Smarter decisions, better products

Rajiv Ghatikar, Vice Presiden, General Manager,
Asean and Australasia, Siemens PLM Software

The Asian market continues to demand environmentally-friendly products produced with a more sustainable production model. However, uncertainties facing manufacturing companies today create significant challenges as to how to most effectively invest their capital in order to maintain, or return to, economic growth. They know they must further optimise their existing capacity yet have the flexibility to respond and expand when market demand begins to accelerate.

In an interview conducted by International Metalworking News for Asia, Rajiv Ghatikar, Vice President and General Manager, Asean and Australasia, Siemens PLM Software, explains the numerous enhancements of Tecnomatix 10 to power manufacturing productivity and how it can help manufacturers in Asia.

According to Ghatikar, today’s increasingly competitive global manufacturing industry, combined with the current international economic environment, has companies looking for new and innovative ways to boost productivity, cut costs and increase quality, especially this region where the manufacturing sector is so competitive.

“We believe that this latest version of Tecnomatix, which is a digital manufacturing solution available from Siemens, has tremendous potential to positively affect the productivity and efficiency of the manufacturing industry, and as the leader in this field, we are proud to deliver the kind of solutions that will continue to create value for our customers, while helping the manufacturing industry thrive and grow,” he said.

Software features

“Machining and metalworking manufacturers focus on component production using NC processes.  A robust and capable CAM system is required for these manufacturers.  More importantly, it is critical that the manufacturing work packages are created and managed so that the correct information is available at every stage of the process. While NX CAM is well known as a premium CAM system, Tecnomatix 10 includes several components that directly support the creation, management, distribution, and effectiveness of these work packages on the shop floor,” Ghatikar added.

He said that starting with Tool Data Information systems, NC programmers make use of approved, inventoried tool data as they develop programs.  Fixture and Machine libraries are managed and maintained with Resource Manager.  Complete packages of component manufacturing processes are built with Part Planning components.  And all of this critical information is delivered to the shop floor using direct Teamcenter access and DNC data delivery.

Manufacturing challenges
When asked about some of the recent and larger challenges Asian manufacturers faced, and what can be done to overcome these issues with Tecnomatix 10 in mind, Ghatikar outlined numerous difficulties faced by Asian manufacturers.  “We would say worldwide competition, shorter product cycles, newer methodologies, and manufacturing complexity are critical and crucial.”

Worldwide Competition — Intensive global and local competition increasingly forces manufacturers to produce quality products in the shortest possible time at minimum cost. The pressure to reduce lead times is particularly obvious.  Every country continues to upgrade the skills of their citizens.  Therefore, competition is more intense at all levels.

Shorter Product Cycles — The primary force of driving manufacturing is a reduced product development cycle.  While continual changes in design are implemented, more frequent and additional NC programming is required to manufacture products, along with the dies, moulds and tools that are often desired.

Newer Methodologies — Newer manufacturing methodologies are becoming popular.  Digital manufacturing, collaboration, concurrent engineering, lean production, supply chain management, and design for manufacturing have moved manufacturing operations into the mainstream.

Manufacturing Complexity — The tools and processes used in manufacturing are also becoming more complex, to gain higher production efficiency.  The rapid pace of technology change continues.  High-speed machining has gained acceptance to improve both product quality and productivity.   Multi-functional machine tools such as machining centres, turning centres, mill turn machines, and multi-axis lathes are commonplace.  More NC programming is driven by the continued change in technology and increased complexity in manufacturing tools and processes.

In general, Ghatikar said the latest release of Tecnomatix powers manufacturing productivity by enabling smarter decisions for manufacturing throughout the plan, define, build and support lifestyle. From a new, more intuitive user interface presenting information in-context, to a more integrated product/production environment that helps to eliminate errors before they are discovered on the shop floor, Tecnomatix 10 brings to market the latest in digital manufacturing solutions, which work together to power productivity for the manufacturing sector in this ever-changing world.

“Because of various recent calamities in Asia, particularly the natural disasters experienced in the Southeast Asian region, what manufacturers need now is to increase productivity to boost manufacturing to make up for lost time.  With the various new functionalities and capabilities of Tecnomatix 10, Asian manufacturers will now be able to achieve increased productivity and overcome all abovementioned challenges in a shorter period of time,” he added.

Enhanced solution

The latest release of Tecnomatix includes a host of enhancements across the manufacturing spectrum.  In the part manufacturing space, the most noticeable advancement is the introduction of the Shop Floor Connect for Teamcenter component.

Shop Floor Connect for Teamcenter is an application add-on for Teamcenter software that delivers CNC program files directly into the machine controller. More than just a traditional DNC system, the connection to the centralised Teamcenter database avoids data duplication and manages revisions to  ensure the correct manufacturing data is used on the shop floor.  It also enables production staff to access current and released CNC programs, drawings, 3D models and other data sources through a web-based user interface that runs on any browser-enabled device or controller.

Tecnomatix components are woven tightly into the larger Part Manufacturing Solution, an integrated approach to moving from part to production, all under the part and process management control from Teamcenter.  This integration of resources, data, and supporting information, provide the process and data management to keep the shop floor connected directly to the engineering data.

PLM trends in Asia
Siemens PLM is committed to the Asian marketplace with a network of direct and channel sales, multiple offices, and support personnel.  “We understand trends and customer needs in various Asian countries and industrial segments.  Siemens PLM and our partners can provide professional services and consultancy to help customers achieve business visions and goals, by providing competitive solutions to solve their problems in product design, manufacturing process planning and validation, and production execution,” said Ghatikar.

One major trend that Ghatikar see in terms of technology is the consolidation of disparate databases and management structures, allowing more direct data sharing and reduced confusion across the enterprise.  “Our Shop Floor Connect for Teamcenter product addresses this trend directly, making sure that the production environment is connected directly to the PLM environment.  Manufacturing work packages, released to production can be browsed, viewed, and selected for use on the shop floor.  Duplicate databases are eliminated and optimised work packages are properly stored as revision updates for future use,” he stated.

Ghatikar added, “In Asia specifically, businesses, especially those in the manufacturing sector, need to be agile and flexible to meet the demands of their customers while staying competitive at the same. With the current economic situation in Europe, the focus for manufacturing will be on Asia and there is a great deal of potential for growth, not just among bigger players, but also among SME/SMBs. With the availability of PLM solutions now, smaller manufacturing companies now have a competitive edge, evening out the playing field and creating more growth potential for the industry as a whole.”

In 2012, Siemens PLM targets to introduce advanced and intelligent end-to-end solutions to the Asian market to enable customer enterprises working in a more collaborative and flexible environment, from product concepts through actual production. “Our business vision is smarter decisions, better products,” he finally said.