IBM PLM Express Expands Beyond Engineering to Sales, Product Maintenance and the Supply Chain

Helps medium-size manufacturers to reuse parts, simplify product complexity, improve cost estimating, streamline bid preparation and reduce product maintenance costs

IBM recently announced an extension of its PLM Express offerings that expand its benefits beyond the engineering department to solve key business challenges facing small and medium-sized manufacturers. This latest PLM Express offering includes bundled solutions based on SMARTEAM, for collaborative lifecycle management from Dassault Systemes that address collaborative design, shipping and bidding management and after sales maintenance support.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a strategic approach to creating and managing a company's product-related intellectual capital, from its initial conception to retirement. PLM Express solutions from IBM, initially announced on July 30th, are industry-specific offerings ideally suited to the needs of small and medium business manufacturers. These new PLM Express solutions from IBM are again focused on the specific needs of manufacturers who make the following types of products: industrial components, tooling suppliers, industrial machinery, mobile equipment, plastic products and consumer goods.

Today's medium-sized manufacturers are challenged with increasing delays and high costs due to a lack of coordination between internal teams located remotely as well as a global supply chain. While these dynamics become increasingly complex, customer needs require careful management as products become more intricate in design. To solve this, PLM Express offers four packaged solutions focused on optimizing these business processes, including:

• Collaborative Design - Utilizing SMARTEAM's open, standards-based connectivity, design engineers across the extended enterprise share 3D product information. With over 70% of overall product costs committed at the early stages of design it is crucial to design right the first time to minimize change costs.
  
  
• Engineering Data and Document Management - Integrated management of design data and documents in a multi-CAD authoring environment, including secure vaulting, version control and link management. In addition to proactive knowledge reuse, this solution enables streamlined Engineering Changes and integrated Bill of Materials management.
  
  
• Bidding and Request for Quote Management - Companies that streamline their business using SMARTEAM's pre-defined standard processes can more quickly and more accurately calculate product costing, enabling them to handle a greater volume of bid requests and improve their win ratio.
  
  
• Retail Aftermarket - Companies can benefit from SMARTEAM's accurate version-controlled product data and web-based, on-site field support to improve after-sales maintenance support and open new revenue streams with regular maintenance plans, replacement parts and asset management to their existing customers, for increased loyalty and repeat business.

Hans Wickström, IT director, Peltor AB, a mid-sized manufacturer of hearing protection and communication products for noisy environments based in Värnamo, Sweden, said, "Now we don´t have to develop things twice and are able to search on existing work done. This helps us in having shorter response times to customers and also saves us time because we do not have to redo things. Another benefit for us is that we now have a clear product development process and everyone knows where to find information, so we don't have to spend time looking for it."

Sold and serviced through IBM and IBM's extensive, locally based PLM Business Partner network, PLM Express solutions consist of a customizable total solutions package that includes IBM WebSphere Application Server - Express middleware for a secure and robust web services delivery platform; IBM hardware including IntelliStations for top graphics performance, and eServer for secure storage of product designs and shared access to the applications. The package also includes options for systems management, enhanced user support, application training and flexible low-rate financing options to ensure a smooth implementation at an affordable price for rapid and substantial return on investment.

SMARTEAM Helps F&A Companies Face Down Pains

Jean-Daniel Jouanna, F&A Industry Lead, Dassault Systemes, recently spoke with SMARTEAM's Michal Guelfand, of the Marketing & Communications team, on the growing demand for PLM in F&A and SMARTEAM's special value to this market.

M.G.: What industries do we mean when we refer to F&A?
J.D. Jouanna: It's one of the largest industry domains. Some define it as everything that is not Automotive, Aerospace, and Shipbuilding! IBM and Dassault have segmented the market into 6 main areas: Machinery, Industrial Equipment, Fabricated Metal Products, Other Fabricated Products, Mobile Equipment and Railroad Equipment. In 2003, the F&A market represented a worldwide CAD/PDM software opportunity of 1.34 billion USD (Source: IBM/ Market Intelligence). This is slightly behind the Automotive (1.54) but far ahead of the Electrical & Electronics (O.97) or Aerospace (0.86) industries. This makes for an attractive situation for Dassault PLM solutions.

