Find out why CEO Chuck Grindstaff is excited for 2014 in this podcast
I recently caught up with our president and CEO Chuck Grindstaff to record our latest podcast. We happened to be in the same city at the same time so there is video to boot.
I noticed Chuck uses the word “excited” a lot in this conversation. When you listen to him explain the breadth and depth of what our employees and customers are working on, it’s easy to understand why.
It is an exciting time in PLM. We’ve got rockets and rovers, red arms and green wheels, wind turbines and fire, beautiful ships, teeth and even beer!
Catch the full 25 minute audio podcast.
You can also watch these video sound bites below.
In part one of our conversation, Chuck shares his thoughts on important 2013 announcements. He focuses on the roll out of our Catalyst Series. We also discussed our openness strategy in light of last year’s Belmont announcement.
“It’s good to see a repeat customer. Every entrepreneur has a choice to build their own – make or buy from alternatives…it’s good to see them back as partners.”
Other key product announcements in 2013 included NX 9 with fourth generation design (4GD), Teamcenter Rapid Start, and Solid Edge ST6.
At our last employee town hall, Chuck noted that product complexity has doubled in the past 15 years while product lifecycles have shortened 25 percent. He shares how we are helping our customers with software to address this product complexity and speed through technologies like 4GD, systems driven product development and active workspace.
Chuck calls 4GD “a breakthrough in performance and scale”. Much like the breakthrough that synchronous technology was for design, 4GD is for assembly.
Chuck’s computer science background comes out in an analogy he uses to explain where the PLM industry is at today. In part two of our conversation, I asked him to explain what he means by PLM “capturing the science of the product” and how we have “mapped the [product] genome”. He highlights how the acquisitions of LMS and Perfect Costing were important to this vision.
In part three of our conversation I ask Chuck to comment on our increased focus in supporting the next generation of engineers and computer scientists.
“Our customers are very anxious to bring on engineering talent that really understands the practical side of things as well as the theoretical side. So by engaging with the universities, we feel we can help bridge the gap…It’s not just throwing software over the fence…I have a very strong view that we as an organization need to stay engaged with these universities and help them with curriculum development and help with execution of the next generation of engineering education.”
In case you missed some of our 2013 academic news, we launched a free parts portal through CADENAS and new online learning courses to augment the classroom. We also announced new academic partners in the U.S., China and Germany to name a few.
Finally in part four of our conversation Chuck shares his thoughts on the thriving manufacturing sector around the globe and the future of PLM in manufacturing. He discusses the significant economic value add from manufacturing. He also discusses the “very vibrant community” he has seen in our customer base this past year.
I spoke with Chuck just before our acquisition of TESIS PLMware so our podcast did not cover that news. More on that next time. Until then, please leave a comment with any questions you’d like me to ask Chuck.
I’ll leave you with one other interesting interview with Chuck last year. Verdi Ogewell interviews PLM CEOs in a Battle of the Visions series. See why Chuck says “we’re not a flash in the pan kind of company” in this interview on how Siemens gets the core of PLM right.
