By Stephen Pate – Microsoft has scored a big endorsement of its new Surface Book with Performance Base and Surface Studio
from Siemens NX, one of the world leaders in CAD/CAM/CAE.
Joe Bohman, Vice President of Product Engineering Software for Siemens’ product life-cycle management (PLM) software was present for the NYC launch of the Surface Studio and Surface Book. “With the new generative design approaches of Siemens NX Convergent Modeling and Siemens NX Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), the latest Surface devices allow people to completely rethink the way they design and develop products,” said Bohman. ”
“For the first time, they can use their device to simultaneously design and edit scanned, organic and engineered shapes, allowing engineers to create products that could never have been manufactured before. With Surface, they can fully immerse themselves and create directly with their hands, making the process more tactile and creative.”
While most people have heard of AutoCAD by Autodesk which is used in the construction industry. Siemens NX PLM software is huge in manufacturing design with systems and services of “over 15 million licensed seats and more than 140,000 customers worldwide.” Siemens
Siemens has taken a lead position in the world market for CAD/CAM/CAE and PLM. During 2016 major clients like Bosch announced they were standardizing on Siemens PLM. In 2015, Daimler Mercedes switched to Siemens NX. (Winners and Losers When Industry Giant Bosch Consolidates CAD and PLM -Engineering.com)
To be certified as a device supplier for this market is huge for Microsoft since the Surface Studio is a unique product in the market. The potential is huge.
Siemens have move beyond computer aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) to the new integration of PLM – product lifecycle management.
In the early 2000’s, I partnered with IBM on a medical manufacturing client. I was typically supporting the MAPICS manufacturing accounting; however, what caught my eye as the potential productivity boost for the client with the integration of their CAM manufacturing equipment with CAD design. Later we became an AutoCAD dealer and almost converted the entire drafting and architecture firms in our area to this technology.
However, I always felt we were not hitting the full potential of end-to-end technology with digital control from the design to the production phase. Siemens is the world leader in this technology especially with NX PLM. Obviously they see Microsoft Surface and Windows 10 as valuable tools for implementing their systems. Working with Siemens will also enhance the Surface line at the top end as Microsoft gets product suggestions from Siemens.
The industry has come a long way since then and almost nothing of importance is designed without CAD/CAM/CAE. Windows
The Surface Book with Performance Base and Surface Studio
are available from the Microsoft Store and select dealers.
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