If you buy into the idea of using Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) to improve design efforts, but you're turned off by the cost and hassle of adapting one of the standard systems to your specific needs, here's a heads-up: Design News has learned that EDS PLM Solutions later this year will break away from the PLM-industry practice of developing plain-vanilla products and release versions of its Teamcenter PLM suite designed for specific industries. Initial targets: automotive, aerospace, medical, consumer packaged goods, electronics, and industrial equipment. The strategy is a takeoff on the approach Microsoft and Oracle, among other companies, have adopted for some of their products. EDS admits that a hint of its customization strategy was in the architecture for the PLM product it developed for technicians at Tinker Air Force Base. That product, specifically designed for the Tinker application, will run on a tablet PC and give engineers access to reliability and maintenance data technicians gather in the field. Engineers can use that info to make the next generation of aircraft better. Feedback like that is the whole point of PLM. Now that EDS will make the process industry-specific (i.e. easier to implement), more companies may be interested. If so, look for other PLM vendors to follow suit.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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