PLM Blog - Aras User Blog : Open Source PLM

Who’s A Member Of The Aras Open User Club?

Jennifer — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:08:00 GMT

Are you currently using Aras PLM software? Are you doing so without an annual subscription from Aras? If you answered “yes” to both of these questions, Congrats! You are indeed an Aras Open User.

There are countless successful Aras open source users across the globe but the question I’m asked most often is: Where did they start?

Well, every story is different, but here are some similarities I’ve seen over the years…

First, they knew they needed a flexible, web-based solution that was easy to use and easy integrate with other systems. Going it alone means managing changes, growth and expansion yourself, so the easier and more intuitive the system, the better.

Then, after downloading the software, there is a common “What’s next?” moment.

This means it’s time to roll up your sleeves. Go to the self help section, absorb all of the information on our website, watch demos, check out the forums and learn all about the capabilities of Aras. Share this info with members of the tech team and eventual users to help them get familiar with Aras.

Next, you need a roll out plan that includes how you intend to get everyone on board. The good news is that once your users understand their roles and how this powerful tool is going to help them get more done faster with better information, there will be no stopping them. Check aras.com for tips on roll out plans too.

When it comes to implementation, remember that just like our subscribers, Aras open users have full control over their Aras system. You can tweak it, share it, give it to as many users as needed – no need to ask permission. And you always have control over your data. In short, you have all of the power of an enterprise PLM solution with no license or subscriptions fees.

A few examples: Phoenix International, Amtech Electronics, and of course MiTek – with Kevin Friske, the “original” Aras Open User.

For the past 5 years or so, MiTek has been using Aras PLM software to ensure quality and unify, automate and centralize their product information across legacy systems and business units. As a growing company, MiTek’s needs were constantly changing and Aras allowed them to make the necessary changes while keeping all of the information in one place.

Don’t forget to check out the latest Open User to stand up and tell their story, Looxcie, posted last week on the Aras user blog.

So what do you think? Are you an Aras Open User? Tell us the story of how you chose your own destiny!

Have a Little Looxcie At This Hot Company’s PLM Success

Jennifer — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:28:00 GMT

Have you ever seen something really cool that you wish your friends could see too? Looxcie, Inc., makers of the first ever handsfree social video cam, allows users to do just that – share POV video in real time. This small hands free video cam pairs with your smart phone’s Looxcie companion apps allowing users to remain fully engaged in whatever they’re doing and share as they go.

Whether users are backpacking through Europe or filming their child’s first birthday, they can easily stream real time video to anyone in the world. Or they can capture, edit, clip and post footage instantly to share with family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Of course this hot company uses Aras Innovator as their PLM software and refers to it as their “golden vault”. Jerome Pereira, Vice President of Operations explains, “Using the Aras PLM software has been a great fit for us. The ‘out of the box’ capabilities allowed the company to start using the software right away.”

As a successful Aras Open User, Looxcie has been deploying the software independently for over a year now. Today, Looxice primarily uses the Aras for part and BOM management. As their company expands they plan to continue to expand their use of Aras for enterprise wide PLM.

Are you an Aras Open User too? Tell us your story! Reach out at info@aras.com.

To learn more about the world’s first handsfree social video cam visit the Looxcie website at www.looxcie.com.

Aras ACE 2012 International - Highlights

MarcL — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:34:00 GMT

Download Slides >>> ZIP of ALL ACE SLIDES (warning, it's 30 Meg)

It was great to be back in the Detroit area, Troy Michigan, for ACE 2012 International. Our theme is “Be Different” which emphasizes how enterprises use Aras to differentiate, innovate and compete on process superiority.

It was our largest ACE ever with 300+ registered and sold out sponsorship. On behalf of all of us here at Aras, I’d like to personally thank everyone that joined us for making it a really great conference, and special thanks to the presenters and sponsoring partners.

The agenda was loaded with corporate case studies where leading companies shared how they are addressing their most complex challenges with our advanced PLM platform & solutions.

We had business and technology professionals from around the world that came to learn and collaborate on PLM best practices with Aras from global product development to outsourced manufacturing and systems engineering complexity.

Twitter users can see ACE conference comments at #ACE2012.

While we’re not able to bring back the energy from the conference (if you want that, you’ll have to come next year), what we can do is share some highlights along with pictures and presentations.

Peter Schroer’s Keynote

Peter Schroer, Aras CEO & Founder, jump started the day with a keynote that combined Aras corporate performance, community highlights, new announcements and innovation insights for everyone.

He noted our record sales in 2011 along with continued growth & expansion, and shared exciting news about the new Aras Japan subsidiary led by former SAP PLM executive Masahiko Hisatsugu.

Peter announced the new Aras Spectrum on Microsoft Azure, a cloud-based PLM solution environment specifically designed for the scalability, performance and flexibility required by global corporations with extended enterprise processes.

