CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

1 March 2005

Product News

Agile Unveils Next Generation PLM Solution For Complex Engineering Manufacturers

Agile Software Corporation announced Agile e6, the latest release developed specifically to meet the needs of manufacturers in complex engineering industries. Agile e6, available in spring 2005, supports the complex engineering business processes, technology platform, and integration requirements of manufacturers in a range of industries including aerospace and defense, automotive and industrial equipment. This release marks the addition of the new module, Agile Customer Needs Management, and new and expanded functionality to the Agile Product Data Management module and the Agile e6 PLM platform.

"Agile has responded well to customer demand with their new release, Agile e6. The increasing sophistication of manufacturer's portfolio and the product and supply chain create renewed challenges in areas such as quality, cost, efficiency and time-to market," said Allen Behrens, director, Cambashi, a management and marketing consultancy firm. "The addition of Agile Customer Needs Management, developed in association with a number of their automotive customers, adds significant value to Agile's existing products. New capabilities, which include those focused on improved capture and re-use of information from requirements capture through design, manufacture, assembly, test, service and product retirement, should enable their customers to better manage the increasing complexities within their product lifecycles."

New with Agile e6, Agile Customer Needs Management enables companies to make better, more informed decisions in the early phase of the development process by closely linking customers, marketing and product management, development and quality assurance. Agile Customer Needs Management helps manufacturers manage the complexities that occur with products that are offered in large variances, and enables users to manage product families and derive individual product configurations in an engineered-to-order or assembled-to-order environment.

Agile e6 provides discrete manufacturers with a comprehensive, scalable set of capabilities for managing the complete product lifecycle-from initial customer requirements through service and support. The expanded Agile Product Data Management module focuses on organizing and managing product design assets and supporting globally distributed engineering teams. New and enhanced functionality available in Agile Product Data Management includes document management for non-technical users, enhanced change management, text and item management, Alias ID, classification and product usage.

The Agile e6 platform offers a range of new and enhanced functionality including the introduction of a Java client which will allow users to access the product independent from their operating system; internationalization which enables users to translate individual attributes of the product record; and multi-project access rights which provides greater security with little administration effort. The existing enterprise integration platform, which enables integration with business applications including a standard connector to SAP, has been enhanced with business process modeling capabilities, supporting complex routing and multiple connectors.

"We were able to deploy Agile's comprehensive PLM solution rapidly, with high user acceptance rates, which saved us time and costs that we would have incurred developing a custom solution that would have been difficult to maintain," said Helmut Ritter, chief engineer, information management, MAGNA STEYR, a leading global automotive supplier. "With the new functionality of the modular bill of materials provided in Agile e6, which we co-developed with Agile, we are able to strengthen our engineering service expertise, by reducing overall design time for new vehicles, improving quality efficiencies across multiple departments, and having the ability to handle product variance effectively. This results in stronger relationships within our automotive supply chain and in particular, our global OEM partners."

"We are pleased with the new features and enhanced functionality that is included in the Agile e6 release," said Tanja Kohler, PLM project manager, Drager, a global medical device and services company. "Agile has really considered what their customers need, and has built a product that will meet our needs now and in the future."

"Our customers wanted a PLM solution that would enable them to increase quality yet cut development times, manage the complexity of highly configurable products and channel engineering skill and creativity to help balance increasing consumer demands with efficient supply chain and manufacturing execution," said Chris Wong, chief product officer, Agile. "This release of Agile e6 is a result of listening to the needs of our customers. Agile e6 enables manufacturers to bring new products to market more efficiently, on time, on budget, and in compliance."

 

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