ST: How can a single solution meet such varied needs?
J.D. Jouanna: A shared commonality in the F&A industry is the strength--and burden--of each company's history. Many F&A operations began long ago--even as far back as the Industrial Revolution! Today, although they have advanced products that mix mechanical, electronics and software and are moving quickly toward 3D engineering processes, these companies still rely heavily on strong 2D engineering and manufacturing processes--and on a huge amount of 2D legacy data. Working closely with many of these companies, we identified other key commonalities and assembled PLM solutions to match these needs.

ST: Name some of the common F&A business issues that you have identified.
J.D. Jouanna: Most F&A companies supply OEMs, not consumers. To win a market, they must engage in bidding: submit a proposal that not only meets the OEM's requirements, but also brings differentiating innovation and is the cheapest. The next step, Product Delivery, is even harder, involving the design, manufacture and on-time delivery of the product, complete with the required features, performance and price. One mistake along the way can spell economic disaster for the company. The final challenging step is providing product Maintenance and Service in Operation, with different configurations per customer or geography and over many years.

ST: How does SMARTEAM help solve F&A bidding challenges?
J.D. Jouanna: SMARTEAM provides pragmatic, fully customizable answers to the different needs during the critical bidding process. Typical bidding "pains" include:

• Meeting the increased need to reuse of parts and projects
• Managing bid information and exposing bid progress within the enterprise
• Spending time understanding detailed customer requirements and needing to share existing product information (specification documents, engineering models, test results...)
• Tracking down and retrieving similar bids submitted in the past
• Deciding which project data to reuse or redesign and who should do it
• Providing a reliable, competitive cost estimate while securing corporate benefits

SMARTEAM reduces the iterations typical in bidding, thus speeding up and making the bidding process more accurate. By creating the ability to produce more and better bids, SMARTEAM contributes directly to a company's bottom line. SMARTEAM's flexibility and power enable it to manage bids and orders as it would the project itself, gathering all the information related to the process, such as specification documents, 3D design or 2D drawings. Companies can track a bid without duplicating information. Powerful web access enables any enterprise individual to review, validate or monitor bidding progress.

Engineers can get quick and detailed information regarding whether a request has been handled in the past. SMARTEAM enables the creation of templates for entering customer requirements according to a company's rules and needs; it provides a native guideline for identifying missing information in the Request for Quotation (RFQ) and translating the RFQ content into internal specifications. SMARTEAM helps further by building a company-specific template that refers to the right information and generates the quote.

ST: What value does SMARTEAM bring to the other two key F&A processes?
J.D. Jouanna: In the Product Delivery process, engineers face many issues, including:

• Difficulty in managing increasing product and process complexity
• Preference for increased reuse of existing products so as to focus more on innovation
• Delays and cost increases due to lack of coordination between teams, locations, business units, and suppliers
• Difficulty in ensuring final product quality and compliancy with international standards
• Difficulty in managing Engineering Change Orders efficiently and consistently
• A need for project management and communication within the extended enterprise, for design reviews and issues management

SMARTEAM contributes to numerous F&A product development and delivery domains, including Project Management and Status Review, Mechanical Design, Electrical Design, BOM Management and Outsourced Design, Change Management and Customer Acceptance. In developing Dassault best practices for Maintenance and Service in Operation-namely, Documentation/Packaging, On-site installation, and Maintenance-we made extensive use of SMARTEAM functionalities.

ST: Can small or medium-sized companies afford to re-engineer their F&A processes?
J.D. Jouanna: SMB companies need to prioritize only a few processes at any one time. Easy to customize and use, SMARTEAM is a viable tool in implementing these new processes and bringing immediate, visible success and fast ROI. From early on, the SMBs themselves often suggest other processes that SMARTEAM can cover. Easy scalability allows them to take their PLM journey at their own pace.

ImpactXoft Launches 'Need SPeeD' Reseller Channel Program

Innovative provider of Product Development Software Offers Growth Opportunities for VARs

ImpactXoft has recently announced the launch of its "Need SPeeD" reseller channel program. The new program is open to qualified VARs that serve the major mechanical computer-aided design and collaborative solutions markets, including consumer goods and electronics manufacturers as well as automotive and aerospace suppliers.

