PROSTEP, a PLM consulting and software company, is expanding its customer base in China with vehicle manufacturer Magna Blue Sky. The joint venture between Magna and Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV), the electric car subsidiary of the Chinese carmaker BAIC develops intelligent next-generation electric vehicles for the Chinese market. Magna Blue Sky uses PROSTEP's OpenDXM GlobalX solution in combination with the PLM solution Teamcenter to exchange data with partners and suppliers securely.
Approximately two years ago, Magna and BJEV announced that they would be jointly developing and manufacturing high-quality electric vehicles for the Chinese market. The joint venture set up a greenfield state-of-the-art development center in Zhenjiang for this purpose. It operates under the name Magna Blue Sky NEV Technology (Zhenjiang) and employs about 420 people, who do not only develop electric vehicle architectures for the joint venture but also provide engineering services to other customers. The Magna Steyr Group, which is headquartered in Graz, was responsible for implementing the completely new IT infrastructure.
Working in close cooperation with the IT experts in Graz, PROSTEP's PLM experts implemented the data exchange platform in Zhenjiang, defined appropriate templates for integrating exchange partners and adapted the data exchange processes and authorizations to Magna Blue Sky's specific requirements. A complex approval workflow was implemented to ensure maximum protection of intellectual property. It ensures that all exchange processes are approved in accordance with the multiple-eyes principle before the data is made available to partners and suppliers for downloading.
The OpenDXM GlobalX Teamcenter integration allows engineers at Magna Blue Sky to initiate data exchange processes directly from the Teamcenter user interface. "This makes it easy to use and saves time when sending data since the export of data from Teamcenter runs completely in the background. Users don't have to wait when larger assemblies are being exported," says Udo Hering, head of Product Management at PROSTEP. They also have the option of making data from MS Outlook or Windows Explorer available for encrypted exchange with OpenDXM GlobalX.
