Commentaries & Highlights

Lily Brand has selected Centric Software to provide its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. “There were a few key reasons we wanted a PLM system,” explains Mr. Liu, CIO at Lily Brand. “First, we needed to set up a well-coordinated management platform for our business colleagues that could cover planning, design and R & D. With the implementation of projects, we wanted to transform our R & D process.  Second, we wanted the process of R & D to become more visible and controllable. We wanted to manage the whole workflow to minimize risks. Finally, it is important for us to retain and pass on our core ideas by establishing a basic library. We believed that PLM platform would help keep the identical standard throughout the business scope and boost our internal and external coordination efficiency.” After an in-depth consideration of several PLM solution providers, Lily Brand selected Centric

SME and AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology are ramping up for what's planned to be the leading smart manufacturing event in the U.S. – Smart Manufacturing Experience 2018. The event, which will take place April 30 through May 2, at the Boston Convention Center, will be co-sponsored by SME, AMT and founding partners Mazak, The Robert E. Morris Co., and Methods Machine Tools, all leaders in advanced manufacturing delivering solutions in additive manufacturing, digital manufacturing, automation and more to major manufacturers around the world. Smart Manufacturing Experience 2018 was created to ensure that industry players are engaged and fully prepared with the most current smart manufacturing technologies. This event will focus on how advanced technologies such as additive manufacturing and 3D printing, automation and robotics, advanced materials, precision machining, precision measurement and 3D scanning, digital manufacturing, and the Industrial IoT (Internet of Things)/big data are revolutionizing the industry. These technologies provide full factory visibility, asset tracking, product lifecycle

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment have entered into a new agreement to scale up and accelerate the shift towards a circular economy. Such an economy supports sustainable consumption and production systems which are central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. On 24 January, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Ellen MacArthur and Erik Solheim, Executive Director of UN Environment, announced an agreement that will see the organizations focus their joint efforts on stimulating public-private sector engagement with circular economy solutions. This will include strengthening the scientific basis for policy decisions, including at city level, to decouple economic development from environmental degradation.  The announcement was made alongside the launch of the World Economic Forum's Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE). PACE brings together companies, organisations and governments to create innovative partnerships that drive actions at global and regional levels to decouple economic growth from resource use.  To view the original press release, please click here. Search for circular economy

PTC today announced it has partnered with Microsoft to make available the ThingWorx® Industrial Innovation Platform on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, capitalizing on the two companies’ complementary technologies and together targeting opportunities in industrial sectors, including manufacturing.  PTC and Microsoft will align the technology and expertise of both companies to deliver a robust solution for Industrial IoT and digital product lifecycle management. At the core of the solution are Microsoft Azure IoT and the ThingWorx Industrial Innovation Platform, which together enable customers to innovate their products and operations with IoT connectivity, rich contextualization, business systems orchestration, and breakthrough user engagement via mixed reality. Extending these services is PTC’s full portfolio of solutions including Creo® and Windchill® for design, manufacturing, and service, and Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed reality headwear.  Central to the collaboration is PTC’s selection of Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform for manufacturing customers. PTC also will be offering a

There are very few events that are designed exclusively for PLM Solution Providers in the PLM economy. CIMdata's annual PLM Market & Industry Forum, which is now over 25 years old, is one that comes to mind. Of course, I might just be a little bit partial! But consider how rare it is to get all the key PLM solution providers together in the same place for networking and an open discussion on the state of the PLM industry. This is the very essence of CIMdata's PLM Market & Industry Forum. The event, which this year takes place during April at various locations globally, offers attendees the opportunity to gain key insights into the current economic climate and trends. After the trends are identified their effects on the PLM economy are examined. Additionally, it is at this event where we take the first look at CIMdata's eagerly awaited 2017 PLM

