By LAWRENCE S. GOULD / Contributing Editor
As products get more complex, what with the explosion
in product variations that come with embedded software
and advanced electronics, more people need easy access to
all the data about those products. Also to be considered is
the change in the workforce itself, points out Joe Bohman,
senior vice president, Lifecycle Collaborative Software, for
Siemens PLM Software ( plm.automation.siemens.com/en_
us ). "Most digital natives expect instant access to available
knowledge with minimal training. Most people would like
to work from home or another place where they feel more
productive. Gartner Inc. predicts 85% of businesses will have
a BYOD [bring your own device] program in place by 2020."
This is why the latest release of Teamcenter, the product
lifecycle management system (PLM) from Siemens PLM,
focuses on being "simple, engaging, effective, and active"
according to company officials. Here are some examples to
support those objectives.
REACH OUT TO NEW BUSINESS PROCESSES
The traditional areas of Teamcenter are design management,
process control, bill of materials and documentation. The
latest version extends into more business processes, such
as requirements management, product cost management,
systems engineering and supplier collaboration. Materials
management, another new area for Teamcenter, supports
new manufacturing processes that involve new materials.
For example, additive manufacturing uses materials unlike
anything found in stamping or forging. Teamcenter's new
common material data definition "houses" (in the virtual
sense) these new materials, thereby helping user compa-
nies understand what materials they're using, and helping
to ensure these materials are applied consistently in the
appropriate manufacturing processes. Initial support for
this integrated materials management includes the abilities
to search and create records for materials and substances,
search for material where used, assign materials to parts,
and view material catalogs showing material parameters
and substances.
REACH OUT TO MULTIPLE DESIGN DOMAINS
Within the area of systems engineering (what Siemens
PLM calls "systems driven product development"), the
Siemens PLM
Launches More
Comprehensive
PLM Capabilities
From costing to configuring, from planning
to executing, the latest release of Teamcenter
handles all this and more.
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