With version 9.3, PROSTEP will be presenting the second major release of its OpenPDM platform for PLM integration, migration and collaboration this year. The main focus of its further development was, on the one hand, placed on improving connectivity to the ALM and ERP world and, on the other hand, enhancing the user-friendliness of the interfaces and reporting functions.
PROSTEP is currently developing a new connector to the application lifecycle management (ALM) platform codebeamer – the result of close collaboration between the ALM vendor Intland and our subsidiary BHC, which specializes in ALM/PLM solutions for electronics and software development. It is intended that the connector be released for OpenPDM 9.3 this year. The new version also includes connectors to the ALM solutions Polarion from Siemens and PTC Windchill RV&S (formerly known as PTC Integrity), to the ERP system from IFS, to the Primavera P6 software from Oracle, and to Cameo Teamwork Cloud from Dassault Systèmes. The Windchill connector has been extended and now also supports PTC Windchill’s REST interface.
New and further developments include further improvement of the export functions and the logic of the connectors to ensure that large data structures can be exported more easily and with a higher level of performance. It is also easier for users to respond to infrastructure problems and trigger automatic retry without administrator support. The mechanism can be managed more finely.
The new semantic check for Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) offers developers much better support when it comes to defining processes for data synchronization. If inconsistencies are identified, they are alerted to potential problems before the first test run with test data.
The representation of the process history has also been significantly improved, which is especially helpful when dealing with a large number of processes. They are displayed in the process report in graphical form, thus making it easier for developers to navigate the graphs and interact with the processes.
The file service in OpenPDM 9.3 now also supports the integration of cloud-native solutions such as AWS S3 buckets. In the context of Infrastructure as Code deployment, new and improved templates are available for automatically rolling out OpenPDM in an AWS or MS Azure virtual private cloud. Support is provided for the container solutions Elastic Container Services (ECS) and Elastic Kubernetes Services (EKS) from AWS, as well as Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS). Deployment can be carried out with proprietary languages like CDK as well as with Terraform.
With the presentation of Release 9.2 of OpenPDM, PROSTEP has also converted and released the special migration solution OpenPDM MIGRATE to the cloud-enabled technology. Thanks to microservices architecture and the separation of mapping engine and connectors, external migration tools from PLM vendors such as PTC’s Windchill Bulk Migrator can now be flexibly integrated.
OpenPDM MIGRATE is our toolset for data migration that has proven itself in numerous projects. With the new release, we are putting our proven methods and tools on a new technological footing. They enable loss-free migration from older PLM systems to the latest releases of PTC Windchill, Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE or Siemens PLM Teamcenter.
In the development of the new release, we have consistently focused on microservices, offering the full flexibility of the new software architecture to our customers. This makes it even easier, for example, to integrate migration tools from PLM vendors into our tool suite. One such tool is PTC’s Windchill Bulk Manager (WBM), which can be used to import user data into Windchill or export it from Windchill in one fell swoop using a variety of scripts.
In almost every migration, our customers have the requirement not only to move the data from the legacy system to the new one; they also want to enrich it with additional information from external sources such as a file or ERP system. We have built on this strength of OpenPDM in the new release. The software prepares this data, merges it, filters out unimportant information and thereby improves the data quality.
The prepared data can then be initially imported into a new Windchill system with high performance as a “big bang shot” via the Windchill Bulk Migrator. Subsequent updates and delta migrations continue to be performed using the familiar strategies with the proven OpenPDM connectors. The target system does not have to be shut down for these delta supplies or even later migrations of individual assemblies.
As a result of the pandemic, this year’s prostep ivip Symposium was once again held on screen. PROSTEP was nevertheless able to make a major contribution to the virtual event with its many offerings relating to digital product development and manufacturing. Our experts showed what they are made of with a wide range of presentations that have been made available to view on-demand on the symposium’s virtual platform.
Colorful shoes, passion and 100% commitment are what characterize Steven Vettermann, our expert in the field of traceability, a topic that received particular attention during the symposium. In recognition of his valuable work in ensuring the successful development of the Association and the symposium, he was made honorary member by the board. For many years, Vettermann was general manager of the prostep ivip Association and contributed greatly to driving its expansion in Asia.
But Vettermann’s involvement was not limited to accepting this honorary membership. In a humorous “Late Night Innovation Show”, he and other speakers gave participants a better understanding of his favorite topic, traceability, and explained how they can help make the complexity involved easier to manage.
