Siemens & Microsoft transform PLM
Manual workflows + outdated tools = collaboration 📉
In today’s highly competitive, rapidly evolving landscape, the ability to bring quality products to market quickly and efficiently is crucial for enterprise companies. Too often, however, these companies use disconnected manual workflows and disparate point solutions to share vital product and manufacturing information with both internal and external stakeholders.
Using conventional tools and processes makes it challenging for enterprises to collaborate efficiently and risks delays in product development and market entry. Relying on self-managed infrastructure and unwieldy in-house software stacks exacerbates these issues by reducing workflow efficiency, thereby increasing costs. Managing scaling and maintenance manually drives up costs, too—and introduces significant data security concerns. In these scenarios, data generated at different phases of the product lifecycle becomes siloed, necessitating manual processes and workarounds to ensure that information about design changes and quality issues reaches the right stakeholders as soon as possible.
🔍 Siemens and Microsoft address customer needs
The challenges introduced by traditional collaboration practices led Siemens customers to demand greater flexibility and leading-edge capabilities from their product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. In response to this growing customer demand, Siemens and Microsoft have partnered to bring Siemens Xcelerator-as-a-service portfolio to Microsoft Azure, beginning with the Teamcenter X software for SaaS PLM to accelerate time-to-value for customers on their digital transformation journey. As a result of this partnership, customers can leverage the power of Azure OpenAI, in the latest version of Teamcenter X to collaborate more effectively and address inefficiencies across the product lifecycle, from design collaboration to manufacturing planning to service and maintenance—all while ensuring the security of intellectual property and product information.
⚙️ Azure and Teamcenter deliver advanced capabilities
The deployment with Azure delivers numerous enhancements to Teamcenter’s latest release including automated patching, update, and backup features alongside advanced Azure SQL MI (Managed Instance) functionality and security capabilities. These features reduce the manual workload for IT teams, enabling enterprises to reduce associated costs and use IT resources more efficiently. Azure’s infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) also allows companies the flexibility to scale their PLM environment based on current and evolving business needs without the added cost of purchasing new hardware or undergoing an extensive installation process. As a result, enterprises can adapt to new project requirements and facilitate growth without disruption.
Teamcenter on Azure also features robust security features, including advanced data backup, redundancy, and high availability through Azure NetApp Files—a high-performance storage service offered natively on Azure. The service provides low-latency access to data, which improves data management efficiency and enhances the user experience. Azure SQL Managed Instance, a scalable fully managed Platform as a Service (PaaS) database service that runs the latest SQL Server engine with high availability and security on Azure, can now also be used with Teamcenter.
The PaaS capabilities built into Azure SQL Managed Instance enable you to focus on domain-specific database administration and optimization activities that are critical for your business while Microsoft handles backups, as well as patching and updating of the SQL and operating system code, which removes the burden on managing the underlying infrastructure. Additionally, Microsoft Entra ID integration facilitates secure access to Teamcenter applications through single sign-on (SSO), which simplifies the login process and improves the user experience. The integration also improves security by centralizing identity management and applying consistent security protocols across the organization.
🤝 Teamcenter + Microsoft Teams = collaboration 📈
Siemens’ partnership with Microsoft provides enterprises with an Azure-enhanced version of Teamcenter integrated directly into Microsoft Teams. This integration will be powered by Azure OpenAI, which enables more robust collaboration across cross-functional departments by breaking down traditional communication barriers and eliminating data silos.
The Teamcenter for Microsoft Teams app leverages AI to interpret natural speech in multiple languages, enabling frontline workers to capture and share design or non-conformance issues in real time. This capability allows the app to automatically generate summarized reports and share them with the relevant stakeholders, streamlining communications between the shop floor and design teams. As a result, companies can execute design changes more efficiently and ultimately improve product quality.
In addition, the Teamcenter app for Teams democratizes access to PLM tools, enabling a broader range of Teams users to engage in design and manufacturing processes without disrupting their existing workflows. Such inclusivity ensures that stakeholders can access, track, and share the latest, most accurate product and manufacturing data whenever they need it. This reduces the risks of data loss and obsolescence that can occur easily with disconnected solutions. Teamcenter’s integration with Teams also facilitates more efficient workflows through direct notifications, which ensure that all stakeholders remain informed and align through the product development and manufacturing lifecycles.
🌐 Siemens and Microsoft drive digital transformation
Siemens and Microsoft, partners for more than 35 years, are committed to supporting their customers’ cloud journeys and empowering them to achieve their digital transformation goals. The integration of Siemens’ industrial solutions with Microsoft Azure illustrates this commitment by offering the advanced features and AI-driven capabilities that enable the seamless data sharing and collaboration today’s enterprises need to keep pace with the competition. Together, Siemens and Microsoft will continue to deliver cutting-edge functionality that enables customers to navigate every phase of increasingly complex product lifecycles with greater ease and simplicity.
For more information, visit:
Teamcenter X cloud PLM software | Siemens Software or Teamcenter X – Microsoft Azure Marketplace
No matter how you choose to deploy Teamcenter,
you get the same proven solutions designed to help you innovate faster.
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