PLM plus …

My last article talked about whether CAD is growing more specialized or more generalized. My opinion is that it is moving in both directions at the same time. It is becoming more specialized in that each individual design discipline has a deeper toolbox to work with. It is becoming more generalized in that CAD can be connected to more and more pieces of the product development process as well as other vital business processes.

Something to think about anyway.

But then today I read an article from one of my favorite analysts, Monica Schnitger. Monica recently attended a Siemens Innovation day, and saw how important software is in the scheme of the entire Siemens organization. She makes a great case not just for PLM to be entirely interconnected between the branches that design professionals are all acquanted with, such as Teamcenter, Tecnomatix, Mentor Graphics, and Simcenter, but also elements such as cloud, big data, connectivity, IoT, in addition to some of the areas where Siemens has had more traditional success, such as PLC automation, and other hardware.

If you’re interested in seeing how Siemens is building a set of offerings to enable its customers to perform everything on a single platform, please give Monica’s column a read. Her writing is always easy to understand and in this case it shows how important Siemens PLM is to the overall mission of Siemens AG.