Despite the pandemic, PROSTEP has gained a large number of new customer projects in recent months and steered other projects to a successful conclusion. Some examples of these can be seen on the symposium’s digital platform.
In his presentation, Frank Brandstetter, accompanied by a speaker representing the customer, explains the reasons for implementing an agile process model in the development of Daimler’s PDM landscape and describes the associated challenges, in particular with regard to harmonizing working methods.
Carsten Zerbst reports on the implementation of a new toolset for designing complex cruise ships at the MEYER Werft shipyards in Papenburg and Turku, which combines the Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform and the CADMATIC shipbuilding software. Our technology works in the background to ensure seamless integration of the system landscape.
In his presentation on “PLM Cloudification”, Mirko Theiss presents a project for migrating an existing on-premises data supply solution to the cloud. It is based on the new version of our OpenPDM integration platform, which is made available on the AWS cloud stack. This is the first example of a customer using OpenPDM in the cloud.
On the digital platform, we present not only interesting customer projects but also report on our involvement in research projects and the project work performed by the prostep ivip Association. For example, Josip Stjepandic familiarizes participants with a fully automated tool for creating digital twins for production systems, which can be used for the planning and analysis of facilities or for in-process monitoring. The solution was developed as part of the DigiTwin joint project. It is based on the use of 3D scan data, which is analyzed using object recognition and converted into simulation data.
The Association’s working groups have not been idle over the last months, as the presentations from the live event and the contributions available on the platform make clear. Our employees have made a major contribution to these efforts.
Together with other participants from the DDP project group, Torsten Schmied informs participants about the development status of the digital data package. DDP is a type of metastandard for the exchange of configured, linked engineering data and is intended to permit the creation of a cross-enterprise digital thread.
Andreas Trautheim and his colleagues from the Project Schedule Management (PSM) project group provide an overview of the progress being made in the field of cross-enterprise project management. The group defines processes, methods and interfaces for schedule management synchronization for companies that use waterfall, agile or hybrid project methodologies.
The aim of the Production Lifecycle Information Management (PLIM) working group, of which Stefan Just is a member, is to bridge the gap between the heterogeneous data sources involved in production process planning using a generic information model. In another presentation, Just reports on the work of the Additive Manufacturing Interfaces (AMI) project group, which is developing a specific data model and uniform semantics for the transfer of data for additive manufacturing processes.
The activities carried out by the Integrated Collaboration Framework (ICF) project group are explained by our colleague Tamara Hofmann. Among her other tasks, she is concerned with the development of a cross-domain ontology for interdisciplinary collaboration together with guidelines as to how this shared conceptualization can be implemented in companies.
The presentations from the live event and the specialist contributions in the platform’s on-demand library will be available online to symposium participants until 30 June.
What does PLM strategy look like in a world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA)? This was the key question addressed at the first PROSTEP CONSULTING DAY. In three live sessions, those participating learned how our capability-based PLM strategy consulting helps them master the challenges posed by digitalization.
It was the first time that we had organized the PROSTEP CONSULTING DAY. The coronavirus pandemic meant that the premiere had to take place online. We consider the high level of participation confirmation of our concept. The participants attended three sessions with different topics that were held at different times and professionally moderated by Julia Bauer. A quick online survey indicated that approximately 35 percent of those attending were from the automotive industry, followed by 16 percent from the mechanical and plant engineering industry.
In the first session, Dr. Martin Strietzel, head of Strategy and Processes, discussed together with colleagues the topics of the future that are of interest to the manufacturing industry and the challenges that digitalization poses to companies. The hype surrounding digitalization stems the fact that we now have at our disposal the technical capabilities required to utilize it in engineering, in the context of Industry 4.0 and for service purposes. However, an effective digitalization strategy is needed to respond to unforeseen events in an appropriate manner, said Strietzel. “The best answer to VUCA is VUCA, in other words vision, understanding, clarity and agility.”
PROSTEP believes that the digital product lifecycle, with focus on the digital twin, is a key element for getting to grips with the challenges posed in these times of VUCA. One of these challenges, especially for midsized companies, is the internationalization of development and production, said lead expert Peter Wittkop. Without a digital thread, there will always be incompatibilities due to the fact that the changes made to products and tools locally are not communicated systematically. This is why configuration management is becoming increasingly important. “In this context, configuration management refers to the traceability of product information, both horizontally throughout the product lifecycle and also vertically in terms of analyzing the impact that changes have on other domains.”
