Heady transformation leads UGS to innovative digital manufacturing solutions
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 8/1/2006 6:00:00 AM
UGS has been busy. And productive. But most important, innovative.
This was the message at the product life-cycle management (PLM) vendor's annual analyst briefing in New York City in June, which this year was significantly expanded to include media.
"Ten years ago, we had more media, but we decided we wanted more analysts to hear what we were doing, and get their feedback," says Jim Phelan, director of marketing communications for UGS. "Now it's swinging back, as we're more confident about our story."
And a good story it is, according to the analysts in attendance. "They laid out the message segmentation last year, but have come a long way in rolling it out across the product line with consistency," says David Alschuler, principal of Boston-based Industry Directions.
"Their message [has evolved] from a year ago," adds Joe Barkai, PLM program director for Framingham, Mass.-based IDC Manufacturing Insights. "It's now value-driven and tighter, and it's a reflection of the maturity of UGS, which is becoming an enterprise solutions provider."
Says John Graham, executive VP of sales and service for UGS, "Last year was about transformation; today we're here to talk about how it has generated results."
Expounding these results was the theme of the keynote presentation by Tony Affuso, UGS chairman, CEO, and president. In 2005, the company accrued $1.15 billion in revenues—that is, 18 percent growth including acquisitions; 11 percent without. In addition to business in its core markets—i.e., automotive, high-tech, aerospace & defense, and machinery & equipment—it also entered retail/apparel, consumer products, federal, and shipbuilding; and added new domains in MRO, sourcing, and mechatronics, which is the blending of mechanical and electrical.
In a highly contested, global-standard deal with Nissan, UGS won the business. Meanwhile, General Motors named UGS supplier of the year, as did Honda Engineering—the first time ever in both cases that a software company has been so recognized.
UGS also integrated its Tecnomatix manufacturing execution system with Teamcenter, extending the flagship PLM product and laying the foundation for an integrated digital manufacturing backbone. The vendor also took PLM to the small and medium-size business market with Velocity, a family of integrated, pre-configured design and product data management (PDM) solutions; made a $1.1-billion software grant to Chinese education; and developed an Asian Sourcing Network whereby Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers can post capabilities for OEMs to shop.
Finally, with the results all told, innovation to achieve competitiveness was the message behind UGS' introduction of a new tool for facilitating engineering reuse, called Geolus Search. Licensed from Capgemini Group, it enables engineering design search based on 3D similarities.
"It's no good to capture information. Think of [PLM/PDM applications] as roach hotels: If you can't find it," says UGS Product strategist Chuck Grindstaff, "you can state, 'It's like this,' and in a couple of milliseconds, across a one million-part database, you get back matches—not only geometry, but the model."
IDC's Barkai believes Geolus Search fulfills a much needed requirement. "It is significant for its capability for reuse of intellectual property," he says. "And it solves a great need to identify similarities between geometric shapes, which has been difficult."
Charles Foundyller, CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Daratech, concurs. "It creates an enormous advantage to leverage the knowledge base of your company. It was a product that didn't have a life of its own,but UGS saw its value to innovation."
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