"Our IX SPeeD V5 Suite is the only collaborative design solution natively interoperable with Dassault Systemes' V5 PLM solutions, in particular CATIA V5. Given this unique synergy, resellers have an ideal opportunity to expand their presence by providing a set of mid range products into a new market segment by offering a one-of-a-kind solution, which will complement their existing product offerings." said Stefano Malnati, vice president of product management & business development at ImpactXoft. "In fact, although IX SPeeD V5 will have a broad market appeal, resellers will find it particularly well suited to address the needs of small to medium sized companies that are suppliers to corporations using CATIA V5."

The reseller program launch follows ImpactXoft's announcement last month that the company has joined Dassault Systemes' CAA V5 Software Community Program as a Gold Software Partner. Under this agreement, ImpactXoft will deliver a new version of its award-winning IX SPeeD Suite software for Simultaneous Product Development featuring unique modeling and collaborative design capabilities. The IX SPeeD V5 product, based on Dassault Systemes' Component Application Architecture (CAA V5), will be the only collaborative product completely interoperable with CATIA V5 and it will also provide a full breath of integrated add-on modules to support the product development lifecycle.

"ImpactXoft addresses the needs of manufacturing designers who are under constant pressure to innovate, respond quickly to engineering change requests, and keep costs down," says David Burdick, president of Collaborative Visions, a strategic consulting firm supporting users and vendors in the emerging area of Product Lifecycle Management. "The ability for resellers to offer a fully integrated manufacturing design package that includes PLM and Functional Modeling capabilities is increasingly appealing as manufacturers look to leverage their existing CAD/CAM implementations."

Experienced, qualified resellers that wish to join "Need SPeeD" program should contact ImpactXoft's channel sales organization at 408. 360.7700 or visit the company web site at http://www.impactxoft.com/NeedSPeeD.

About IX SPeeD Suite
IX SPeeD Suite makes it extremely easy for designers to work in parallel on the same project, across the extended enterprise. Its innovative Functional Modeling methodology captures the design behavior as functional features. The geometry representation is automatically generated while consistently respecting the functional definitions. The result is a design which is more understandable and easier to change. Furthermore, the software's Instant Participation capabilities - a novel form of collaborative design - delivers a unique way to communicate design changes between OEM and suppliers by allowing members of a design team to share and merge elements of their product designs at their convenience. With this innovative approach, users benefit from reconciliation made possible in a true collaborative environment.

About ImpactXoft
ImpactXoft is a private, venture-funded software company providing innovative applications that change the way people and companies develop products. The IX SPeeD Suite is an award-winning solution for Simultaneous Product Development (SPD) that enables all constituents involved in the product lifecycle to concurrently design, modify, evaluate, and produce quality products with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Based on a state-of-the-art architecture and proprietary technologies, the IX SPeeD Suite revolutionizes the way designs are created, shared, integrated and ultimately manufactured. The software empowers companies to create better products, drastically reduce their time to market, and gain a competitive edge by fostering continuous participation throughout the design process. ImpactXoft has formed worldwide strategic partnerships with Toyota Caelum Inc. and Dassault Systemes. ImpactXoft, IX, IX SPeeD, IX Functional Modeling, and Simultaneous Product Development are trademarks or registered trademarks of ImpactXoft. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Cornerstone Technology Inc. Joins ImpactXoft's Need SPeeD Program

ImpactXoft Builds its Worldwide Channel Partner Program

ImpactXoft announced that Cornerstone Technology Inc., a leading reseller dedicated to advancing mold design technology through continued innovation, has joined ImpactXoft's Need SPeeD reseller channel program. Cornerstone will focus on automotive suppliers and the consumer goods manufacturers in the Michigan and Eastern Canada regions.

For the past sixteen years, Cornerstone has built a reputation for working in partnership with their customers to achieve excellence. The company is internationally recognized in the mold industry for their Expert Mold Designer (XMD) product. They are now looking to broaden their product offerings into other manufacturing disciplines with ImpactXoft's IX SPeeD V5 Suite. The IX product suite will help them fulfill their goal to provide solutions that promote concurrent engineering with the OEMs.