He emphasized what BE DIFFERENT means and why it’s important to your company’s ability to innovate and complete:

Don’t be constrained by conventional wisdom, find the best solution to your challenges
Don’t feel restricted to best practices, find what really works for your company
Ignore the hype, and solve the real world problems

And he outlined Aras’s core values & beliefs and publicly demonstrated Aras’s commitment to openness by announcing Aras has signed the Codex of PLM Openness (CPO).

Download Slides >>> Peter's Keynote

Lear Corporation Expands Aras Implementation to Standardize Global Change Management

Lear (NYSE:LEA) is a leading automotive supplier and a Fortune 500 company with over $14 billion in revenue.

Lear explained how Aras is the "Lear Smart Execution Manager" providing configuration management of complex product information for more than 2000 users at 35 sites in 15 countries around the world.

Lear’s presentation focused on the standardization of the global change management process with specifics on the custom BPM workflow and business rules in Aras involved in their change requests, technical reviews, impact analysis and charge-back costing for proposed product changes.

It was really interesting to hear what they’ve done to deal with the complexity of the numerous international plants, vehicle programs and cross-functional groups in relation to Bill of Materials (BOM) management of products, parts, assemblies and components.

Download Slides >>> Lear Enterprise PLM Change Management

Boeing’s Insitu Implements Aras Enterprise PLM

Boeing’s Insitu is one of the leading providers worldwide of unmanned aerial drone systems, and has been a technology pioneer in the small tactical unmanned aircraft industry for close to two decades.

Insitu has over 800 employees and is hiring. They explained how their processes are continuously adapting to new program requirements, globalization and market conditions which means that the solution flexibility in Aras was critical.

Their presentation covered PLM platform selection, replacement of a “big box” PLM system, initial rollout of configuration & change management in less than 60 days (with data migration) and future phases for risk mgt, program portfolio mgt, product options & variants, quality systems, MRO and more.

Download Slides >>> Boeing Insitu’s PLM Journey (so far)

GETRAG Ford Transmissions using Aras as PLM Platform for Global Process Standardization

GETRAG Ford Transmissions is the largest independent supplier of passenger car transmissions worldwide with 12,500 people across 22 sites and over 3 billion Euro in annual revenues.

GETRAG explained how they are using Aras as a PLM platform for process standardization across the company including Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) with Software Release Management, Defect Handling, Test Management, Task Tracking, ALM Reporting and more which was described as, “Very complex data structure.”

In addition, they have automated Drawing Management, Prototypes, Product Development Budget Planning, CMM and 8D CAPA (Corrective & Preventive Actions), and are currently implementing Engineering Change Management and migrating CATIA for product data management with a global roll-out.

GETRAG also described the personnel staffing for the project as well as some of the infrastructure, tools and methodologies they are using for this global PLM project.

Download Slides >>> GETRAG Ford Transmissions Global PLM Platform

CERADYNE using Aras PLM Solutions for Complex Materials

CERADYNE (NASDAQ:CRDN) is a vertically integrated developer and manufacturer of advanced ceramic components and systems for solar, industrial, defense, nuclear power, oil and gas, electronic, automotive/transportation and medical markets.

CERADYNE explained how Aras is the PLM platform for more than just PLM at the company. In addition to PLM and PDM, CERADYNE is using Aras together with SAP, Kronos and SharePoint to implement MLM (Material Lifecycle Management), ELM (Employee Lifecycle Management), MDM (Master Data Management).

They have really great vision of how all the solutions work together in an integrated manner and provide specific functionality to enable global process across 15 sites worldwide.

Download Slides >>> CERADYNE runs Aras PLM Solutions for Complex Materials

Maxion Wheels / Hayes Lemmerz International Drives Global PLM with Aras

Maxion Wheels / Hayes Lemmerz International is the world's largest producer of automotive and commercial highway steel and aluminum wheels with 20 facilities located in 12 countries and sales of $1.9 billion.

Maxion presented on the journey from spreadsheets to a global Web-based PLM solution with Aras. They shared specific examples of their successes on the globally standardized engineering change management and request for quote (RFQ) processes.

In addition, they shared practical PLM best practices that helped them achieve success in their roll-outs, as well as, the improvements made in executive visibility and metrics with business intelligence.

Solution Showcase

This continues to be our most popular session and this year it was “All Software, No Slides”.

People got 5 minutes to show off the solutions, add-ons and enhancements in Live Demos. It’s a great way to get a quick overview of some of the solutions that global companies have developed on the Aras Innovator platform.

Some examples include the CATIA Connector from T-Systems and the Integrated Systems Management solution that was done for General Motors by IBM.

Another favorite was the award winning AML Studio which was put together by GENTEX Corporation, it got several rounds of applause during the demonstration.

We saw over 20 demos and they represent just a fraction of the over 100 applications available as both open source and commercial products on the Aras platform.

