UGS partners with HP, Capgemini to bolster PLM clout
By Roberto Michel, senior contributing editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 4/1/2005 7:00:00 AM
Product life-cycle management (PLM) software vendor UGS's new consulting partnerships—including one with Hewlett-Packard (HP)—point to a couple of market realities. For one, with UGS out from under the wing of former parent company Electronic Data Services(EDS), it is free to partner with other major integrators.
Second, the growing breadth and importance of PLM has elevated the need for PLM software vendors to partner with global consultancies steeped in enterprise implementations. For instance, Dassault Systèmes—UGS's biggest rival—has a long-standing partnership with IBM.
In February, UGS announced its alliance with HP, and also with Capgemini. Chris Kelley, a VP with UGS's partner program, says EDS also remains a consulting partner. Thus three major consulting partners worldwide help deploy and sell UGS's solutions.
With PLM having touch points to ERP and disciplines such as strategic sourcing and customer/service management, it helps to have partners with practices in these areas, says Kelley. "It takes partners who not only understand the structure and functionality of our software, but also the business processes that span a PLM solution," he says.
Gareth Evans, HP's global PLM practice lead, says HP has a 17-year history of tuning its hardware for UGS's design creation and product data management (PDM) software. However, he adds, the new alliance focuses on joint PLM sales and consulting services delivery. Engagements could leverage HP's expertise in vertical industries, as well as in ERP systems or application integration. "It's easy for us to bring in expertise from our other practices on these PLM engagements," says Evans.
HP, says Evans, has helped deploy UGS solutions at Detroit-based automaker General Motors, and Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. HP also has expertise in CMII, a methodology for product-related configuration management; and it is involved with Pittsburgh-based Supply Chain Council's development of a PLM-focused business process framework called the Design-Chain Operations Reference Model.
HP has a proven track record for tuning its hardware for CAD, notes Dr. Joel Orr, a VP with analyst firm Cyon Research, Bethesda, M.D. However, he adds, PLM is more about workflows than bits and bytes. "HP has broad services capability up and down the supply chain, including design and product development," says Orr. "I have no doubt they can bring that expertise to bear."
