IBM Corp. and Dassault Systemes today released a new product lifecycle management (PLM) application suite that enables small and medium-sized (SMB) industrial machinery product manufacturers to improve design productivity and time to market by reusing data, designs and knowledge from previous projects.
The long-time partners' Generative Mechanical Design (GMD) product is delivered through Collaborative Generative Design (CGD), a key component of the IBM PLM Express Portfolio. The PLM Express portfolio is aimed primarily at SMBs, with prices starting at $10,000, said Stephan Clambaneva, global industry marketing manager for industrial products at IBM, in an interview.
GMD is not the only product on the market for industrial equipment or SMBs. Both UGS Corp. and PTC, rivals of Dassault in the PLM space, have been in the industrial machine space for many years and both also target SMBs (as has IBM/Dassault with a PDM initiative).
"[GMD] can be scaled based on the needs of the client. SMBs are suffering from many challenges," such as product portfolio management, the inability to reuse existing designs, and accessing information and knowledge that has already been developed in the company, he added.
GMD consists of Dassault's CATIA V5 design and knowledge management and SMARTEAM collaborative product development and standardized parts repository applications. The accompanying Generative Design Practices (GDP) tool provides training materials and sample product templates for learning about and implementing a generative design approach.
GDP helps companies to accelerate the entire product design by capturing and reusing design knowledge, automating repetitive design tasks, using a defined set of design rules and standards, and enhancing collaboration among design, simulation and manufacturing.
GMD is also scalable for manufacturers operating in more than one location or region. "A major trend that we are seeing is the need for SMB clients to be able to face competition from emerging countries," Clambaneva said. "They are outsourcing from other parts of the world and they need to be able to design products in all time zones."
Some early adopters of GMD have shown impressive results. Sanyo Machine Works, Ltd., a global provider of industrial automation systems, has been using GMD since 2002 when it launched the "Sanyo Machine Digital Innovation, Initiative, Integration" project.
By using GMD, Sanyo Machine Works has seen an increase in profitability stemming from a 50% reduction in overall development time, a 25% reduction in parts inventory, as much as a 40% decrease in errors at final assembly stage, and a 60% reduction in pallet manufacturing time, according to a statement from IBM and Sanyo.
"Introducing the GMD solution gave us a technical advantage over our rivals and helped us become more competitive through innovative product development," said Keita Horiba, managing director, Sanyo Machine Works, in a statement. "We have given this project top priority. Regarding design quality, we have achieved remarkable results. ... In addition, we can respect increasingly severe customer demands to cut lead time."