Collaborate & Contribute Awards

Every year three members of the corporate community get special recognition for their contributions based on Significance, Popularity and Impact. The winners of this year’s Collaborate & Contribute award were:

ECCO - Firefox browser client on Mac

GENTEX Corporation - AML Studio Editor

Minerva - Alternative structure browser for large assemblies

We’d like to thank ECCO, GENTEX and Minerva for making these contributions which enhance the Aras solutions for everyone. And I’d also like to recognize the other nominates, as well as, the hundreds of other people around the world that made contributions this past year. It’s something to be proud of, Bravo.

As international participation continues to increase, I find that a lot of people don't realize that there are a number of different ways to make contributions. Some of the options include:

Submitting ideas
Making requests
Commenting in the Aras Forums
Contributing specifications
- Form designs
- Use cases
- Workflows
- Business rules
- Data models
Collaborative development
- Prototyping
- Developing solutions & add-ons
- Scripts / methods and code samples
- Doing interfaces & integrations
- Testing & verification
Creating documentation
Doing translations
Sharing Your Story

Breakout Sessions, Workshops and Other Sessions

This year we ran three tracks in the afternoons both days so there were even more breakouts and workshops and on the last day we went over solution vision and roadmap which is a high point for many. Here are the session slides:

Download Slides >>> The Aras Vision & Roadmap

Download Slides >>> What's New in Aras Innovator

Download Slides >>> Leveraging the Cloud for PLM

Download Slides >>> Aras PLM Corporate Community

Business Track

Download Slides >>> Managing Electronic & High-Tech Products and Processes in PLM (by Minerva)

Download Slides >>> PLM Project & Portfolio Management with Integrated Requirements at Boeing

Download Slides >>> Requirements Management in Aras PLM

Download Slides >>> PLM Formula & Recipe Management at American Italian Pasta Company

Download Slides >>> Innovative PLM Manufacturing Applications in Aras

Download Slides >>> The Power of Enterprise Search in PLM (by Alcove9)

Technical Track

Download Slides >>> Advanced CAD Integrations in Aras

Download Slides >>> Custom PLM Business Process Management with Aras

Download Slides >>> Tuning & Optimizing with Custom PLM Solution Add-ons by Amscan

Download Slides >>> Viewing, Mark-up and Secure Social with Aras

Download Slides >>> Workshop on Application Lifecycle Management with PLM

Download Slides >>> Developing PLM Deployment Use Cases

Basics Track

Download Slides >>> Introduction to Aras PLM Software Solutions

Download Slides >>> PLM Integration Basics with Aras

Download Slides >>> Aras EPLM for SolidWorks EPDM

Download Slides >>> Aras PLM Deployment Methodology

Download Slides >>> Right-sizing Aras PLM Deployments for Scalability

Download Slides >>> Medical Devices PLM Implementation by Carestream Health

There was also a good overview by CIMdata “Be Different” -- The ACE 2012 International Conference…A CIMdata Commentary

The networking receptions were especially energetic this year and many of us stayed later than we wanted, but we had a great time.

Our 30 minute breaks were a big hit again, plenty of time for networking. There was a ton of collaborative discussion and lots of connections were made between companies.

If you met someone and didn’t get their card or contact info, and would really like to get in touch with them feel free to send me an email. I’m happy to make the connection… already had a few of those.

All in all, everything came together really well at ACE this year. 98% people responding to the post conference survey indicated that they “achieved their personal goals at ACE”.

Thanks again to everyone for coming and especially to the sponsoring partners including Actify, Alcove9, Broadway Consulting Services, Fisher-Unitech, Focus PLM, Ilesfay Technology, InspectionXpert, Kalypso, Minerva, Panso Solutions, PLM-TEAM, PROLIM, PSC Group, Razorleaf, SofTech, T-Systems International, Trubiquity, vdR Group, and xPLM. Their participation really helps us keep it a free conference.

We look forward to seeing you at next year’s ACE International conference, and stay tuned for local and regional ACE sessions in the newsletter and on the web site throughout the year.

Download Slides >>> ZIP of ALL ACE SLIDES (warning, it's 30 Meg)

Gamification: Players, Points & PLM

Jennifer — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:27:00 GMT

Gamification, the use of game design and thinking in a non-game context, is a favorite topic of mine. I find it fascinating and enthralling to read about and employ where possible. I’ve witnessed firsthand how turning everyday tasks into games help people come up with more creative solutions, tire less easily, and remain focused and engaged for longer periods of time. The absorption rate of information presented in a game format is unparalleled.

Gamification is everywhere you look today. From social apps like foursquare to exercise sites like Fitocracy and even in some enterprise arena’s including corporate forums and boards. Users enjoy becoming the mayor of their favorite coffee shop, ousting competitors, receiving props, and being known as a guru on tech forums they contribute to regularly. Some sources seem to be completely swayed to the side that gamifcation increases digital loyalty.