Companies are not only wrestling with internationalization but also with the transition from what was once a mechanical product to software-based systems, which entails further challenges such as interdisciplinary collaboration or digital validation and verification. Traceability is a key capability that makes it possible to start testing against product requirements early, said senior consultant Christian Buehler.
Complexity as a driver of digitalization
Increasing product complexity is a major driver of digitalization, as the customer presentation by Theegarten-Pactec made clear. The packaging machines for confectionery that the midsized company manufactures have, over the course of the past few decades, developed into complex mechatronic systems with a high proportion of electronics and software. The company is tackling topics like requirements management, systems engineering, agile software development and traceability to ensure that it can maintain its productivity and flexibility in the face of increasing complexity. PROSTEP is helping Theegarten-Pactec improve interaction between IT systems and processes and find an appropriate development plan for the application landscape.
Not only security but also PLM and ALM (application lifecycle management), the digital twin and digital continuity are the topics that are currently of greatest importance to companies. Digital business models are a key driver for the implementation of digital twin concepts, as senior consultant Dr. Lars Wagner explained using a number of different examples.
Digitalization also presents the IT organizations in the companies with new challenges. They have to provide the best possible support for the development of smart, connected products and interaction between disciplines by means of a shared development space, as senior consultant Marc Dreesen pointed out. To do this, the role played by IT in companies needs to be expanded. It must be seen as a proactive innovator that provides new solution concepts rather than merely a reactive service provider.
Customers’ specific needs, product features and business models are increasingly software-driven, as Dr. Steven Vettermann, Manager PLM VV, said during the second CONSULTING DAY session. “Therefore, if you want to be a winner, you need to master the creation of value with software.” The key achieving this is the combination of MBSE and ALM. PROSTEP is familiar with the strengths of the individual solutions and provides customers with support during strategic realignment and the introduction of new tools for ensuring traceability.
Concepts for end-to-end digitalization
In the second session, we presented solutions and concepts that help customers get to grips with end-to-end digitalization. PLM is not an entirely new technology, but it is the key to end-to-end digitalization and provides the basis for the digital twin, said principal consultant Dr. Mario Leber. An important aspect of the PLM concept is managing the different types of BOMs. In addition, cross-domain issues such as project and change management also need to be taken into account. And there are hot topics such as requirements management, which according to the survey is an important part of their PLM concepts for three quarters of the participants, as well as the topic validation and verification.
The challenge when it comes to requirements management is ensuring end-to-end digitalization both vertically between customer requirements and technical requirements as well as horizontally between the requirements of the individual disciplines, as the presentation by consultant Veronica Haber made clear. Her colleague, Kim Steinkirchner, explained the different steps involved in verification and validation from component through to system level. Relationships can only be identified if the relevant data sets are linked together consistently. That is the main purpose of PLM.
“The cloud, low-code, ALM – just how disruptive is PLM?” This is this question that Martin Strietzel attempted to answer. The biggest disruption is caused by PLM itself, he said, because the product lifecycle now encompasses a number of new topics, such as the Internet of Things for example, which plays an important role in the context of connecting service and feeding back information gathered in the field. But is that still PLM? Many PLM vendors have recognized the importance of IoT and have acquired companies or developed their own IoT platforms, said Strietzel. The increasingly dynamic nature of the market is due to the fact that the IoT market, for example, is ten times the size of the PLM market.
When it comes to SaaS or multi-tenant applications, the cloud is still underrepresented in PLM environments. This is gradually changing because companies’ confidence in terms of security has grown, said senior consultant Marc Dreesen. At the same time users have become more willing to adhere more closely to standards, while vendors have improved the adaptability and integration capabilities of cloud applications thanks to low-code and integration-as-a-service offerings. Almost everyone now has a cloud strategy, but their offerings are sometimes difficult to compare, which is why PROSTEP has created a corresponding checklist.
Capability-based procedural model
In addition to the ability of companies to change, also with regard to new business models, the future viability of their PLM architectures will be a major challenge in the coming years, said Peter Wittkop at the start of the third CONSULTING DAY session. The strategic combination of a methodological approach and PROSTEP’s wide-ranging PLM-specific know-how will be helpful when it comes to mastering these challenges together. Capability-based strategy development is used to achieve medium and long-term objectives, but it must also be able to respond in an agile manner when the objectives change.
