IBM and Dassault Systemes Enhance the PLM Capability of CATIA V4 with CATIA V4 SmarTeam Integration

Seamless integration between CATIA V4 and SMARTEAM simplifies storage and management of product design data

IBM and Dassault Systemes announced the release of CATIA V4 SMARTEAM Integration (STI), a CATIA V4 solution that integrates the product data management (PDM) capabilities of SMARTEAM.

CATIA V4 STI extends the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) capabilities of CATIA V4 by enabling users to manage and share CATIA V4 product design data company-wide throughout its entire product life cycle. The integration and management of CATIA V4 data in SMARTEAM permits users to work in a mixed CATIA V4/V5 environment, streamlining the transition toward CATIA V5. Both CATIA V4 and V5 data are stored in a single, secure database model and can be used for digital mock-up (DMU) reviews.

"This new integration is a great opportunity for existing CATIA V4 customers to further extend into 3D PLM by leveraging SMARTEAM's out-of-the box capabilities to store, manage and share all information related to an engineering project," said Patrick Michel, Entry 3D PLM R&D Director, Dassault Systemes. "SMARTEAM offers a powerful, cost-effective, and rapid solution for all PDM needs ensuring data integrity, tracking revision history while saving valuable search time."

CATIA V4 STI is simple to install and learn, enabling users with little to no experience in PDM to master the system with minimal training. In addition to CATIA V4 STI, customers can implement the entire SMARTEAM portfolio of business collaboration solutions including workflow capabilities, integration with most legacy systems, and seamless data replication between multiple locations.

SmarTeam Announces Expanded EAI and Support for Universal Platforms with SmartGateway 2.0

Connectivity to leading ERP, CRM and SCM applications drives the value of product data across enterprise systems

SmarTeam Corporation Ltd., a Dassault Systemes company and leading provider of innovative Product Lifecycle Collaboration solutions, announced the release of SmartGateway V.2, expanding SMARTEAM EAI connectivity through universal standards to a broad range of enterprise systems.

SmartGateway seamlessly integrates with vital applications, enabling revision management, change control and collaboration across the extended enterprise, and driving higher levels of business efficiency and profitability. SmartGateway facilitates the bi-directional exchange of mission-critical enterprise data and processes, optimizing access and transfer of the latest Parts data, Bills of Material, Change Processes and Documents, across engineering, manufacturing, logistics, customer service and other legacy systems.

"SmartGateway significantly reduces the time to prepare and send BOM information to manufacturing," said Alexander Xu, manager of engineering at ABB Xiamen Switchgear in China, one of ABB, Ltd.'s most profitable groups. "Done manually, the BOM used to take weeks to do and considerable time was spent correcting mistakes. Now the automatic process takes place in just minutes and is virtually error-free. This dramatically reduces lead time and improves design quality."

"By integrating now with Microsoft's Biztalk® Server, and soon with IBM WebSphere BI, SmartGateway is opening up mission critical product information to enterprise entities which traditionally have not had access to it," said Avichay Nissenbaum, executive vice president of marketing at SmarTeam. "By leveraging the power of SmarTeam, combined with bi-directional enterprise connectivity, SmartGateway speeds workflows, avoids redundant efforts, and improves communication across the extended enterprise."

SmartGateway provides an interoperability platform including business logic, filtering and triggering of events, and leverages the EAI middleware (mapping tools, business process modeling etc.) for complete scalability and to support multiple servers and applications. In addition to supporting existing SmarTeam ERP adapters to SAP and Oracle Applications, SmartGateway opens up a extremely wide range of enterprise systems to SmarTeam interoperability, including Peoplesoft, Baan, QAD, Ariba, i2, Great Plains, Seibel, and more.

Acknowledging that market responsiveness, cost control, and compressed cycle times are becoming prime drivers in the ongoing product development and change processes, companies are increasingly looking to optimize their business procedures by linking Product Data Management (PDM) systems to other Enterprise applications, including Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Planning (MRP), Customer Relationship (CRM) and other legacy systems. As such, SmartGateway serves as the glue that ties all enterprise systems together, enhancing efficiency throughout the product lifecycle.

SmarTeam Releases FDA Compliance Solution for Life Sciences

SmarTeam Corporation recently released SMARTEAM FDA Compliance solution to help medical device manufacturers speed products to market while ensuring compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 regulations.