Needless to say I was thrilled when fellow blogger Jim McKinney posted about The “Gamification” of PLM. My excitement was palpable. To hear him comparing the millions of online gamers to collaborative teams of PLM users across the globe was music to my ears. A kindred spirit in the midst.

The ability to collaborate in real time through the web is already enabled through web-based PLM technologies and the Cloud. But taking it to the next level and promoting innovative design sessions with user-rewards allows us to push the experience further; maybe even make it more fun.

I agree with Jim that bringing gamifciation concepts to PLM would up the users digital loyalty and increase the collaborative efforts of globally distributed teams. Ask anyone who works in both engineering or product management who also games; the level of dedication and coordination that happens in a max-level raid instance is comparable to the dedication and coordination required to bring the latest product development brainchild to fruition.

Do I think that anyone is going to allow engineers to build the next space shuttle to the moon or Dreamliner with a video game? No, at least not yet. But I do see potential in the gamification of enterprise software leading to greater percentages of user adoption and as a general mind shift from "following a process is just extra work" to the more motivating prospect of fun. What do you think?

And the Winners of the Aras Collaborate & Contribute Award Are...

Jennifer — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:07:00 GMT

The word is out! The Aras Community took to the polls and voted on the Collaborate & Contribute Award nominees.

While the list of nominees was by no means exhaustive; and we would like to thank EVERYONE for all their contributions this past year, the Community hath spoken!

The award winners are:

AML Studio Editor - Gentex Corporation

Alternative structure browser for large assemblies - Minerva

Firefox browser client for Mac/Apple - ECCO

Congratulations and a big Thank You to all of the winners!

We would also like to thank everyone who participated in recognizing these Innovators by showing appreciation and casting a vote.

And the Nominees for the Aras Collaborate & Contribute Award Are...

Jennifer — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:40:00 GMT

It's that time of year again! As Marc Lind announced in the newsletter recently - We need your vote for the Collaborate & Contribute Awards.

It's time to recognize some of the most proactive members of the corporate community. While this list is by no means exhaustive; and we would like to thank EVERYONE in advance for all their contributions this year, the current nominees for the award are listed (in no particular order) below.

How does it work? Vote now through April 20, 2012

Select your choices based on:

    - Significance
    - Popularity
    - Impact

Vote for your TOP 3 nominees:

    Ability to easily copy previous item versions - Seiko Epson
    Alternative structure browser for large assemblies - Minerva
    AML Studio Editor - Gentex Corporation
    Aras connector to SolidWorks EPDM workflow state triggering definition - Fisher-Unitech
    Classification dialog filtering - Lear Corporation
    Client refresh synchronization improvement - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
    Configurable grid fill/copy down - Lear Corporation
    Discover Innovator community edition search solution - NorthRidge Software
    Enterprise search integration open source option - Alcove9
    Expanded grid control customization capabilities - GETRAG FORD Transmissions
    File converter plug-in API enhancements - Softech
    Drag & drop files to desktop - Carestream Health
    Gantt chart filtering range capabilities for printing - Mitsubishi Power Systems
    Get item repeat config API enhancements - xPLM
    Improved security capabilities for single user identity with over 300 groups & roles - COMPAL
    Italian Language Pack - Focus PLM
    Item save efficiency streamlining - Maxion Wheels / Hayes Lemmerz International
    Enhanced replication transaction resubmit - ECCO
    Enhancements to connector support for multiple CAD file types in SolidWorks EPDM - Spartan Motors
    Firefox browser client for Mac/Apple - ECCO
    Glyf button to launch secondary screens from grids - Sonnax
    Impact matrix item optimization - Lear Corporation
    Language pack administration improvements - GETRAG FORD Transmissions
    Multiple new views of project data - MOTOROLA
    Named baseline comparison capabilities - Sandia National Laboratories
    Recursive event handling improvement - Mitsubishi
    Retrieval of multiple different CAD assembly configurations enhancement - Carnaud Metalbox Engineering
    Simplified export to Excel - Carestream Health
    Team security permissions structure improvement - Lear Corporation
    Workflow enhancements for versionable items - NSK Steering

Recognize these innovators and show your appreciation by casting your Vote. Recipients will receive the Aras C&C Award at the ACE 2012 International conference in May.

Vote -- Simple One Page Ballot (should take less than a minute)

When you're done, forward this post on to your colleagues so they can vote too! And "No" you shouldn't vote more than once yourself...

Kicking off a Regional Aras Community Group in Five Steps

Jennifer — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:51:00 GMT

Our corporate community is HUGE. There are vast numbers of open corporate users as well. And more people are discovering Aras PLM every day.

