Once you’ve defined your business objectives, work backwards to identify the related processes that will be involved. For example, if achieving faster time to market is your priority, identify all the things that go into the new product development and…

The user interface for your PLM system is the second most important facet to your user adoption, right behind roll-out . A user in the Quality department doesn’t need to see the same screen as an Engineer and neither of them have the same requirements…

STICKER SHOCK It's a classic buyer scenario. The project has been scoped, the demos have been done, and you're really sold on a specific product that you're sure will meet the company's needs. But with most PLM vendors now using a named user licensing…

1 GIANT STEP PLM Implementations are a recipe for disaster. You can’t turn on 15 modules of PLM over the weekend, effectively changing the way people do everything overnight, and expect them to accept it. It's the fastest way to overwhelm users and ensure…

Why do PLM initiatives get stuck? FALSE STARTS Implementations stall for lots of reasons. Some, such as politics, may be out of your control. But the biggest mistake happens before the implementation even starts and it is much easier to avoid. The problem…

Recently we introduced a new commercial offering designed specifically for companies that run SolidWorks called Aras EPLM for SolidWorks Enterprise PDM . It's built on top of SolidWorks best selling EPDM system to provide packaged functionality out…

Every initiative starts with the best intentions.  Requirements are defined and a team sets out to select the best tool to fix the problem that's causing the biggest headache today.  While every company wants to look at “the big picture”, the reality…

Image (modified) courtesy of Beyond PLM Today on the Beyond PLM blog , Oleg points out a number of FACTS and makes some good arguments in his post Future PLM Platforms and SAP / Oracle Technological Wars . The problem with this analysis though is…

In any enterprise-wide PLM deployment the subject of integration to legacy systems is going to be important. Everybody knows that Aras has a comprehensive suite of pre-packaged connector integrations for MCAD, EDA / ECAD and ERP systems, however, not…

Happy new year to everyone! We’re looking forward to a great 2012, and looking back at 2011 it was another record breaker. In addition to achieving record sales and double digit growth again (that’s 5 years in a row for anyone counting), we increased…

ACE2011 Germany is less than 2 weeks away. Hosted at the Ramada Hotel, Bad Soden, this free, day-long PLM event features a variety of Global Corporations speaking on everything from process improvement to PLM solution selection, and solving tough, real…

This month there was a good article by CIMdata on the PLM/CAD community web sites titled “ Open-Source and PLM Marketplace Maturity ” which explains the benefits for companies and the implications for the PLM market that are resulting from the business…

This open source project is quite practical and something that most companies will find useful. It's a server-side File Converter Framework that’s been put together by T-Systems International, the global systems integration firm. T-Systems has provided…

When I read in the Twitter feeds from Oleg and Jonathan Scott at The Dassault Systemes Customer Conference that it is taking Dassault 4 years to implement V6 at a customer and they are rolling it out “big bang” style, I had to check my calendar to see…

The Debt Deal has been “resolved” and it’s time deal with the aftermath. With the mix of caps, cuts, borrowing, ceilings, etc., sorting it out will take months, perhaps years, but one thing is very clear: Defense spending will be hit hard, to the tune…

Another community solution added for open download to the community projects site by T-Systems! This new solution " Converter Framework " adds basic functionality to batch-mode file conversions.  The most common use case is to convert a Word document…

By every measure 2010 was another record year here at Aras. Here’s a quick summary in case you missed some of the details along the way, as well as, some highlights that you won’t find anywhere else. This year it became undeniably clear that our advanced…

Understanding the economic advantages & financial benefits of the enterprise open source format in PLM is important when building a corporate business case for a PLM strategy. There are a number of factors that your team will want to consider when conducting…

Walking the floor at SolidWorks World 2011 in San Antonio I saw some outstanding examples of cool product design, and heard more cool stories and great discussions about 3D design and product innovation in the breakout sessions. But what really got my…

Out-Of-The-Box (OOTB) PLM solutions are great in concept. The reality, however, is not so rosy or promising. A while back, Chad Jackson did a post on his blog, Engineering Matters , called My Points in the ‘Why Hasn’t PLM Taken Over the World’ Live Blog…

I’ve been in the PLM business for more than 20 years. A lot has changed in that time, like the fact that we call it PLM now. But one thing that has not changed is that customers are always (always) surprised by the cost. Even now, after Aras has eliminated…

Earlier this month you may have seen the news on our strategy for the Cloud. CIMdata , a leading PLM industry analyst & consulting firm, published our release in Aras Explains Cloud Strategy . The initial phase of the strategy is very simple. Lead the…

An article was forwarded to me recently and I can see why. It’s a commentary by Eric Gries at Network World about a recent interview with Red Hat CEO, Jim Whitehurst. Eric’s commentary is titled The Widening Value Gap Between Open Source and Commercial…

Last week we did an interview with Peter for the Siemens PLM Community online magazine titled PLM Doesn’t Have to Weigh You Down along with our own blog post titled Frustrated by a Stuck PLM Project? Then, yesterday I saw that Oleg had his own thoughts…

Everyone knows that Aras Innovator has a powerful workflow service/engine under the covers for complex business process management like enterprise engineering change, supplier corrective actions and other complicated processes. What people sometime don…