Delivering products to market on time and on budget is particularly challenging in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries due to rigorous enforcement of FDA 21 CFR Part 11 regulations. The regulations govern the use of electronic identification and signatures, and data surrounding the manufacture of medical products for the US public health system. The regulations have reduced the clearance rate for new products. SMARTEAM FDA Compliance solution provides an affordable and rapidly implemented solution that manages and controls product data with respect to the federal requirements, empowering life science companies to reduce costs, improve productivity and cut time to market.

"A major challenge facing medical device manufacturers (MDM) and pharmaceutical companies today is how to minimize the delay to market caused by the regulatory environment," says Yuval Gaoni of E.G.O. Engineering & Operations Ltd. "By automating our client's processes and data management with SMARTEAM, they have been able to advance rapidly, avoiding delays in product launches and costly rework. Missing or inaccurate information in the development cycle can delay government approval or worse, result in warning letters that can stop production for extended periods of time."

"The challenges faced by the life science industry in bringing products to market are unique, with often complex products and intense competition, within a highly regulated environment," says Avichay Nissenbaum, executive vice president product marketing at SmarTeam. "Leveraging the power of SMARTEAM together with the FDA Compliance solution provides our customers in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries the key to alleviating strategic business and product development issues being faced today."

SMARTEAM FDA Compliance is a user-friendly, Part 11-compliant system that is tightly integrated to CAD design packages and which ensures control of documents throughout the product lifecycle. Covering requirements such as audit trail, enhanced security, electronic signatures and more, SMARTEAM FDA Compliance can be added on to any existing SMARTEAM system, or included with an initial purchase. SMARTEAM FDA Compliance comes pre-configured to FDA requirements so the installation is fast, with no need to program. Simple configuration tools adapt the system to meet unique business requirements.

Handling BOMs with Care

The timesaving advantages of managing product information digitally instead of with manual paper-based procedures are certainly well documented. Whereas hours might be spent manually searching or hand-copying data from one document to another, information can be shared almost instantaneously between PDM and ERP in developing timely and accurate bill-of-material (BOM) listings, for example.

The increased efficiency of such an integrated solution can shave days and weeks off design and production cycles. Such savings alone in swiftly passing this important data from engineering to manufacturing would certainly justify an investment in SmarTeam's electronic BOM, or eBOM as it's often called.

Time and cost savings are also realized when eBOMs are used in instantly exchanging the data via the Internet between different groups throughout the enterprise and across the supply chain. Such an approach allows manufacturing to quickly review the product configuration and get back to engineering with comments suggestions on improving the product's "buildability," for example. Procurement can also use SMARTEAM BOM to expedite the quote cycle with suppliers. All in all, the eBOM elevates the level of the bill-of-materials from simple parts list to a highly effective collaborative tool.

One primary but often overlooked benefit that's quite elusive to quantify in applications such as SMARTEAM BOM is that of avoiding the potentially enormous cost of simple transcription errors. In manual paper-based procedures, the risk of these mistakes is extremely high when you consider they way this work often is done.

Information may be kept on spreadsheets, workbooks, project report and other documents shoved in desk drawers, filing cabinets, or stacks of manila folders. Data therefore may be extremely difficult to find and often out of date. Moreover, it is not uncommon for people to hand-copy data such as part numbers from multiple lists by going line by line through the information and keeping track of where they are by positioning rulers, pencils, staplers, paperclips, and other assorted office items on the sheets.

These contrivances are highly resourceful but extremely precarious, and the work is tedious and nerve-wracking. Any momentary distraction, bump of the desk or other disturbance in a busy office could result in a serious mistake: a wrong digit in a part number, an outdated revision level for a drawing, or any manner of missing or incorrect data. One slip and you're done for, with the error rippling through countless downstream documents and processes from engineering to the shop floor and beyond.

Chances are, such mistakes would be caught somewhere down the line through diligent crosschecking and verification. They can then be corrected, usually at no small cost. But think about the potential danger if just one of these errors isn't uncovered, that a wrong part or material is specified, for example. The time and cost to correct such a problem once production begins is enormous. And if recalls or other corrective actions are necessary after the product is delivered, costs can be staggering in terms of warranty, service, liability and safety.