I keep getting requests for regional Community Groups. I've even heard through the grapevine (as is common in this enterprise open source world) that a few have already started in various places across the globe. If you aren't involved in one of these secret underground clubs, how about starting one? And if you are underground, how about coming out into the daylight?

Our partner Microsoft has some great tips on Creating a User Group. Leaning on this and other resources from the ‘net and my personal experience, here are a few suggestions to get started.

Step One: Set a Goal for your user group.

Do you want to network and socialize with other Aras users and collaborate on projects? Looking to beef-up each others’ knowledge in AML/XML? Hoping for a more rounded audience that includes technical, user, and visionaries? The possibilities are endless and writing down what you'd like to accomplish will help you attract members. This goal can change over time, so don't get hung up on having the perfect goal from day one.

Step Two: Pick a location and stick with it

No one knows your area better than you. Is there a great space that would accommodate boisterous interaction on the regular? Is it opposite of traffic flow? Do they serve the best local food and would be willing to contribute space in exchange for people buying snacks/etc? Does someone have an amazing space in their home or office they'd want to offer up? What will make your groups atmosphere conducive to accomplishing its goals? Having a set time and place to meet can mean all the difference in the success of your group.

Step Three: Engage your group

Agendas and goals can help set the flow for a meeting and allow everyone to come prepared. Voting on topics for future sessions or asking people about their pressing objectives can help engage user group members and set the tone for a team effort.

Step Four: Find a Kick-off Event

ACE 2012 International is just around the corner. Finding a related event to use as a kick-off for your group can help you ramp up faster and find other participants rapidly. Even a .Net or other local tech event in your area could introduce you to PLM and Aras enthusiasts you didn't realize lived just down the street. Utilizing events that are already taking place can help you promote your user group in a rapid fashion.

Step Five: Register Your User Group with Aras

This step isn't required or formalized, but recommended. Simply send an email to (INFO AT ARAS DOT COM) and tell us about your user group. Where is it? How frequently do you meet? What is required to attend or join? We can share your groups information and help you connect with even more participants including posting it on our events calendar and sending it out in the newsletter. I’ve even started a special group on the forums for Aras Community Groups to help you get started gathering members, ideas, and more.

These are just my thoughts on getting started. What are some of yours?

Are you an Aras Open User? Come tell us your story!

Jennifer — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:10:00 GMT

Ace 2012 International, the largest annual meeting of Aras Community Members, is happening May 1 - 3 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. If you're an Aras open user and would like to share your rollout story, let us know. We may ask you to present at ACE 2012.

Here's 5 Good Reasons to Share Your Story:

Show off your skills; it takes savvy and know-how to be an Aras Open User
Ignite others to join you; you get more done faster, when you engage other Open Users
Get inspired; Sharing your story can spark new ideas
Pump up your company; you're an innovator - flaunt it!
Be the next Aras Open User Rock Star, a trend set by Kevin Friske in 2010

Even if you're hesitant to jump right in and share your story, we encourage you to come to ACE 2012. The conference offers a great opportunity to meet other users, hear what people are doing, see the latest solutions, and find out what Aras is cooking up for the future. And don't worry about a sales pitch. If you're happy as an Open USer, that's just fine with us. After all, Aras PLM is an enterprise open source solution.

Here's the best part - ACE 2012 is FREE to attend! There's no registration fee, if you need a room we've negotiated a great rate for you, and we're providing breakfast all 3 days, lunch for 2 and hearty receptions at the end of each full day.

To register for ACE 2012 go to www.aras.com/ACE2012

If you're an open user who is interested in sharing your story at ACE, through a blog, an interview, story, etc get in touch with me at jmccullough@aras.com or (978) 691-8960. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Global Product Development With Aras PLM

Jennifer — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:05:00 GMT

Carestream Health, a wolrd leader in medical imaging, healthcare information solutions, dental imaging and more, has been an Aras subscriber for a number of years. Many considerations went into their decision to deploy Aras.

As a global company with manufacturing and R&D locations around the world, globalization played a key role in meeting Carestream Health's business needs as well. However, they faced many challenges preventing them from achieving globalization and unification across the enterprise. Carestream Health needed an enterprise PLM system that once implemented could unify processes and enable successful transformational change.

Among the business challenges Carestream Health faced in the globalization process were:

Legacy systems that were not easily scalable
Increasing complexity in product development
Legacy Point Solutions lacked proper architecture for the future

Carestream Health sought out a ubiquitous platform and real partner to provide:

Globally scalable platforms
A cost model in alignment with their business goals
Secure web access
Flexible configurations and integrations
Global Performance

Aras hit every one of Carestream Health's requirements and provided:

A cost model that allowed for global scale
Flexible architecture enabling rapid development - 50% simpler than other platforms
Web based, secure user access
and more...

Check out Carestream Health's presentation on Global Product Development Using Aras for Enterprise Wide PLM.