Martin Strietzel and consultant Manuel Ratte explained to participants what PROSTEP’s capability-based procedural model looks like and how it relates to corporate strategy. In the context of enterprise architecture management, PROSTEP understands the PLM architecture to be a multi-layer model that examines processes, data integration and the applications based on a company’s objectives. The consultants use the construct ‘PLM capabilities’, which maps all the PLM-specific topics relevant to the product lifecycle, to make it easier to address the requirements on the three levels. The participant survey indicated that the PLM capabilities that pose a particular challenge to companies are requirements management, product structure management, configuration management and change management.
The capability-based procedural model is one of the core elements of PROSTEP’s consulting approach. As Manuel Ratte explained, the consultants define the actual and target statuses based on the PLM capabilities and in combination with the maturity model. They provide the basis for developing overall concepts regarding the required PLM capabilities, which are then merged to create a target architecture. Based on this vendor-neutral architecture, the consultants evaluate the potential systems and recommend the suitable solutions to the customers. During roll-out planning, they then determine together with the customers how the transition to the new world should be implemented.
Clear documentation of the requirements
Using a number of different examples, Mario Leber explained the work results and the concrete benefits that a capabilities-based consulting approach offers. Of particular value to customers is, on the one hand, the digital maturity analysis, an efficient methodology for classifying the individual subprojects and defining the digital roadmap. It is based on an assessment of the actual and target scenarios or a gap analysis of the PLM capabilities. On the other hand, customers could use PROSTEP’s requirements specification template to document and communicate all their requirements efficiently, individually and transparently.
One customer that has taken advantage of PROSTEP’s capability-based PLM strategy consulting services within the framework of a comprehensive PLM and SLM (systems lifecycle management) initiative is thyssenkrupp Presta AG. In an interview, project manager Klaus Brandner explained the project’s objectives and the challenges it poses and how PROSTEP is helping the company tackle them. The external consultants were particularly important during the orientation phase, when the diverse requirements of the departments involved needed to be harmonized. Their support, he said, made it possible to get to grips with this demanding task. “The most important contribution that PROSTEP made was to put an end to the stakeholders’ anxiety regarding the new topics.”
PROSTEP not only provides customers with advice when defining their PLM strategy, but also helps them with implementation. At the end of CONSULTING DAY, Peter Wittkop explained the further course of action to the participants. The aim is to implement the project objectives step by step to quickly achieve partial successes and exploit the benefits. This is why PROSTEP believes that an agile approach has proven its worth. Personal relationships and mutual trust provide the basis for collaboration in consulting projects.
If you would like to learn more about the challenges posed by digitalization and PROSTEP’s capability-based consulting approach, you will find the videos of the three sessions here. (Please note, the videos are only available in German.)
A growing number of companies are relying on agile approaches when developing their PLM systems to enable faster reactions to new market requirements. At the same time, they often want to outsource development activities to offshore partners for financial reasons. Two new white papers explain how PROSTEP supports customers when it comes to using agile methods and introducing agile methods in context of near- and offshoring.
Companies in the manufacturing industry must be ready to quickly respond to changing market and customer requirements. Therefore, they need PLM solutions that support this, for example by making the growing dependencies between software and electronics in connected systems more transparent or ensuring traceability for safety-critical functions. New approaches such as model-based systems engineering (MBSE) or virtual validation of system functionalities by means of co-simulations are needed. The entire PLM architecture must be geared towards change.
IT organizations must also adapt to reduce the time between new requirements and working-functionality implemented in the PLM-Systems. Waterfall or V-model are typically not appropriate to fulfill the dynamics required here. Too much time passes between the definition of requirements and their implementation; time during which the developers do not receive any feedback. They run the risk of developing software that fails to meet the needs of the users. Specifications are often cluttered with requirements and are difficult to change. Then, their implementation is based on the contracts and not on the actual benefits. These and other factors lead to extremely long project runtimes, which can delay the introduction of innovations into productive PLM operations by months and sometimes even years.
A growing number of companies have identified the weaknesses in their existing software development processes and have started introducing agile approaches or are planning to do so. When implementing agile methods, they not only have to decide on a suitable agile model but also find development partners who are able to go along with their agile approach. Furthermore, they have to challenge existing contract models, because in agile approaches, project scope is typically only fuzzily defined at the start of the project.
