Live from Boston – Velocity Launch

OK, so it’s not quite live from New York, but this is the first attempt at live blogging on the Siemens PLM Blog. The Velocity launch event is about to start. Hopefully I will be able to keep up!

2:42 PM The analysts and media are shuffling back in after a little cookie and cola snack break, ensuring that they will be wired for the next 2 hours.

2:45 PM The lights go down, the music fades and the launch video from Hannover fair starts up

2:46 Bruce Boes takes the stage and introduces the fact that we will be simul-casting this event in Second Life on Siemens Innovation Connection. He looks much better in SL that RL

 

2:48 “The basic tenants of Velocity Series are the same as when we launched it nearly 3 years ago – low TCO, easy implementation, based on Microsoft platform.”

2:51 “PLM is the only system that can simultaneously increase the top and bottom lines.” Makes it somewhat recession proof.

2:53 90% of velocity business goes through channel partners. 80% of our partners carry multiple velocity series products.

2:55 Case study on Conn-Weld Industries – design time reduced by 66%, design output increased 5x. A former Autodesk user.

2:57 Going through rest of portfolio: Teamcenter Express, FEMAP and CAM Express. adding more and more capabilities and becoming more and more integrated – all the low TCO and ease of deployment still in place.

3:02 There’s been a disturbance…”Answer Man” has just taken control of the stage and is arguing with Bruce. “You’re just a powerpoint jockey” Answer man seems to be a cross between something out of a Monty Python Sketch and half the characters from The Office.

3:04 Dan Staples (“the real answer man”) joins Bruce on stage and explains that the real problem with design tools today is that they make the user plan how to design as well as construct the actual design. Synchronous Technology allows the user to focus completely on the construction side without worry about how they are building models and the possible implications for future use. “The order of construction is independent”

3:08 “Synchronous Technology allows adding or redefining constraints / dimensions on the fly”

3:11 Features are stored in a collection so you can reorder features without any regeneration time penalty – as soon as you make a change it is reflected.

3:13 Bruce is now back with Dan and giving an example of a change that was reduced from 3.7 minutes to 5 secs in support of the 100x faster claim. The value there is only for the individual engineer, the value to the extended enterprise is far greater due to faster time to market and reduced time to change.

3:15 Answer man is back…this guy is priceless. “Make people think slower instead of making changes faster.”

3:18 Back to Dan and Bruce. The system infers based on the shape of the model what the user wants to select; the user has control, but the system is right more often than it is wrong.

3:21 “Live rules can look at a model regardless of where it came from and can find the appropriate geometric conditions to apply”

3:25 With procedural features users can edit dimensions directly, in relation to one another or in a table. Each change is solved for directly – “all of the changes are order independent”

3:29 There are no parent child relationships

3:35 Quick video showing comparison between traditional modeling and synchronous technology

3:36 The key to all of this is the synchronous solve – no one else has the ability to solve for all elements at the same time.

3:39 There are no special or limited set of tools that have to be used with imported models – it’s all available regardless of model source.

3:41 Live demo of imported geometry from Autodesk, Solid Works combined with a native Solid Edge part. All 3 parts can be adjusted simultaneously – not possible in other systems.

3:45 A side benefit of Synchronous Technology is that it makes editing 3D parts as easy as editing in 2D.

3:49 Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology has another big change designed to improve user efficiency: the adoption of the Microsoft Ribbon UI as first appeared in Microsoft Office 2007. In beta testing it has proven to be a benefit to both new and expert users.

3:52 And now another little interruption – this time from a man in a giant balloon.





4:00 Brant McGnee and Cory Goulden from National Steel Car are now taking the stage to talk about their use of Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology in the beta program

4:02 National Steel Car makes box cars, well cars, coil cars, pellet hoppers and jigs. All of them are designed and modeled in Solid Edge before they are manufactured.

4:05 They have 30 floating licenses that are used by 40+ users

4:06 SolidWorks was initially chosen and after all parts were loaded in, it failed to create needed features in the models.

4:07 Cory – “Even in it’s infancy, Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology is very useful.”

4:11 “Using Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology I don’t have to be a ‘part therapist’ – we can go directly from the final interation to production without additional rework steps.’

4:17 Bill McClure, overall Velcoity products lead taking the stage now to give updates on Teamcenter Express, FEMAP and CAM Express

4:19 Teamcenter Express Version 4 adds two brand new capabilities: integrated project management and a shop floor viewer.

4:25 FEMAP has revamped surface and solid engines to deal withe more problematic models and added new 3D automatic meshing techniques.

4:32 With CAM Express we are delivering a product that is CAD Neutral and can take advantage of new advanced machining – 3 and 5 axis machining as well as multi-function machining capabilities

4:37 CAM Express will also take advantage of Synchronous Technology by enabling edits to be made, for example when specific features aren’t part of the machining step the NC programmer is working on

4:39 Bruce is back on stage introducing last customer presenter: Mangesh Kale from Pari Robotics

4:42 Pari produces robotic systems for automotive and aerospace markets – gantries, plasma cutters

4:44 Pari’s business is growing 70% YOY and is focused on a mass customization business

4:48 “Our growth is only limited by the amount of designs we can produce, therefore there is a constant focus on design throughput.” Pretty clear why they are a Velocity Series user.

4:52 PLM Journey started in 2000 with a move from 2D to 3D approach. Next came a focus on standardizing modules and units (commonization and reuse), finally a PLM selection team was started in 2007.

4:53 Key capabilities required for their PLM system: fit the product philosophy to PARI’s working methodology, technical capability and specs, scalability, maturity of the product, scalability and flexibility of the the solution provider, support infrastructure of the solution provider, ease and speed of deployment and lastly cost.

4:57 have 200 seats of Solid Edge and 350 Teamcenter Express currently in production

5:00 Results achieved include 85% reduction in the amount of CAD data stored due to elimination of reduction data, data inconsistencies reduced y 90%, design workflows increases transparency, design time reduced by 40%

5:02 “Once deployed Velocity Series will be the single highest return on investment that we have made”

5:04 Bruce back up on stage and wrapping up. That’s all folks!