Webinar Announcement - Apparel Innovator - Solution on top of ARAS for Apparel and Footwear Manufacturers and Retailers

Plural Technology — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:17:00 GMT

Plural Technology announces upcoming webinar on Apparel Innovator. Apparel Innovator is a solution developed by Plural on top of ARAS for Apparel and Fashion Industry. The webinar will highlight functional capabilities of the solution which covers entire lifecycle of Apparel development from concept to release to production. The solution also has integrated Sourcing Management and Time and action calender. Limited seats available Register Now...

HIGHLIGHTS - ACE Germany PLM Conference

MarcL — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:51:00 GMT

Last month was the ACE Germany conference in Bad Soden. It was our German language event which combined corporate presentations on global PLM best practices with Aras updates, partner insights and lots of networking.

My colleague Martin Allemann, our SVP of global operations, covered Aras's strategy and corporate community momentum, and key members of our European team outlined the Aras roadmap and plans.

There were some great success stories by GETRAG FORD Transmissions, HAKAMA AG and others (download slides), along with an excellent presentation by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Eigner on the challenges for global PLM environments created by increasing product complexity.

Peter Schroer, CEO und Firmengründer von Aras, zeigte wie die Komplexität in der Produktentwicklung rapide steigt. Dies führe zu neuen Anforderungen an die PLM-Software: Die Kombination von Produktdaten aus Elektronik, Software, Simulation und Fertigung überlaste heute die meisten Software-Systeme. Das beherrschende Thema der großen Hersteller im Automobil- und Maschinenbau, aber auch in der Luft- und Raumfahrt sowie vergleichbaren Industrien, ist heute das Komplexitätsmanagement.

Kunden, Interessenten, Partner sowie PLM-Experten aus ganz unterschiedlichen Industriezweigen machten die Veranstaltung zu einem lebendigen Forum für interdisziplinäres Product Lifecycle Management und Systems Engineering in der Praxis.

Overall, it was another great ACE conference with lots of collaboration & sharing, and we want to thank everyone that came, especially the presenters and our sponsoring partners T-Systems, DataSquare, Kalypso, PLM-TEAM, usb GmbH, Dr. Maier CSS and xPLM.

And if you weren't able to make it, we have a post on our German blog with highlights, pictures and all the slides.

Crowd-pleasing Crowdsourcing Collaboration

Jennifer — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:56:00 GMT

At ACE International in May Aras focused on Collaboration, Communication and Innovation through the World of the Possible. It's a theme we hear is exactly what our Community members look for in a PLM partner. At Aras, we're constantly reshaping the future of PLM, providing faster innovation and encouraging participation as well as leadership from the diverse, rich, enterprise open source community.

In continuing down this path, Aras announced earlier this week that we've expanded Open Innovation and Collaboration on the PLM Solution Projects Website. The enhancements at www.aras.com/projects expand the use of open innovation techniques and encourage crowdsourcing and co-creation in the development of next generation PLM solutions.

In a multi-phased, planned upgrade of our collaborative projects environment, the Community can continue to take advantage of already-developed projects in a new, user friendly environment where projects are easier to search, browse, download and provide feedback on. In addition, a brand new ideas submission page can be accessed by any registered user to submit ideas for projects. Weather you're tech-savvy, a brainstormer, a PLM novice or guru your ideas can now be shared with the community at large.

In this first phase Aras enthusiasts of all sorts are submitting their ideas, voting on their favorites, and planting the seeds for future development. In subsequent releases of the Community Projects site users will be able to go further and claim ideas, kick off collaborative projects, and build add-ons and stand alone solutions from the ground up. They can also form teams comprised of forum users, secret contributors, or closed company groups. With this enhanced site Aras has paved the way for millions of people around the world that use PLM software every day to actively take control of the next generation of innovation.

This project is in direct response to feedback and requests from the Community. We thank you for your continued participation and contribution and welcome your feedback as we continue to roll out this new collaborative environment for you. For more information about the Aras Community Projects review the slides from ACE International on Aras Community: Collaboration, Communication, and Innovation.

Mastering PLM: Strategies for Success

Jennifer — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:56:00 GMT

Global Company Nexteer Automotive presented at the ACE International Conference on Realizing an Enterprise-Wide PLM Vision.

Listen as Bob Lipscomb provides candid feedback about Nexteer's real world experience of Realizing and Enterprise Wide PLM vision. This excerpt focuses on the process of choosing a solution with the company that ultimately becomes your partner, strategies for success, and the path to implementation.

After the presentation, click these links to walk through previous videos on Establishing Your Vision and History Creates Complexity or grab the full slides .

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Aras Community Event 2011 International - Highlights

MarcL — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:20:00 GMT

Download Slides >>> ZIP of ALL SLIDES (warning, it's 52 Meg)

ACE 2011 International was in Dearborn, Michigan this year, and our theme was the “World of the Possible”. It was the best ACE to date and the agenda was packed with overviews of Aras solutions, case studies, PLM best practices and ideas for future collaboration.