PROSTEP has been using agile approaches to develop its own software solutions for many years, and as a partner and supplier also brings this experience to bear on customer projects. We are currently involved in agile projects with numerous major customers in the automotive, shipbuilding, and other industries. In many cases, we assume overall responsibility for these projects as general contractor and coordinate subcontractors, be it on site at the customer’s premises or at an offshore partner.
“Our teams combine PLM expertise and hands-on experience with using agile methods. They know the strengths and weaknesses of Scrum, SAFe and other process models from experience gained in the field and can therefore actively help to shape agile transformation at the customer’s site and drive it forward,” says PLM manager Frank Brandstetter. He is the author of PROSTEP’s new white paper, which provides more detailed information about the challenges posed by agile PLM development. (English version available soon.)
The white paper on agile PLM development is complemented by a second white paper in which Rainer Zeifang, Chief Technology Officer Daimler Projects at PROSTEP, reports on his experience with the use of agile methods in nearshoring and offshoring projects. The main driver for the outsourcing development activities is the increasing cost pressure to which we and our customers are subjected.
PROSTEP has been working together with selected nearshore and offshore partners on both the development of its own software products and on customer projects for some time now. We also make use of nearshoring internally. For the past year, we have been maintaining a subsidiary in Wrocław, Poland, which uses agile Scrum teams to provide the development team in PROSTEP’s Berlin office with support in the context of software development projects for major automotive customers.
Agile approaches are compatible with nearshoring and offshoring, but they also amplify some of the challenges involved. The partners have to create a common understanding of the customer project and exchange know-how that is generally in the heads of the developers. They need to establish a uniform approach to ensure that the software being developed is consistent and enables a coherent user experience despite distributed teams and long distances. And they must break down obstacles to communication or find new forms of communication that are compatible with agile approaches.
As Zeifang explains, personal contact and interaction are crucial for project success. “At the start of the project in particular, it is important that the key players get to know each other personally in order to exchange know-how but also to understand what makes their counterparts tick, what is important to them, and how they work.” In the new white paper, he answers questions like: What advantages and disadvantages do time differences offer when it comes to agile software development? How should the distributed agile teams be structured? Does nearshoring and offshoring work with all agile process models?
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was not only PROSTEP TECHDAY 2020 that was held online this year but also almost every other event at which we normally make an appearance. In recent months, we have participated in numerous online events with presentations and virtual booths. The feedback was rather restrained: What our speakers missed most was contact with the other participants.
One of the events we have been attending for years is LiveWorx, where we demonstrate the solutions in our portfolio, and in particular our OpenPDM integrations to Windchill, Creo and the IIoT platform ThingWorx, to the PTC community. Although this year’s trip to Boston was canceled, our appearance was not. In one presentation, we demonstrated to participants how our integration platform can provide support for end-to-end digitalization in heterogeneous PDM/PLM landscapes and make data from different enterprise applications available in role-based ThingWorx apps. You can watch the video here.
The 3DEXPERIENCE Conference EuroCentral organized by Dassault Systèmes was also held online this year. Our participation in the event comprised not only a virtual booth but also two live presentations. In the first presentation, we explained to participants how our data exchange platform OpenDXM GlobalX supports 3DEXPERIENCE (3DX) platform users in the context of cross-enterprise collaboration. The second presentation focused on data migration. We used concrete use cases to demonstrate how companies can migrate metadata and CAD data from legacy systems to the 3DX platform in high quality with the support of PROSTEP’s experts and our OpenPDM integration platform. Several presentations were also made at our booth, including one on how 3DX can be incorporated in an EA-based PLM strategy.
Our PLM strategy consultants also responded to the constraints placed on their ability to travel by participating in online events. One highlight was most certainly the joint presentation given together with Bosch at the prostep ivip Symposium in which we presented the current status of the SetLevel and V&V research projects. The two projects deal with the question of how the traceability of simulation steps and results can be ensured when it comes to validating autonomous driving functions. A video of the presentation, which was also shown at the 6th Symposium Driving Simulation, can be found here.
At the same time, our consulting specialists made an appearance in the former plenary hall of the German Bundestag in Bonn as a sponsor of LeanIX EA Connect Days 2020, one of the most important conferences in the field of enterprise architecture management, which was a smart combination of physical and virtual event. In an interview, Dr. Martin Strietzel explains the role EA (Enterprise Architecture) plays in PLM and the digitalization of the product development process and what PROSTEP expects from its collaboration with LeanIX.
