9 Key Business Factors Driving the Manufacturing Industry

It is no surprise and nowadays perhaps even a cliché to reiterate that: Manufacturing organisations strive to create MORE innovative products and increase their portfolio, combined with FASTER time-to-market and increased productiv...

From Planning to Validation: Putting CAE Back Into Engineering

Simply put, Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) is the process of solving complex engineering problems through the use of sophisticated, interactive graphical software, coupled with mathematical models and optimisation systems. The true val...

Leveraging Knowledge-Based Configuration for Effective Kit Validation

Effectively product configuration is essential to achieve mass-customisation and equally to satisfy ever more demanding customer requirements. Mass-customisation aims at satisfying the specific needs of individual customers with mass-pro...

Design for X, Where X = Everything

“Design for X” (DFX) is not new (it was introduced over 30 year ago). DFX stands for detailed design techniques aimed at improving the product lifecycle efficiency, productivity, quality, flexibility, resource optimisation, etc. It bring...

PLM in the Cloud: Can One Size Fit All?

Cloud is a hot topic these days. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and PDM/CAD solutions are no exceptions to that – many are now available on Cloud infrastructure and pay-as-you-go (PLM/PDM/CAD software-as-a-service). However, one shou...

How Augmented Reality Is Transforming Manufacturing

Virtual Reality (VR) vs Augmented Reality (AR)  Connected devices and wearable products are now everywhere in the consumer electronics industry. They are not new – they’ve been around in various forms for almost forty years.   VR and A...

Smart and Non-Significant Part Numbers: Why We Need Both to Coexist

Part numbers and bills of material Bills of Material (BoMs) are the lifeblood of product creation – from a wider perspective, BoMs mature as the product evolves: from concept to development, prototyping, start of production, launch, serv...

How Effective NPI and Product Platform Strategies Create Competitive Advantage

Developing and launching a new product require creativity, collaboration and accuracy, but also discipline and rigor. New Product Introduction (NPI) frameworks cover business case for a new product concept or idea to a market reality, ty...

Effective Requirements Engineering: Science or Art?

Typically, requirements are defined as follows: A function that the product or process must have, or a process must do (e.g. a functional attribute like the ability to sign-off the approval of an Engineering Change Notice or ECN followin...

The Reluctant Engineer: a Love-Hate Relationship with PLM

By definition (according to the Oxford dictionary), an engineer is: A person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or structures. A person qualified in a domain or industry of engineering, especially as a professional: eg ...