Using information technology solutions such as SMARTEAM BOM certainly doesn't guarantee all such errors will be entirely eliminated, of course. But when you consider the tremendous risk a company takes in relying on manual paper-based procedures, the cost of investing in this type of PDM technology seems miniscule compared to the huge damage a company can potentially incur by not using it.

The Hot and the New in CATIA V5!

MSC.Software has recently started to announce a new family of products under the banner MSC.visualNastran V5i. Seamlessly integrated into the CATIA V5 environment, these products will provide companies and their design teams with the scalable resources needed to enable them to focus on product performance while improving reliability and repeatability in their design process.

The new products are based upon the Dassault Systemes V5 Component Application Architecture (CAA) and have been developed in close partnership with Dassault Systemes. They give CATIA users integrated, scaleable access to MSC.Software's simulation tools and technology, increasing the opportunities to reduce design and testing costs throughout the product lifecycle.

Gateway Products enable CATIA V5 users to directly access the corporate simulation resources. Closely supporting the CATIA V5 portfolio, the current gateways provide direct access to MSC.Nastran and in-house proprietary systems using the STEP AP209 standard. MSC.Marc, ANSYS, and ABAQUS Gateways are available for customer testing and feedback and are scheduled for release in Q4.

Generative Products seamlessly integrate MSC Simulation solutions into the CATIA V5 environment. Currently available Generative Products include MSC.Nastran Generative (GPN), MSC.Generative Thermal (GTH) and MSC.Dynamic Designer. MSC.Generative Nonlinear (GNL) is also expected to be released in Q4. For more information on the MSC.visualNastran V5i product family, please visit http://www.mscoftware.com/products/.

What products have been announced?
With MSC.visualNastran V5i integrated solutions CATIA V5 users benefit from the world's leading Simulation Technology from inside their preferred PLM system. These highly functional products are seamlessly integrated into the V5 environment. They provide companies and their design teams with the scalable tools needed to enable them to focus on product performance while improving reliability and repeatability in their design process.

The five current members of the MSC.visualNastran V5i family include:

• MSC.Nastran Generative (GPN) enables CATIA users to directly access basic MSC.Nastran simulation capabilities in a fully generative way from within their familiar CATIA V5 Generative Structural Analysis (GPS) environment. It provides an integrated, generative and seamless integration between CATIA V5 GPS and MSC.Nastran.
• MSC.Generative Thermal (GTH) enables design teams to simulate complex thermal operating environments within CATIA V5. This fully integrated and fully generative solution enables the affects of heat transfer due to conduction and convection to be simulated.
• MSC.Nastran Gateway enables CATIA users to export the "run ready" MSC.Nastran input file as well as import and visualize the results of the MSC.Nastran execution without leaving their familiar CATIA V5 GPS environment.
• STEP AP209 Gateway enables CATIA users to transfer finite element information from CATIA V5 Analysis and Simulation environment to a STEP format, and demonstrates MSC.Software and Dassault Systemes' commitment to open systems.
• MSC.Dynamic Designer for CAA V5 allows dynamic motion simulation to be performed on CATIA V5 assemblies. Dynamic Designer Motion, the foundation for all other CATIA V5 Dynamic Designer products, will be able to create motion models from CATIA assemblies and kinematics, simulate the dynamic motion of the assemblies, and allow users to view animations and XY plots of resulting motion.

These highly functional products are seamlessly integrated into the V5 environment. They provide companies and their design teams with the scalable resources needed to improve reliability and repeatability in their design process. For more information on the MSC.visualNastran V5i product family, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com/products/.

What products are next?
Product plans for advanced simulation tools developed with the V5 architecture are well guarded. Existing members of the V5i family are intended for general purpose applications. MDI, now a part of MSC.Software, established a highly successful series of industry specific applications based on MSC.ADAMS technology. The flagship, MSC.ADAMS Car is used to evaluate the performance of full vehicle systems and sub-systems. .Starting in 2003 a new series of focused industry applications will start to be delivered using the V5 CAA architecture.

The first is based on a development project funded by a consortium of major automotive manufacturers. MSC.Dynamic Designer Suspension will provide a fully embedded Suspension Simulation tool in CATIA V5 that is fully interoperable with MSC.ADAMS Car.

Targeted for release in 2003, the product will support subsystem development, system integration and System testing/modification. News is guarded but rumors of further products in early 2003 will drive interest at coming MSC and CATIA user forums.

For more information on the MSC.visualNastran V5i product family, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com/products/.

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