How do ENOVIA, PLM Express, SmarTeam, TeamCenter and Windchill compare?

I'm trying to compare Enovia V5, Enovia V6, v5 PLM Express, V6 PLM Express, TeamCenter, and WindChill. Are there any articles out there that compare these different PDM/PLM systems? I am looking for a system that can do many things:

* Seamlessly work with Enovia, SmarTeam, TeamCenter and Windchill

* Can handle a wide variety of Mechanical CAD packages - CATIA v5, CATIA v6, Solidworks, NX, Autodesk Inventor, Solid Edge, ProEngineer (PTC Creo), Microstation, AutoCAD

* Can easily migrate legacy data into CATIA v6

* Is fully integrated into CATIA. Doesn't need translators

* Is effective at handling workflows, signoffs, effectivity, BOM changes, ECNs, relational v5 design, configuration.

* No lag time from the latest version of CATIA v5

Lot of people prefer Enovia PLM with CATIA simply because of the deeper integration it provides and the fact that both of them are from the same vendor. I’ve seen some companies try to use other PLM systems like Teamcenter or Windchill with CATIA but the CAD integrations are usually provided by third-party vendors and not from Dassault directly. Windchill uses CATIA Workgroup manager and Teamcenter uses TCIC to integrate with CATIA. Teamcenter or Windchill PLM provides a multi-CAD experience utilizing JT format which is a plus. There are lot of features to look beyond CAD when choosing a PLM for your enterprise. For example: BOM management, Change and Configuration management, Workflow features, Architecture(Thin vs Thick clients), Integration with other enterprise systems like ERP, Licensing model, Visualization, Supplier collaboration, Customer base, Platform(cloud base, SaaS …) etc.

 Below articles might help you with the selection process:

http://www.aras.com/PLM-Software-Comparison/

http://beyondplm.com/2014/01/17/7-rules-for-selecting-plm-software-in-2014/

https://www.g2crowd.com/categories/plm

http://ketiv.com/files/Top%2010%20PLM%20Report%202014_0.pdf

Hi Jeff,

I agree with Shashikanth Vemula a PLM system is much more than just a database to store and "manage" CAD files.

However, you say that you are looking for a system that can work seamlessly with Enovia, SmarTeam, TeamCentre and Windchill.  What is your company strategy? If you company have those 4 softwares in production, I would consider to consolidate with one of them. ie evaluate the most suited one and migrate the 3 others. From your question I understand what you are looking at a 5th one what would need to integrate with those existing four.

Most PLM systems can integrate with various CAD platform (here again in an ideal world, the company should try to consolidate on one and then manage the legacy, rather than trying to keep live all those formats).

However, despite most PLM systems having a degree of CAD integration they are not all the same. This goes from the integration with the CAD interface (ie you have Check Out/In button from the CAD interface) to how the database manages the CAD relationships, (assemblies files, as you know, can be very complex in term of relationships with the dependent files) to creating correct vizualisation for non CAD users.

I recall an evaluation I have done in 2012 between Windchill and SAP PLM. Windchill was already live in that company and had hundreds of thousands of ProE/Creo CAD files. The company was using 3D drawings (models including all the dimensions directly in 3D with tolerances etc...) as well as advanced features such as inheritence, family tables, UDF.  Despite nice presentation from SAP showing the integration with ProE. When it comes to our more complex files dependenices, SAP has been unable to maintain integrity and provide correct vizualiation.

I would not say a PLM system should be chosen based on the CAD software a company use, there is a bonus of having the CAD and PLM from the same vendor. This is where you can get the highest degree of integration.

This said, as mentioned above, CAD while important is only one part of managing the life cycle of a product. Having a holistic view and a clear PLM strategy should highlight what is really important for the business.

There is a case study 

https://www.engineering.com/PLMERP/ArticleID/7438/Inside-Daimler-Mercedes-Switch-from-Dassault-Systemes-to-Siemens-PLM-and-NX.aspx

That shows that companies considering their complete PLM environment will consider CAD as one element and if the PLM system is more important than the CAD, they will not hesitate to switch CAD.

In the case of the above case study, Daimler considered that there PLM system was more important than CAD, The new version of their CAD, was not compatibility their PLM. So it was either changing PLM to one compatible with their new version of CAD, or changing CAD to one compatible to their PLM.

Hope this helps