Following its acquisition of simulation software company UGS in early 2007, Siemens A&D announced in June its plans to deliver on “a true vision for PLM” that integrates automation and product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies. Siemens PLM, as the Plano, TX-based business unit is now known, took its first steps toward that goal in October with Teamcenter 2007 software. In June UGS vice president of strategic marketing Bill Carrelli promised “a step change in the market… via a new generation of products and technology. For its part, Siemens said it saw the need for product lifecycle support for both products and the production line. Owning and controlling the destiny of all the pieces, rather than merely providing open APIs to various components from others, was a key driver behind the acquisition, said Siemens.

In Teamcenter 2007, Siemens is embracing a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to deliver “a fully integrated solution which spans disciplines, project phases and programs.” The result is designed to improve productivity, enhance collaboration and reduce overall total cost of ownership for manufacturing and controls engineers. An example of the new technology in practice can be found in Teamcenter’s Business Modeler Integrated Development Environment (BMIDE), which lets a manufacturer customize a PLM solution through configuration and implementation templates. In addition to accelerating the ability to deploy a production-ready system, this integrated development approach leverages live server synchronization to ensure that multiple remote sites can all receive changes and updates uniformly.

Teamcenter 2007 also unifies all product-related data within its framework, which simplifies such complex tasks as bill of material (BOM) management. It enables developers to visualize and browse complex product relationships and better align design BOMs with business BOMs.

To help educate engineers on the uses and benefits of Teamcenter 2007 software and convey best practices for manufacturing operations of all sizes, Siemens has planned a series of live and electronic events. These include the “Greater Power” events series, a roadshow of local seminars, as well as webinars scheduled through the year.

www.ugs.com/teamcenter2007