vdR Group Speaking at Aras Community Event (ACE)
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vdR will demonstrate how Aras’ new “options and variants” capabilities can be used to accelerate pre-award bill-of-material development, establish place-holder parts and/or assemblies, activate workflow routings based on customer and product types, and produce quotes leveraging Aras’ technical documentation module.
Read MoreThe Business of Engineering and CPQ
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The spirit of the Business of Engineering is to focus on broader strategic issues. The steadily increasing complexity of product development fuels the need for coping with products developed across multiple disciplines while driving profitable outcomes. So when we received the question, “why not run CPQ as a standalone application?” it seemed like an ideal time to integrate CPQ considerations into the Business of Engineering theme.
Read MoreLiberate Revit Data through “Intelligent Parts” to Drive Company-Wide Efficiency
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You missed the webinar and that's OK. Watch the recording. The rigid and siloed structure of Autodesk’s Revit data has been a long-time source of frustration for companies in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) space. Revit projects and family data rarely “play nice” with enterprise-wide solutions such as ERP, product lifecycle management (PLM), or even simple document management. While many AEC companies have invested heavily in enterprise solutions, it has proved difficult to seamlessly harmonize with the Revit environment.
Read MoreWrangling Engineering Change Orders
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Earlier this month, Desktop Engineering published an article by Brian Albright that provides a refreshing perspective on a familiar topic – engineering change. Albright suggests that many of the strategies and techniques used to manage engineering change (EC) are quickly becoming obsolete due to increasing product complexity and market demands. While this concept is not new, the article looks at the root causes of this issue and explores actionable solutions. The urgency of the problem is highlighted by thoughts and comments from industry experts and day-to-day EC practitioners. These perspectives represent a range of organizations, including Arena, M-Files, Omnify, Oracle, Synergis and others. It quickly becomes clear that a new approach to information management – whether it be PDM, ECM, or PLM – is key to modernizing EC. However, Albright is careful to avoid picking sides. Despite this impartial analysis, PLM seems to break away from the pack.
Read MoreField Report: Aras Community Event (ACE) 2016
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Aras just concluded their annual Aras Community Event (ACE) in Detroit, Michigan. The two and a half-day event in Motor City was packed with a combination of compelling customer stories, thought leadership, updates/roadmap for the Aras Innovator PLM solution, and practical and relevant implementation insights. The uptick over last year’s attendance coupled with the addition of 32 new partners from around the globe, reinforces Aras as a disruptive player in the traditional PLM landscape.
Read MoreThe PLM Maturity Quadrant Explained
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The vdR Group has recently formulated the PLM Maturity Quadrant as illustrated in the diagram below. The quadrant is comprised of two simple parameters. The x-axis is referred as the Data Cohesion variable and the y-axis characterizes Process Repeatability. The top right-hand quadrant represents the ideal PLM environment. The Data Cohesion variable considers how well data is connected. The expression “single source of truth” is often associated with the goals of PLM. This suggests that users seeking to access part and/or product related data can go to ONE place. The data doesn’t have to be in a single repository, but linkages need to be in place.
Read MoreTech Tips - Extend Aras Innovator to CAD Workgroups
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As much as we like to talk about all the wonderful things you can do with Aras Innovator as a PLM solution, it can easily be used as a product data management (PDM) platform to manage CAD data.
Recognizing this need, Aras developed best-in-class PDM functionality inside Aras Innovator. You can effectively manage all your CAD data and share this across the business.
To support this, Aras offers an open, CAD-neutral environment for developing packaged and custom integrations. It is used by various CAD Connector partners as the basis of their Connector products and can be used by customers or partners to develop custom PDM solutions.
Kicking Off 2016 Has Been an Economic Cage-Rattler
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January 2016 has gotten off to a rough start for the global markets. Manufacturers already face the pressures of competition, innovation, compliance, liability, distributed supply chains and more. But, this year’s start has thrown in uncertainty with a dash of volatility. No doubt this has prompted internal discussions for many businesses about what all this may mean for the coming year and how best to respond.
Read MoreProposal Management Module
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A “Quote-to-Cash” Extension for Engineer/Build-to-Order Organizations
You may have heard about this expression “Quote to Cash.” Admittedly, it can sound a bit flippant. If only it were that easy. But, what if you could create significant efficiencies in the proposal process and drive cash in a shorter period of time?
Well, that’s the idea behind one of our newest lab projects… the Proposal Management Module. The goal is to help sales capture requirements, repurpose those into a proposal, pass the information on directly to planning and engineering, and do this without loss of “data fidelity”. If this process can be accelerated, then it stands to reason that the potential for delivery and invoicing are shortened as well.
Read MoreAras’ Community Event (ACE) 2015 Observations
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Part of Aras’ mantra is “Aras is Different”. As a long time participant in the PLM and engineering software space, this phrase should not to be dismissed as mere marketing hype. It’s the real deal. I used to think that Aras was playing catch up and slugging it out in the shadows of the long time established players such as Dassault, PTC and ...
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