Vendors and users back group seeking common method for sharing product data models
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 1/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
A coalition consisting of both developers and users of product life-cycle management (PLM) technology has formed what amounts to a standards body in hopes of forging a single method for creating, storing, and sharing product data models.
UGS PLM Solutions (formerly EDS PLM Solutions) spearheaded formation of this group, which is called JT Open. The name refers to the Jupiter Tessellation method of breaking down CAD models so that portions of a model can be transmitted quickly across a network. This technology is a core piece of a visualization application called eViz that is part of the UGS PLM suite.
"We launched this initiative because our customers were asking for more open data formats that would allow them to take JT elements and share them with their business partners," says Chris Kelley, a UGS VP. "This goes directly to solving what our customers see as big problems with visualization and collaboration."
General Motors (GM) joined the JT Open coalition because it has created a library of three million JT-enabled files since it began using the eVis product in 1998, according to Diane Jurgens, GM's global director of CAD, visualization, and collaboration systems. "This is our common format for sharing documents across applications, sites, and business processes," Jurgens says. "We currently have 25,000 global users in engineering, manufacturing, and purchasing sharing these files. With JT Open, we hope to expand that use out to our suppliers. We believe the ability to view and collaborate on product models should be hardware independent.
The Ford Motor Co., another long-time eViz user, also is a JT Open member. "Ford's membership in JT Open is driven by the need to enhance and expand our JT pipeline, thereby ushering in a new era of open collaboration within the automotive community," says Michael Ali, a Ford systems manager. "We use digital data from the inception of a vehicle concept through the manufacture and service of a vehicle, and the JT format is essential to that."
Kelley says UGS hopes JT Open promotes broader collaboration across all industries—not just the automotive sector—and it is getting support in that effort from other PLM software vendors, including PTC and Bentley Systems, which have joined JT Open.
"We serve multiple vertical markets, including the architecture, construction, and plant design markets," notes George Church, a Bentley Systems senior VP. "And users in all of our markets want broader standards that allow them to leverage their existing technology investments. The use of JT Open standards will help different user groups get the data they need, in a format that is relevant to them, through whatever interface they normally use."
Kelley says the current dues-paying JT Open members are forming committees that will manage changes to the JT standard over time. Member dues also are going toward maintenance of a Web site, www.jtopen.com, where members can go to share information about the standards.