OpenBOM now offers its users the ability to also upload and link CAD data in a Bill of Materials (BOM) to Box, a leading cloud content management platform. By doing so, OpenBOM now offers CAD users a useful and secure path to the the cloud. With Box, all a team's files are securely and centrally managed in the cloud making it easier than ever for everyone on the team to practically access cloud connected information in their Bills of Materials. Moreover, OpenBOM now serves as a useful and practical means for desktop CAD system users to cloud enable their CAD design and data. This gives them the benefits of storing and sharing 3D CAD files and auto generated neutral geometry file formats in the cloud they can share and collaborate with remote team members, contract manufacturers, and suppliers. Together with Box, OpenBOM features include:  Ability to reference data in a BOM

Zero Wait-State will present the best ways to connect computer-aided design (CAD) product data management (PDM) to both on-premise and cloud-based PLM during Oracle’s Modern Supply Chain Experience (MSCE), January 29-31, in San Jose, CA. The educational session, “CAD and the Cloud: Strategies and technologies for collaboration with Oracle PD”, is being co-presented with one of Zero Wait-State’s key customers, Zebra Technologies, and will address the best ways to integrate engineering and design data into PLM. MSCE is an annual event that brings together Oracle customers, product experts, partners, and supply chain thought leaders to share experiences and leading practices on optimizing the supply chain. In addition to the presentation, Zero Wait-State will be in the PLM Showcase to demonstrate their superior automation solutions for Oracle’s Agile PLM as well as their new interfaces for Oracle's cloud-based PLM platform. DesignState, one of ZWS’ flagship integration frameworks, will be featured as part of Cisco’s MSCE presentation where

CONTACT Software encourages excellence in education and research with its international university program. Now the team behind the spectacular success of Elon Musk's SpaceX Hyperloop competition is joining the CONTACT University community: WARR Hyperloop from the TU Munich. CONTACT Software supports universities, colleges and research institutes with a cooperation offer that makes state-of-the-art software and practical knowledge available to students and scientists for the development of smart products. As a new CONTACT University member, WARR Hyperloop is now using CIM Database PLM and CONTACT Workspaces to develop the next transport capsules for Elon Musk's visionary high-speed system. WARR Hyperloop is part of the scientific working group for rocket technology and space travel (WARR) at the Technical University of Munich. The multidisciplinary team, with around 35 members, designs prototypes for the concept of a high-speed train designed by Elon Musk, which travels at almost sonic speed in a tube with partial

Siemens announces today a partnership with BRIDG to drive the development of Digital Twin technologies for the semiconductor industry by providing Siemens’ PLM software portfolio to enable BRIDG’s research and development activities. The combination of expertise will help establish the first Digital Enterprise Solution for semiconductor manufacturing at the BRIDG wafer fabrication facility located at NeoCity in Osceola County, Florida. With an in-kind software grant valued at more than $30M, this partnership creates an important milestone—the first ever digital enterprise implementation in the semiconductor industry. Siemens’ Digital Enterprise solutions enable manufacturing companies to streamline and digitalize their entire business process, seamlessly integrating suppliers into the mix. Designed as one of the world’s most flexible and adaptable fabrication facilities, BRIDG is focused on the manufacturing development of advanced technologies in smart sensors, imagers, advanced devices and 2.5D/3D chip integration. Through this partnership, the new BRIDG Digital Enterprise site will feature the

Purdue University and the Institute for Process Excellence (IpX) announce a partnership to provide professional education certificate programs to industry clients in the areas of CM2, product lifecycle management (PLM) and model-based definition (MBD). Under this partnership, Purduestudents will be introduced to enterprise configuration management curriculum content in targeted undergraduate programs preparing students to help solve the most complex challenges facing global organizations. In order to achieve successful transformation in the landscape of tomorrow, businesses must invest in world-class resources in order to reshape legacy processes and systems. The ability to evolve and tailor instruction for a variety of learners across the product lifecycle is a critical aspect of any educational program. Each job role has unique needs when authoring and consuming digital product data within day-to-day operations. Nathan Hartman, the Dauch Family Professor of Advanced Manufacturing and Director of the PLM Center, promotes such a model when building educational programs with industry, and the partnership