For those on Twitter, you can see comments by checking the hashtag #ArasACE

People from 132 different companies in 17 different countries on 6 continents participated, and I want to thank everyone for coming and for making it a really great conference.

For those that couldn’t make it, thought it’d be good to run through some of the highlights, although there were too many for a single post so will have to do a few… and of course you won’t get the energy and enthusiasm. For that, you’ve just gotta be there.

Peter Jump-Starts ACE

Peter ‘Welcomed’ the crowd with an overview of the continued growth and momentum that are occurring worldwide, and ran through some nice examples of other business ideas that were dismissed early on like FedEx.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but... the idea must be feasible." -- Yale business professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service

He also made a strong case for ‘Flexibility with Ease’ in any global PLM environment. This ‘Agility’ is the fundamental innovation that Aras brings to the market.

He told the audience, “Aras was founded with one simple idea: that PLM software data models, process models, and business logic, must adapt to business change as fast as the business needs to change. Period. Our technology, our methodology, our business model are all focused on enabling companies to change rapidly.”

Your business is different. Your business is changing. And it should be to compete! Your global PLM platform must enable dynamic change and that’s what we’re doing at Aras.

Download Slides >>> Peter's Keynote

Carestream Health PLM Platform for Global New Product Development, Quality, Environmental and Supply Chain

Carestream Health has more than 7,300 employees in more than 150 countries and is a recognized leader in dental & medical imaging systems, healthcare information solutions, x-ray film and digital x-ray products and molecular imaging systems for the life science research and drug discovery markets. Its products are used in the vast majority of hospitals and professional healthcare organizations around the world resulting in over $2.5 billion revenue annually.

Carestream products range from complex electro-mechanical systems that are high value assets to technically sophisticated SKU-based products. They discussed how their PLM strategy and Aras PLM platform support the globalization of their distributed workforce and a 21st century approach to enterprise-wide processes that cross functional boundaries. There was also a nice overview of their implementation done by Wipro and lessons learned using the “Agile” development (which we highly recommend BTW).

Download Slides >>> Carestream Health on Global PLM Platform & Strategy

Download Slides >>> Carestream Health on Implementation

Nexteer Automotive Realizing an Enterprise-wide PLM Vision

Nexteer Automotive, formerly part of Delphi, is a multi-billion dollar global steering and driveline business which focuses on electric and hydraulic steering systems, steering columns and driveline products for the OEM vehicle manufacturers. The company has 8,300 employees at 6 engineering centers and 20 manufacturing plants around the world.

Nexteer explained how their business continues to evolve and how they needed a secure PLM backbone that would allow them to continually adapt while providing comprehensive functional coverage for global processes including multi-site product development, program management, costing, quality, manufacturing, specs, CAD, prototypes, validation, PPAP and configuration management for complex systems.

Download Slides >>> Nexteer Automotive

Deutsche Blisterunion Achieves Serialized Product Traceability for Quality & Safety

We heard about the innovation at Deutsche Blisterunion where they are transforming the way pharmaceuticals are delivered using Aras for patient-specific individual drug dosage packaging. Aras is being used for high-speed production workflows, compliance, quality assurance and multi-site collaboration, as well as, document management, records archiving and a lot more.

Each dose is serialized for traceability and secure sign-off is achieved with an innovative Electronic Signature solution add-on developed and offered by Datasquare which also did the overall system deployment. Deutsche Blisterunion has really innovated on their processes using Aras and they are now able to differentiate because of this.

Download Slides >>> Deutsche Blisterunion

Advatech Pacific Does Simulation Data Management and Requirements Tracking using Aras and SharePoint

Advatech Pacific is an engineering research & development company that provides aerospace vehicle physics modeling and simulation, communications systems Interoperability, costanalysis tool development and engineering design and analysis services.

They are an ‘open user’ of Aras, meaning they don't have a subscription or pay for services assistance… they just figured it out themselves… they real show “What’s Possible” with Aras. Advatech Pacific provided a detailed overview of the solution they built and used for NASA mission design simulation which performs simulation data management, requirements management (like IBM DOORS, but using Aras), and is integrated with SolidWorks, Thermal Desktop and other systems like SharePoint. It’s quite impressive.

Download Slides >>> Advatech Pacific

We also had a number of really great sessions by industry thought leaders and tech analysts that helped us see what is truly possible and made some excellent points about what companies need to do to maximize the value of PLM and where the industry is headed.

