components to the entire product (right). Mechatronics drives this approach to all of a product's mechanical, electronics, and software components. Three of Siemens PLM Software products—Teamcenter (PLM), NX (design/simulation/analysis/manufacturing), and LMS (test and mechatronic simulation, including model-based systems engineering)— are shown in context. "The more a product is interacting with other systems, the more the connections are between the subsystems within it or it and the broader environment—and the more the need for a view of the entire environment, the entire set of interactions." —Chuck Grindstaff, president & CEO of Siemens PLM Software enough. That wasn't the case even fve years ago. We can now capture the requirements, functions, and logic; manage them with confguration change control; tie them into the detailed designs; hook the simulations together through that data infrastructure; and work in more than just a `PowerPoint-y' way. We now have real engineering." FROM PRODUCT DESIGN TO MANUFACTURING CONTROL PLM's ability to capture data and the rules related to those data applies to the design of manufacturing systems as well. Product design and manufacturing engineers can try out all sorts of complex designs in a fully functional, virtual world that matches the physical world—before committing time and energy to a particular prototype. The virtual world can confrm that a car design will act as anticipated, and whether it meets the requirements for that new design. Design properties and rules can drive the work instructions and the factory devices that produce the cars. Last, decision makers are better able to make—decisions. "People shouldn't view this as a pipe dream," concludes Grindstaf. "It's something they can build right now."