FOR RELEASE Tuesday, June 20, 2006
NEW YORK and MUNICH, Germany – UGS Corp., a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced it has acquired the technology for a new product that is creating significant business value for the global manufacturing industry by revolutionizing the part reuse process. UGS acquired the technology from software design & management AG (sd&m), a leading software and consultancy firm in Germany. sd&m is a Capgemini Company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
UGS made the announcement today in conjunction with its annual industry analyst conference in New York. (See separate UGS announcements from today.)
The UGS offering, which has been named Geolus® Search, is in production use today and was formerly sold as geolus SHAPE. It is a “shape search” application which allows manufacturers to quickly locate 3D models of digitally defined parts from large heterogeneous data sources on the basis of geometric similarity. The technology earned sd&m the “Innovator of the Year, 2004” award from CADCAM magazine and its acquisition paves the way for UGS to build advanced geometry-based search applications that promote innovation through reuse and eliminate the time and expense associated with designing or purchasing duplicate parts.
“DaimlerChrysler Commercial Vehicles has used this product for the past three years as a way to enhance product design and avoid costs associated with creating duplicate or similar parts,” said Ulrich Sälzer, Director IT Commercial Vehicles Development, DaimlerChrysler. “Duplicate part development can now be detected early enough to leverage [our part usage] optimization potential, particularly between our global development sites in Europe, Japan and the Americas. Furthermore, using this product in our target price controlling [initiative] also helps us to achieve significant annual savings.”
Significant cost
and time-to-market reductions
Companies that adopt an automated part reuse strategy have the
potential for significant cost savings. However, most
companies have not yet adopted such a strategy due to the fact that
traditional search engines use alphanumeric characters or metadata
rather than the actual part geometry as their search
criteria. This methodology can be very powerful when
searching for parts using non geometric data such as descriptions
of part function, usage, weight, or other important
properties. However it also requires that parts be classified
according to a well defined schema which must be used during the
search, making it very difficult to take the shape of the part into
account.
UGS’ Geolus Search uses the geometric data associated with any of the commonly available PLM or CAD programs for its search, rather than alphanumeric characters. It can search a database of more than a million parts and locate duplicate and/or similar geometry in seconds without the need for manual part pre-classification. The results are then presented visually in the form of “thumbnail” images. This shape search methodology can be used by itself or as a complement to a traditional metadata search process to produce a highly effective search technique.
“Redundant parts proliferation can add 30 to 40 percent to a manufacturers inventory carrying costs,” said Jim Brown, vice president Product Innovation and Engineering Research, AberdeenGroup. “By implementing an effective part reuse strategy, manufacturers can eliminate much of the time and expense associated with designing and/or purchasing duplicate parts. The potential savings are significant.”
Innovation through
Reuse; leveraging the JT data standard
Most innovative new products are the result of modifications and
improvements to existing designs. By providing manufacturers
with the ability to quickly and easily locate parts based on
geometric shape, Geolus Search can help stimulate new ideas and
promote innovation by significantly reducing the need for part or
product redesign.
Furthermore, Geolus Search can be used today in virtually any PLM
or CAD environment due to its support for multiple data formats
such as VRML, STL and JT™, the PLM industry’s most
widely used 3D data format for visualization and
collaboration. And because virtually all major CAD
applications are compatible with JT, UGS plans to further leverage
that support by using JT as the foundation for future Geolus Search
development within the UGS® product portfolio.
“Geolus Search is a revolutionary technology that eliminates barriers to implementing an effective part reuse strategy by creating a 3D visual experience for quickly locating duplicate or similar geometry,” said Chuck Grindstaff, executive vice president of PLM Products, UGS. “Its multi-format compatibility and support for the JT data standard are also consistent with UGS’ ‘Open by Design’ business model that creates value for the entire PLM industry. UGS is proud to offer its customers this unique technology for reducing costs, speeding time to market and promoting innovation through reuse.”
Mature and
innovative technology available today
The technology in Geolus Search represents an industry proven
solution which is in productive use and producing quantifiable
results for several customers worldwide.
“Using our expertise in tailored software engineering along with our close working relationship with our customers, sd&m took an innovative technology and turned it into a product mature enough for industrial deployment,” said Kai Grambow, member of the executive board at sd&m. “We are delighted that an industry leader like UGS will be taking this technology forward to the global PLM industry. As a result, sd&m as part of the globally operating Capgemini Group will continue to concentrate on its core competence of developing tailored IT solutions with the greatest possible benefit for its customers.”
Geolus Search is immediately available from UGS. As part of today’s announced transaction, UGS has formed a service partnership under which sd&m will continue to provide support to users integrating the solution into their systems and process environments.
About
UGS
UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management
(PLM) software and services with nearly 4 million licensed seats
and 46,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano,
Texas, UGS’ vision is to enable a world where organizations
and their partners collaborate through global innovation networks
to deliver world-class products and services while leveraging
UGS’ open enterprise solutions, fulfilling the mission of
enabling them to transform their process of innovation.
About
sd&m
sd&m AG – software design & management –
employs more than 1,000 staff, and with sales of 141 million euros
(2005) ranks among the major software and consultancy companies in
Germany. sd&m develops custom software solutions and
provides IT consultancy services. Top-flight software
engineering and reliable project management provide a firm
foundation for these operations. With branches in Munich,
Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne/Bonn, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg and
Zurich, sd&m is able to provide on-site support. sd&m is
part of Capgemini, making it part of a global network.
About Capgemini
Group
Capgemini, one of the world’s foremost providers of
Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing services, has a unique way
of working with its clients, which it calls the Collaborative
Business Experience. Through commitment to mutual success and the
achievement of tangible value, Capgemini helps businesses implement
growth strategies, leverage technology, and thrive through the
power of collaboration. Capgemini employs approximately 61.000
people worldwide and reported 2005 global revenues of 6,954 million
euros.
More information about individual service lines, offices and
research is available at www.capgemini.com
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Note: UGS, GEOLUS, JT and Transforming the process of innovation are trademarks or registered trademark of UGS Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders.
The statements in this news release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding expected benefits of the product, adoption by customers, continued innovation and other statements identified by forward looking terms such as "may," "will," "expect," "plan," "anticipate" or "project," are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements, including, among others, risks relating to developments in the PLM industry, competition, failure to innovate and intellectual property. UGS has included a discussion of these and other pertinent risk factors in its annual report on Form 10-K most recently filed with the SEC. UGS disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
