Highlighted CADnection Application Case Study - Issue 15

Highlighted CADnection Application Case Study - Issue 15

CAD models are full of data. They are effectively mini databases that can support a wide range of disciplines such as engineering, purchasing, manufacturing and/or construction, quality and post-delivery support. With CADnection, the richness of this data is now fully accessible. Users are empowered to search, find, retrieve, extract, identify CAD model content that was previously trapped.

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 14, Jan 2019

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 14, Jan 2019

We thought we’d use this newsletter to address some of the questions. To that end, the first part of the newsletter is an excerpt from a white paper we prepared addressing digital transformation and PLM for the automotive supplier industry.  For those of you not in that industry, the core concepts in the latter half of the white paper are industry agnostic.  There’s a link in the excerpt below to the full paper.

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 13, June 2017

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 13, June 2017

Many automotive suppliers are heavily invested in legacy point solutions to support activities across the enterprise.  While these point solutions usually work well at performing a specific function, they often create silos that impede coordination.  Activities like a simple quote revision or a routine advanced product quality planning (APQP) corrective action can be cumbersome and error-prone.  These islands of data create a range of problems that can be broadly grouped into three categories: data, process, and people. 

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 12, April 2017

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 12, April 2017

It’s Tuesday morning, March 21st and the Aras Community Event (ACE) in Nashville is getting underway.  Attendees mingled about for breakfast, and early conversation as the opening keynote kickoff was about to begin.  As you walk into the meeting center, it’s immediately noticeable that, unlike previous ACE seating arraignments, the seating was organized around roundtables instead of rows of chairs.  Aras’ leadership and partners were mixed in throughout the tables and engaging the attendees.     

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 11, March 2017

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 11, March 2017

Automotive suppliers face a combination of market forces that have created a unique business environment – an environment where uncertainty and unmitigated risk are eroding profit margins.  Why are other manufacturing models immune and what’s so different about automotive suppliers?  High volume production combined with product complexity create a perfect storm for uncertainty and risk.  This article deconstructs these risk factors and explores strategies and tools to calm the storm.
 

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 9, September 2016

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 9, September 2016

Most of you as readers work at engineering and manufacturing companies.  At first glance of the title, you may think we’ll be talking about the various industry sectors that are using CPQ.  Yes, in part we are.  But, the reality is that a significant number of users outside these companies are leveraging CPQ … prospects, customers and representatives of engineering and manufacturing companies.  For example, companies like Dell.

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 4, March 2016

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 4, March 2016

PLM inherently touches multiple departments and areas of responsibilities.  The value of part and product data, files, drawings, specs and schedules for example, extend beyond the engineering and manufacturing departments.  But, the reality is various teams/groups in the organization invariably acquire technology solutions specific to their needs.  Hence the silos of data and disconnected processes are perpetuated.  It’s fully understandable.  Trying to get the different groups to collectively agree, define and budget can be challenging at best.  That’s why we have stressed the importance of senior management sponsorship to break down the barriers.  We talked about this in our last newsletter.

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 3, February 2016

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 3, February 2016

January 2016 has gotten off to a rough start for the global markets.  Manufacturers already face the pressures of competition, innovation, compliance, liability, distributed supply chains and more.  But, this year’s start has thrown in uncertainty with a dash of volatility.  No doubt this has prompted internal discussions for many businesses about what all this may mean for the coming year and how best to respond.

A tried and true response is “doing more for less.”  The stark reality is that a majority of the product-related data and processes across enterprises are still using manual steps, paper, email, Excel, Lotus Notes, DropBox, FTP and homegrown systems.  Do they work?  Of course, but at the downstream costs of corrective actions that are not contributing to the do-more-for-less mantra.  In fact, the cost of these intercessions exceeds the cost of making changes that drive lasting efficiencies.

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 2, January 2016

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 2, January 2016

We are pleased to kick-off the year with a multipart series geared to the business drivers of PLM.  We’re calling this series “Pursuing the Promise of PLM.”  In this first part, we’re laying the groundwork for why PLM needs to be a strategic initiative with executive sponsorship all the way from the top.  On the other end of the spectrum, we get under the hood on workflow ideas.  We’re also introducing our “In the Labs” section to the newsletter.  This section is dedicated to projects and solutions underway that aim to solve some of the challenges that our customers are facing.  In this issue, we’ll talk about Proposal Management for Engineer/Build-to-Order organizations.  There is a lot of reading here.  Take your time.  Try an article and get to another article at a later date.  By the time you’re done, next month’s issue will be coming out. 

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The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 1, December 2015

The Practical PLM Newsletter - Issue 1, December 2015

We are thrilled to launch the Practical PLM monthly newsletter.  This newsletter is in direct response to the countless conversations we’ve had with engineering and manufacturing companies on their approach to product lifecycle management (PLM).    

The conversations exposed a common frustration with the practicality of PLM, confusion about its role in the organization, and ultimately the value it would deliver.  This frustration is exacerbated by the constant demand for improved efficiency, meeting schedules and delivering quality. And yet, in the midst of this all, most acknowledge that there’s room for improvement.  But how do you make real changes with so much in motion?

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