We gave a number of presentations at the NAFEMS DACH 2020 conference, which was ultimately held online following several postponements. The presentations covered a wide range of topics from the challenges posed by the digital twin to the role of simulation in the platform economy through to a concrete representation of end-to-end digitalization using the system model in systems engineering as an example. You can find out more about these topics in our white paper.
Some of our customers in the maritime industry like MEYER Werft and MEYER Turku are using the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to rethink their PLM architectures. Our shipbuilding experts made use of a variety of online activities to help them come up with new ideas. At a virtual booth at PI Marine USA, we showcased our integration platform OpenPDM SHIP, which connects shipbuilding-specific development systems with each other or with mechanical CAD systems and all the leading PDM/PLM and ERP systems. You can find more about this in our white paper.
We also presented the results of a cross-enterprise survey on the digital twin in the maritime industry at the start of the 5th Schiff&Hafen Maritim 4.0 conference, which was held online this year. Details of the study, which attracted a great deal of attention, will be provided in the next newsletter.
Online conferences can be rather tedious affairs. PROSTEP proved that it doesn’t have to be that way with its PROSTEP TECHDAY. The professionally moderated online sessions with short presentations about key new products and interesting presentations by customers offered participants a diverse and entertaining program. “The quality was almost as good as on TV,” said one of the viewers.
With almost 150 participants, this year’s PROSTEP TECHDAY was better “attended” than ever before. The response was extremely positive. Many of those participating congratulated us via e-mail on the “super event”, the great format, the professional support provided by TV and event host Julia Bauer and the informative and professional presentations by the speakers.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s customary meeting of the PROSTEP community took place on screen, to some extent like a TV series with three episodes and different protagonists. Each session kicked off with a brief review of what has been achieved since the previous TECHDAY and how PROSTEP is positioning itself as a partner for the digital transformation. There is no way around the cloud. According to Gartner, 75 percent of companies are navigating their way to the cloud, which is why we, too, have made our software solutions cloud-ready.
In cooperation with the DARZ data center in Darmstadt, we are making our OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange platform available as a SaaS model – an offering that is already in productive use at customers like OSRAM Continental and Valeo Siemens. The cloud offering is soon to be expanded to include additional services such as the data conversion service OpenDESC.com. We also have plans to offer PLM integration to an increasing extent as a service based on our cloud-capable OpenPDM product suite. To facilitate the deployment of applications in different cloud infrastructures, the company is working intensively on integrating technologies like Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift, said Udo Hering, head of Product Management.
Getting to grips with topics of the future is of strategic importance to PROSTEP, which is why we participate in numerous research projects. They play a key role in the context of developing new software products such as the OpenCLM traceability solution, which product manager Dr. Fabrice Mogo Nem presented to a wider audience for the first time at PROSTEP TECHDAY. As Dr. Mogo Nem pointed out, it is not merely another PDM/PLM system but a layer that makes the relationships between the information distributed across different data silos and domains transparent, thus reducing the amount of time and effort required to find information and ensure requirements regarding traceability are being met. OpenCLM will be available from July next year but can already be put to the test in a proof of concept.
Client for CAD data processing
OpenDXM GlobalX was the protagonist in the first session. In the current version 9.2, PROSTEP has expanded the new web interface to enable administrators to also perform all their essential tasks on the web, as Product Manager Daniel Wiegand explained. A new and powerful CAD client is now available to companies that want to use the data exchange platform without PDM/PLM integration. It analyzes the components stored in a directory and independently puts together the assemblies that are to be sent. The client also offers a convenient 3D preview function that allows the assemblies to be viewed prior to being sent. The OpenDXM Broker can be used to automate processes like data conversion.
We have expanded the range of PDM integrations offered to include a new plug-in for the 3D dashboard that is part of Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The plug-in makes it possible for multiple data sets to be sent in a single operation. The roadmap for the next version of OpenDXM GlobalX includes not only improving security functions using two-factor authentication but also another plug-in for the Teamcenter Active Workspace client.
Alexander Meier from the automotive supplier HBPO used the ECTR plug-in as an example to illustrate how quickly OpenDXM GlobalX can be integrated into the SAP landscape and how easy the solution is to use. HBPO develops and manufactures high-quality front-end modules, cockpits and center consoles for the automotive industry. Users at the company can not only create send jobs in their familiar interface but also receive feedback in SAP ECTR as to whether the job has been successfully transferred to the data exchange platform and the data delivered to the recipient.
