NetSuite is on a roll with whopping growth and expansion (16,000 customers, 2,000 employees, and 700 partners) and is even now talking about profitability, positive cash flow, and a hefty cash position (contrary to the popular belief that cloud software vendors are not profitable in general). The company’s third SuiteWorld annual conference brought about 5,000 attendees, which is significantly higher than the 3,000 and 1,200 attendees respectively for the previous two years’ events. While retail and multi-channel e-commerce was the main theme at SuiteWorld 2012, SuiteWorld 2013’s main theme was that manufacturing is ready for cloud computing too.

NetSuite for Manufacturing
This week’s release of NetSuite Manufacturing Edition brings to the marketplace a solution for manufacturing and product-centric companies that includes a portfolio of capabilities such as production routings and scheduling, financials for manufacturing with standard cost and work in progress (WIP) accounting, inventory management with available-to-promise (ATP), and supply chain integration. While previously NetSuite mainly targeted outsourced offshore manufacturing, NetSuite Manufacturing Edition now caters to manufacturers that make their own products. The offering is still a fairly generic discrete manufacturing solution, but it is likely that NetSuite will make it more vertical, in part based on tuck-in acquisitions and partner offerings.

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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 »

In a well-established upper-range product lifecycle management (PLM) market total platform replacements are a rare occurrence. Brazil-based Embraer, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, has recently selected PTC’s Windchill PLM technology solutions to “help bring new innovative aircraft to market faster, more efficiently, and with the highest levels of quality.” With the switch from its legacy PLM provider to PTC, Embraer says that it is preparing for an expected increase in demand for new aircraft in the next few years.

Embraer’s objective in the overhaul is to modernize its technology infrastructure and business processes in order to meet accelerated delivery schedules while maintaining the company’s commitment to quality and safety. Embraer’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform is SAP, and while the company did attempt in the past to use the SAP PLM suite, it was not up to scratch for Embraer’s needs. Perhaps the latest SAP PLM 7.x series could have stepped up to the plate, but that would have required the ERP platform’s upgrade too, which Embraer reportedly wasn’t ready for at the time. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, PTC announced its fiscal year first quarter results for 2013. Though its license growth was weak this quarter compared with the same quarter last year, its after-sales services business led by Servigistics experienced strong growth. Read the rest of this entry »

It gives me immense pleasure to join the analyst team at TEC.

As all of us know, the information technology (IT) landscape is changing rapidly, and the practices and trends that existed five years ago are considered antiquated today. Further, enterprise software users are being challenged to innovate with existing resources, while both software vendors and end users are facing an increasingly discerning customer base.

My main focus at TEC is in the area of innovation and governance systems. Read the rest of this entry »

Infor today announced that DeltaValve has implemented Infor PLM Discrete, adding to DeltaValve’s existing deployment of Infor SyteLine ERP system. 

In the discrete product lifecycle management space (PLM) space, Infor is not necessarily a best-of-breed stand-alone solution. In fact, it’s quite late to the pure-play PLM party (as opposed to the differentiating capabilities it offers in the process PLM space with Optiva PLM). Read the rest of this entry »

While the tagline didn’t really tickle my fancy, it’s evidence that Dassault Systèmes’ novel go-to-market approach is apparently by industry. Within each industry, there are multiple “experiences”—software packages that address specific business needs, if you will.  Read the rest of this entry »

Autodesk continues its foray into the cloud product lifecycle management (PLM) game after its recent launch of Autodesk PLM 360 and acquisition of Inforbix. Read the rest of this entry »

“I can name more fashion PLM solutions than PLM solutions.” This was what I told my colleagues last year when I was working on the creation of a product lifecycle management (PLM) evaluation model geared specifically to the fashion industry. Of course, this was intended as a joke—a fashion PLM solution is still a PLM solution! But, here is the first fashion PLM solution to receive TEC certification. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Centric Software and get to know more about Centric 8 Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Sourcing Solutions for the fashion industry. Among the interesting topics discussed, a recently launched product called Collection Book for Fashion iPad app was most impressive. In my view, this iPad app is a great product, as it takes advantage of the user interface (UI) feature of the iPad. However, even more important is the mechanism behind this popular mobile device—the enhanced connectivity between fashion designers and customers who purchase products from fashion manufacturers for wholesale or retail purposes. Read the rest of this entry »

This year, product lifecycle management (PLM) vendors have put many interesting initiatives on display to PLM buyers. These initiatives include the possibility of generating more synergies between enterprise search and PLM, more intuitive decision support in design and engineering, connectivity between direct modeling and history-based modeling in computer-aided design (CAD), social product development in the cloud, etc.

Although most of these initiatives need more time before we can really testify to their value—i.e., the execution of these visions is the challenge that vendors are facing—I believe the PLM industry is shifting from functionality-driven to vision-driven. Read the rest of this entry »

As Dassault Systèmes Customer Conference (DSCC) 2010 moved to day 2, use of the word “innovation” continued its popularity at various sessions. However, I’d like to refrain from using this hot keyword and move to “sustainability,” one of the outcomes of innovation, and discuss it from a role perspective.

This thought was triggered by today’s ENOVIA Brand Overview session by Michel Tellier, Chief Executive Officer, ENOVIA, Dassault Systèmes. During this session, ENOVIA V6 offerings were presented from a roles perspective by discussing what the solution was capable of for each of the following four roles: program manager, engineering manager, mid-market manager, and supply chain sourcing manager. Of course, there are more roles for PLM solutions, but these selected roles together provide a quick but quite representative look of what ENOVIA is about. Compared with ENOVIA V6’s lengthy and hierarchical functionality list at this link, this roles approach is a more effective way of communication. Read the rest of this entry »

The Dassault Systèmes Customer Conference (DSCC) 2010 kicked off on November 9th, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. It is the second time that Dassault Systèmes has hosted the customer conference collectively for most of the company’s brands at a single event, with a geographic focus on the Americas (the European Customer Forum [ECF] 2010 is the European equivalence taking place in two weeks).

When I had a little time to reflect after the busy first day came to an end, the key word that popped into my mind was “innovation,” the most frequently used keyword today, and which appeared in multiple sessions in conjunction with different adjectives. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s product lifecycle management (PLM) is an ever-growing and flexible container for holding a variety of functionality and it has become more important to treat PLM adoption as a phased endeavor with prioritized requirements. PLM adopters (especially first-time and early-stage adopters) should give their priority to urgent areas where quick but significant results can be expected.

I mentioned in a blog post the “the crucial 20 percent of the PLM functionality may bring you 80 percent of the benefits of adopting PLM and help secure the bottom line of your business.” After certifying CXInsight for Electronics from Adeon Software House (ASH), I think this product is a good example of the 80-20 rule—even though it’s not a full-fledged PLM solution, CXInsight for Electronics does address some of the most urgent requirements for product development in the electronics industry.

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In Why Some People Don’t Like PLM, Graham McCall said that some product lifecycle management (PLM) users’ reluctance to share knowledge with others is the obstacle toward higher acceptance of PLM. I thought his point made perfect sense, and my instant reaction was to ask myself: How can this problem be resolved? Ideally, a PLM system is a platform for people to work together. This means that knowledge sharing is mutually beneficial—by sharing knowledge with others, you also get hold of others’ knowledge. This sounds like an incentive for PLM users to share their knowledge, but when it comes to the real PLM environment in production, this is not always the case.

My thought stopped there for a while and then came back to me after I attended the Siemens Industry Software Analyst Conference because I felt things that I saw at the event were quite relevant to the cure I was looking for. Read the rest of this entry »