Download Slides >>> PLM for Improved Product Lifecycle Decisions

Joe Barkai, Practice Director, Product Lifecycle Strategies, IDC Manufacturing Insights

Download Slides >>> The ROI of PLM

John MacKrell, Vice President, CIMdata

Download Slides >>> Beyond PLM Panel

Oleg Shilovitsky, Beyond PLM Blog (moderator)

Vasco Drecun, Siemens

David Sherburn, Carestream Health

Peter Schroer, Aras

Community Solution Showcase

This was our most popular session last year and it was even bigger this year. The showcase is where people get 10 minutes to share / show off their own innovative solutions, add-ons, ideas and enhancements. It’s a nice way to get a quick overview of the “World of the Possible” where you see some of the more sophisticated solutions that global companies have developed with/for the Aras Innovator PLM platform.

We saw a lot of really extensive solutions like the Formula & Recipe Management that American Italian Pasta Company has deployed by PSC Group and the Fashion & Apparel solution in Aras by Plural Technologies, as well as, Green Design Workbench for sustainable product development by HCL.

There were also lots of cool demos such as the 3D parts search for Aras from ShapeSpace, the enhanced structure browser by Datasquare and Google Maps & Charts integrated into Aras by Prodeos.

Overall, it was a great way to see about 30 of the over 80 solutions available on Aras Innovator. I can’t fit it all in here so am planning on doing a separate post that covers the slides, videos and demos. In fact, I think we’re going to have to trim it back next year so my head doesn’t explode :-)

People were coming up to me and saying they were “Blown away” and amazed by the diversity of solutions on Aras. I think it’s great to see so many people taking advantage of the advanced capabilities in the Aras platform.

Collaborate & Contribute Awards

With all the votes tallied, we were proud to present the annual Collaborate & Contribute award to three corporate community members for their contributions based on Significance, Popularity and Impact.

XEROX - Concurrent Development on Multiple Simultaneous BOM Configurations with Effectivity

Carestream Health - Windows Authentication in Workflow Maps

Datasquare - Electronic Signature Connector (from the Deutsche Blisterunion deployment)

Breakout Sessions, Workshops and Other Sessions

This year there were more breakouts and workshops than ever and on the last day we went over solution vision and direction as well. Here are the session slides:

Download Slides >>> The Aras Vision & Roadmap

Download Slides >>> What's New in Aras Innovator

Download Slides >>> Aras Community Collaboration Communication & Innovation

Download Slides >>> PLM and The Connected Cloud

Download Slides >>> Trubiquity and Aras Connected Cloud

Advanced Track

Download Slides >>> Overview of Alternative Roles-based Clients

Download Slides >>> How to Think About Aras Integrations

Download Slides >>> Understanding Federation and Web Services

Download Slides >>> Tuning for Global Multi-Site Deployments

Download Slides >>> Deploying Enterprise Search in a PLM Context

Basic Track

Download Slides >>> Introduction to Aras Solutions

Download Slides >>> Introduction to Advanced Capabilities in Aras

Download Slides >>> I Installed Aras, Now What? (video)

Download Slides >>> How to Start Your Aras Implementation

Download Slides >>> Subscriptions, Services, Solutions & More (How to think about Aras and How we Make Money)

Business Track

Download Slides >>> Sustainable Product Development (by HCL)

Download Slides >>> Why Document Management Isn't Enough (by Razorleaf)

Download Slides >>> Delivering on the Promise of Product Innovation (by Kalypso)

Download Slides >>> Enterprise Product Level Information Development & Deployment Case Study (by Carestream Health & Wipro)

Download Slides >>> Building the Intellectual Capital of Innovative Organizations Through Aras-Based Knowledge Platform (by Infosys)

Networking at receptions was really energetic and went on late into the evening. We also made the breaks 30 mins for extra networking during the day as well which worked out great. There was a lot of collaborative discussion and numerous connections were made between companies. If you met someone and didn’t get their card, but would really like to get in touch with them feel free to send me an email. Will be happy to make the connection.

It all came together for a really great ACE. Seems like people have a better idea about the “World of the Possible” and how they can make it reality with Aras. The level of enthusiasm was excellent and I’ve got a lot of people to follow-up with from the conference. I would also like to personally thank everyone for coming and participating, especially the people who presented, it was outstanding.

We look forward to seeing you at next year’s ACE conference. In addition, we will be announcing local and regional ACE sessions in the newsletter and on the web site throughout the year so stay tuned.

Download Slides >>> ZIP of ALL SLIDES (warning, it's 52 Meg)

Cool Aras Video by CycleOp

Jennifer — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 10:19:00 GMT

You know Aras is flexible and open but if you aren't sure where to start, or you want to begin with established best practices and incorporate your own tweaks, Aras includes lots of business ready solutions right out of the box - err, right from the moment of download!

To give you a preview of all that's available, Aras Community Member/Partner CycleOp put together a short video highlighting many of the solutions that are included when you download Aras Innovator. Yes, download - free of charge, no module fees.

Check it out. Catch their excitement. And let us know what cool things you're doing with Aras Innovator - email us at info@aras.com.

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