A major announcement at the PTC Live Global 2013 conference was that PTC Creo design and analysis applications will soon be available and supported in a Virtual Desktop environment. In design and manufacturing environments today, corporations need to have the ability to get global teams up and running quickly in new locations, and they need all teams to be able to easily access the latest software installation by updating from a single server. Virtualization of PTC Creo design and analysis applications can help IT managers accomplish this. Read the rest of this entry »

Autodesk recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tinkercad, an easy-to-use browser-based 3D design tool. The addition of Tinkercad to Autodesk is aimed at helping broaden the consumer-oriented Autodesk 123D family of apps and supports Autodesk’s vision to help anybody (students, makers, and designers) imagine, design, and create anything. The acquisition will also revive the Tinkercad service and community, despite a previously announced shutdown by its founders and creators. Read the rest of this entry »

Siemens PLM Software has announced the release of the latest version of its widely used digital manufacturing solution for manufacturing engineering, Tecnomatix 11. The latest release offers a more advanced digital manufacturing solution that promises to deliver smart, fast, and lean manufacturing, including Manufacturing Process Management (MPM).

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On the heels of recent tuck-in acquisitions, Dassault Systèmes has made yet another industry-specific acquisition, again for an undisclosed amount. This time it’s SIMPOE, a France-based provider of plastic injection molding manufacturing simulation software.

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During its ACE 2013 user conference, Aras, an open source product lifecycle management (PLM) software provider, announced a computer-aided design (CAD) to 3D PDF converter to be embedded in a PLM vault server and included for all Aras PLM subscribers. Now, with the addition of the converter, Aras can support 3D, 2D, Microsoft Office, images and scans, and other data types in a single open format—compressed PDF. This will enable users across the extended enterprise to view a variety of formats of product data in a single common user interface (UI) without buying additional software.

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Dassault Systèmes, a provider of 3D design, 3D digital mockup, and product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, is expanding its footprint in the energy, process, and utilities segments. This industry set is expected to grow rapidly to meet the needs to expand energy production, both to grow the global economy and to support demographic changes in view of the depletion of natural resources.

The industry needs to change its game: Read the rest of this entry »

While multi-CAD (computer aided design) situations have been a matter of course at large manufacturing organizations, it appears that multi-PLM (product lifecycle management) software deployments will follow suit. To that end, Aras, an upbeat open source PLM software solution provider for large enterprises, recently announced that MAN Diesel & Turbo (MAN), a provider of large bore diesel engines and turbo machinery for marine and stationary applications, headquartered in Augsburg, Germany, has selected Aras Innovator as a supplementary platform for engineering process automation. Read the rest of this entry »

IQMS is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution systems (MES) vendor that tries to deliver as much native functionality as possible. But computer-aided design (CAD) and product data management (PDM) are highly specialist capabilities. To that end, IQMS has just released its SolidWorks PDM add-in. With more than two million license on the market, SolidWorks is an established 3D CAD application owned by Dassault Systèmes. Manufacturers use SolidWorks rendering tools to create, simulate, publish, and manage product data, parts, and tools. Read the rest of this entry »

Marrying desktop and cloud design experience for more comprehensive industry workflows continues to be a theme at Autodesk. The latest Autodesk Design and Creation Suites offer access to the Autodesk 2014 software portfolio for building, product, plant, and factory design; engineering, construction, and infrastructure; and entertainment creation professionals. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a great future in composite materials, the next generation of lighter, stronger, safer, and more energy-efficient materials.

After Siemens PLM Software acquired Vistagy more than a year ago, Autodesk yesterday announced that it has completed the acquisition of Firehole Technologies (do business as Firehole Composites), a privately held software company based in Laramie, Wyoming, that specializes in design and analysis software for composite materials. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read the rest of this entry »

While opportunities for new or replacement product lifecycle management (PLM) systems at large enterprises are rare, neither is the small to medium business (SMB) market fully exploited. To that end, PTC recently announced the release of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials, the company’s product data management (PDM) software.

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Autodesk, the leader in cloud-based design and engineering software, continues with its cloud software investments. Most recently, it acquired (for an undisclosed sum) technology and a development team from Allpoint Systems LLC, a small Pittsburgh, PA–based developer of software and solutions for collecting and processing LiDAR (light detection and ranging) point cloud data. The Allpoint Systems team and technology, which offers software and data processing solutions for collecting and processing LiDAR data to the roadway and building markets, will help Autodesk expand the development of cloud-based reality capture software and solutions. Read the rest of this entry »

The year 2012 ended with a major win for (and perhaps a sigh of relief from) Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division. Namely, in December 2012, Siemens’ JT data format, a lightweight data format that makes it possible to view and share digital 3D product information in real time throughout all phases of a product’s lifecycle, was approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as an International Standard. Read the rest of this entry »

Autodesk has been making significant investments to enhance its portfolio of visualization and computer-aided engineering (CAE) software, primarily by acquiring niche software vendors. In an effort to achieve more depth in its visualization portfolio, Autodesk has acquired PI-VR, a privately held German software vendor that focuses on 3D visualization technology. This acquisition is in line with Autodesk’s Digital Prototyping approach that combines design, visualization, and simulation of products in a cost-effective manner. Read the rest of this entry »

In late November 2012, Dassault Systèmes, a world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock up (DMU), and product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, announced the latest release of its 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Dassault Systèmes provides individuals and businesses with a set of software tools to create so-called “virtual universes” to imagine and create sustainable innovations and transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. The company’s collaborative solutions foster social innovation and aim to expand possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. Dassault Systèmes has more than 150,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries.

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