Function for hollowing assemblies
TECHDAY’s second session focused on the automated provision of product data from PLM and ERP systems to downstream processes in manufacturing, assembly and service. Product Manager Timo Trautmann explained the technological transformation of PDF Generator 3D, which has become a powerful platform for converting 2D and 3D data into a wide variety of formats, to participants.
It not only allows 3D PDF documents to be created automatically but also makes it possible to publish 2D and 3D data in HTML5 format so that it can be displayed in a normal web browser. An agile release process ensures that customers are always able to use the latest CAD formats as input.
The session also provided participants with a brief overview of the standardization activities being conducted by the 3D PDF Consortium, of which PROSTEP is a member. Significant progress has been made, particularly with regard to ISO standardization of the PDF/ A-4e format as a standard for the long-term archiving of engineering data. The committee is also working on new topics such as the ability to embed native STEP data in 3D PDF documents so that it can be viewed directly with Adobe Reader. As Trautmann said, our roadmap includes support for this option as from version 10.1 of PDF Generator 3D.
One of the highlights of the current version is the new “hollowing” function, which makes it possible to automatically hollow out assemblies and remove components that cannot be seen when preparing them for spare parts catalogs. As Trautmann pointed out, this provides better protection for the know-how inherent in the assemblies. But PDF Generator 3D offers more than just the ability to generate product-specific spare parts catalogs at the touch of a button. The solution also supports change reporting when releasing new data sets by displaying changes made to the geometry or associated PMI information, e.g. tolerance specifications.
The presentation by André Hieke from Siemens Large Drives Applications (LDA) demonstrated just how versatile PDF Generator 3D is. The manufacturer of customized high-voltage motors and converters initially used our software to automate the creation of offer documents in the pre-sales phase. It is now also being used productively in housing manufacture. Siemens LDA thus provides both its own workers and external partners with manufacturing documents without any need for drawings. Unlike the JT technology, which was originally used for this purpose, the 3D PDF-based solution enjoys a high level of acceptance among users. It is therefore planned that it also be implemented in shaft manufacture and at other locations, as Hieke said.
OpenPDM with cloud-capable architecture
The highlight of the third session was the customer presentation given by Clifton Davies from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. The manufacturer of military aircraft uses our PLM integration platform OpenPDM in combination with Red Hat’s service bus architecture Fuse to export part information, manufacturing BOMs and work schedules from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform or DELMIA to the SAP ERP system and the MES system Solumina from iBASEt. The timeframe for the integration project was very tight and was complicated by a changeover to a different version of 3DEXPERIENCE, which PROSTEP carried out in less than 24 hours, as Davies said in praise. Lockheed Martin wants to use the solution to integrate other PLM systems such as Teamcenter and enable bidirectional data exchange.
As of version 9, PROSTEP has placed the architecture of the PLM integration platform on a new technological footing to facilitate cloud deployment, as Product Manager Mirko Theiß explained. The new process engine is based on the open source software Camunda and makes the graphic modeling of integration processes possible. The connectors can be used independently of the platform and communicate with it via REST APIs. Even though the OpenPDM 8.x versions will to continue to be supported, in the future we intend to place primary focus on the cloud version and also want to develop additional connectors for integrating production planning processes, software development and application lifecycle management (ALM).
We consider our first online TECHDAY a resounding success, even though we sorely missed face-to-face contact with our customers and interested parties.
If you did not have the opportunity to participate online and would like to know more about our solutions, the three sessions are available for viewing.
Due to the corona pandemic, we will be holding the traditional PROSTEP TECHDAY as online event this year so that customers and interested parties can find out about new products and news from our company without risk to their health. The live sessions will take place on November 17, 2020 and will be recorded. Please, save the date.
PROSTEP TECHDAY is the free forum for the PROSTEP community that takes place every two years. At the event, we regularly inform customers and other interested parties about important innovations in our range of solutions and present them with roadmaps for the further development of our software solutions OpenPDM, OpenDXM GlobalX and PDF Generator 3D. In addition, renowned users will give short presentations to the participants, explaining the benefits of our solutions in productive use.
On November 17, 2020, there will be three independent sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, so that participants will be free to choose whether to participate in one or more blocks. We will also be recording the entire event so that interested parties can watch it at a later date. The opportunity to discuss with the speakers will of course only be available when participating in a live session.
