Machinery companies adopt PLM software

UGS PLM Software lets distributed organisations develop, support and retire products as a single company by enabling real-time virtual collaboration and data sharing.

UGS PLM Software has experienced an increase in demand for its products among machinery companies around the world.

Nearly 15% of UGS PLM Software's customers now operate in the machinery industry, a percentage that the Siemens division expects to grow even further in the years to come The increased attention for PLM in the machinery industry does not come as a surprise, according to Paul Vogel, Senior Vice President and Managing Director EMEA, at UGS PLM Software, who cited globalisation as one of the primary drivers.

"According to various industry reports, in 2004, China superseded the United States as the most important market for machine tools and absorbed a fifth of the world's products in this area".

"Machinery manufacturers realise they must transform their organisations if they are to benefit from the many partnering and selling opportunities in these markets".

PLM is an enterprise strategy that brings together all knowledge, data and processes related to a company's products.

Among other things, it lets distributed organisations develop, support and retire products as a single company by enabling real-time virtual collaboration and data sharing among geographically-distributed teams.

European machinery manufacturers appear to be leading the transition to PLM.

"The attention for PLM among European machinery companies is understandable, as they were among the first to invest in offshore facilities", explains Henry Seddon, Vice President, EMEA Marketing at UGS PLM Software.

"In addition, the European machinery market, which used to be highly fragmented, has in recent years seen strong consolidation".

"Not only does PLM help these distributed companies to manage their product lifecycle, it also enables them to get the most out of their existing resources".

Despite the advantages for distributed organisations, it's not only large machinery companies that drive the shift towards PLM.

Of the customers UGS PLM Software has in the machinery industry, more than 80% have less than 100 employees.

"We believe many of these are specialised companies that serve a particular niche market".

"They use PLM primarily to innovate faster and complete more effectively", said Seddon.

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