"We are delighted to welcome Cornerstone into our family of reseller partners," said Stefano Malnati, vice president of product management and business development. "Cornerstone has the expertise and experience to help ImpactXoft gain an edge in the collaborative functional design space. Together, we can bring our customers the tremendous productivity and innovation improvements that they need to win with outstanding products."

"We are very excited to join the Need SPeeD program and become an IX SPeeD V5 Suite solutions reseller for ImpactXoft," said John Mateau, president of Cornerstone Technology Inc. "The ImpactXoft products will provide a solution that has never before been available to our customers. The Functional Modeling and Instant Participation approach will take design and collaboration to a new level and help our customers better handle changes throughout the product development process."

Today's partnership announcement follows ImpactXoft's recent launch of their Need SPeeD reseller channel program. The program is open to qualified VARs that serve the major mechanical computer-aided design and collaborative solutions markets, including consumer goods and electronics manufacturers as well as automotive and aerospace suppliers.

Those interested in more information or that wish to join the Need SPeeD program should contact ImpactXoft's channel sales organization at 408.360.7700 or visit the company web site at http://www.impactxoft.com/NeedSPeeD.

About Cornerstone Technology Inc.

Incorporated in 1989, Cornerstone Technology Inc. is headquartered in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Due to ever evolving mold making technology, Cornerstone Technology Inc. is dedicated to advancing mold design and manufacturing technology through continued innovation and training. Cornerstone is proud of working in partnership with customers and solution providers to maintain excellence. Cornerstone is a segment leader in computer aided mold design software. Their flagship products, EXPERT MOLD DESIGNER (XMD) and EXPERT MOLD MAKER (XMM) save customers 30 to 70% off their design/build times. The next generation product, VIRTUAL MOLD MAKER (VMM on CATIA V5) is specified to perform 30%-50% more efficiently than XMD/XMM.

TechCAD Adds ImpactXoft's IX SPeeD V5 Suite to Product Offerings

ImpactXoft's Need SPeeD Channel Program Welcomes New VAR

ImpactXoft recently announced that TechCAD, a leading reseller working with small to mid-size companies, in the tool and die and product design markets, has joined ImpactXoft's "Need SPeeD" reseller channel program. TechCAD will focus on automotive suppliers and the consumer goods manufacturers in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky regions.

TechCAD was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Milford, OH, just outside of Cincinnati. They also have an office in Schaumburg, IL. The company has built their reputation helping customers shuffle through the confusing information in the marketplace to find the best solution for their needs. ImpactXoft's IX SPeeD^TM V5 Suite of products will allow them to provide their customers with a unique collaborative functional design solution.

"We are pleased to welcome TechCAD as an ImpactXoft reseller partner," said Stefano Malnati, vice president of product management and business development. "TechCAD builds a personal relationship with their customers to help them make the right choice for the foundation of their design and manufacturing technology. This partnership will allow them to provide their customers a unique solution with our IX Functional Modeling and Instant Participation technologies. By working together, we can offer our customers tremendous productivity and innovation improvements they need to win with outstanding products."

"Our technical staff knows the design process and the tools to get the jobs done," said Joe Bucalo, president of TechCAD. "We are very excited to join the Need SPeeD program and become an IX SPeeD^TM Suite solutions reseller for ImpactXoft. We work with a lot of automotive suppliers in our region that will benefit from the native interoperability between IX SPeeD^TM V5 Suite and CATIA V5."

Today's partnership announcement follows ImpactXoft's launch of their NeeD SPeeD reseller channel program last week. The program is open to qualified VARs that serve the major mechanical computer-aided design and collaborative solutions markets, including consumer goods and electronics manufacturers as well as automotive and aerospace suppliers.

Those interested in more information or that wish to join the Need SPeeD program should contact ImpactXoft's channel sales organization at 408.360.7700 or visit the company web site at http://www.impactxoft.com/NeedSPeeD.

About TechCAD
TechCAD is a Value Added Integrator of Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing Software. Established in 1997, they offer sales, support, training, and installation of superior CAD/CAM products to increase the productivity and competitiveness of our customers. TechCAD primarily works with small to mid-size companies, in the tool and die and product design markets. TechCAD provides extraordinary customer service with offices in Cincinnati and Chicago.