The PROSTEP TECHDAY will focus on our extended range of cloud-enabled solutions. We will explain how you can use our data exchange platform OpenDXM GlobalX with extended functions and integration solutions “On Premise” or alternatively as a SaaS (Software as a Service) model without any installation or operating costs.
We will present the newly developed MicroServices architecture of our OpenPDM platform, which supports PLM integration, migration and collaboration in a hybrid on-premise cloud environment. And we will present our solution for the automated generation of spare parts catalogs and the provision of service content on the Web. We will also give you a first insight into OpenCLM, our newly developed solution for cross-domain configuration lifecycle management and ensuring traceability in complex development projects.
The integration of cloud-based PLM applications in existing system landscapes is the biggest reservation companies have when it comes to cloud PLM. This is what the market analysts from CIMdata are saying. We believe that these concerns are unfounded.
The new version of our OpenPDM integration platform connects PLM and ERP systems securely and reliably, regardless of whether they are installed in the cloud or locally. Thanks to its modular architecture, independent connectors and the use of microservices, OpenPDM 9 is ready for use in hybrid cloud/on-premise scenarios.
OpenPDM 9 comprises the actual integration platform, which uses workflows to control the automated mapping of data and data structures, and standard connectors to widely-used PDM/PLM and ERP systems and other enterprise applications.
We have divided OpenPDM into smaller “pieces” and designed the mapping and process engine as separate microservices to support use of the platform in distributed software architectures.
Two major automotive suppliers have been helped by PROSTEP Inc. to close gaps in the control of the release of their intellectual property and to increase the security, traceability and user-friendliness of their processes with the OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange solution. Each company has purchased several thousand end-user licenses at a fraction of the cost of operating its own proprietary internal portals or other third-party MFT tools. One of the two companies focused on purchasing and ERP integration for the secure exchange of quotation data when using OpenDXM GlobalX. The other has deeply integrated the solution into the PLM environment to seamlessly send large CAD files to development and design partners.
Furthermore, PROSTEP Inc. has enabled one aerospace customer to publish highly configured TDPs for the rapid distribution of lightweight CAD data, parts lists and technical specifications. All data is combined into a single PDF package using PROSTEP’s PDF Generator 3D. Another project in the aerospace industry was aimed at improving interoperability between PLM, MES and ERP through a robust and distributed microservices-enabled Enterprise Server Bus in secure networks. The basis for this is the OpenPDM integration platform from PROSTEP.
In the space sector, PROSTEP Inc. integrated CAD and other product data from PLM and simulation data management systems for a customer. For another, the company started with a proof of concept for the MBSE federation between requirements, SysML and PLM systems. OpenPDM provides the backbone interoperability that coordinates workflow transactions between the systems of different software OEMs. The seamless synchronization of data between two different PLM systems to create the Digital Thread is the subject of a pilot project in the defence sector that will last several years.
“I am proud of the entire PROSTEP team and especially of our team in North America,” commented Karsten Theis, CEO of PROSTEP AG, on the successful fiscal year of PROSTEP Inc.
“In 15 years of our presence in North America, we have built an incredible portfolio of products and technical capabilities to meet the increasingly complex needs of our customers. This has enabled us to fire from all pipes in 2019”.
Commenting on the impact of COVID-19, Theis said: “Fortunately, at the beginning of the pandemic, we had already completed most of our U.S. business for fiscal year 2019 and were in the final stages of delivery. The real test will be the course of the year 2020/2021. Several projects have been delayed, but we hope that they will soon pick up speed again. Like all companies, we are adapting to the new normality of working from home”.
Shortly before the pandemic, PROSTEP Inc. rented larger offices, almost doubling the company’s working space. To date, however, US employees have not been able to work in the new offices for a single day because the move-in date coincided with the first lockdown in Michigan at the end of March. Now they hope to inaugurate the new offices in early 2021.
PROSTEP Inc. was founded in 2006 in Birmingham, Michigan, right in the heart of the US automotive industry. Over the past 14 years, it has made a significant contribution to strengthening our footprint in the North and South American markets. It has become a recognized partner in the areas of data exchange, PLM integration and 3D PDF-based communication for companies in the automotive, aerospace and defense industries across the pond. Not least thanks to our US subsidiary, we are now able to successfully handle larger global projects.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of the PROSTEP Group headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, PROSTEP Inc. does not publish independent financial information. Customer names are also kept confidential upon customer request.
