So there we were in Phoenix, where the three-block walk along the deserted streets between the hotel and the conference center was about two blocks too long in the 42C-heat.
We're in the opening keynote in a conference hall with 2,000 attendees. Near the main stage are tables (with power!) reserved for the media, but also for Siemens PLM Software's largest customers, like GM. Vehicle manufacturer Daimler (best known for Mercedes-Benz) is the largest single customer for Siemens PLM. The presentations on day 2 were directed specifically at them -- very executive-driven.
From the keynotes, we learned that Siemens has just over 15,000,000 customers. Last month, we learned the company (well, I can't call it a 'company' as it is a business group in a division of Siemens AG) plans on earning revenues of $3.5 billion this year, making it neck-and-neck with arch-competitor Dassault Systemes. When it comes to bigCAD, they are the only two in the game for big-iron customers like automotive and aerospace. The runners-up -- Autodesk and PTC -- get to nibble around the edges.
We learned that Siemens spent $10 billion on acquisitions over the last ten years, the latest and biggest being Mentor for its electrical design software. (An employee intimated to me that it took six years for Siemens to hook Mentor, because a competitor was bidding up the price, which began at $1.8 billion and ended at $4.5 billion -- too much, in his estimation.) Perhaps the oddest investment they have is in Bentley Systems; the assumption among us CAD media types is that one day Siemens will buy all of Bentley.
Contradictions abounded. On the one hand, Siemens is working towards a battery-powered airplane to eliminate fossil fuel consumption by 2050; on the other hand they helped develop the air spoiler mechanism on the Bugatti Chiron (starting price $3 million) to attain its 420km/hr top speed with a 1,500hp engine; on the other other hand their electric airplane motors require oil for cooling.
Siemens PLM Connection Americas Conference
For the first time, Solid Edge University was integrated into the PLM Connections conference, the traditional home for NX users. This may explain why the keynote speeches were about NX, NX, NX.
The NX CAD software was created by the EDS division of General Motors by merging Unigraphics (which was based on the world's very first CAM program, UNIAPT) and I-DEAS (by SDRC from 1972). The initial Unigraphics user group meeting took place in 1976, the forerunner to today's PLM Connections conference. Siemens next year takes over running of this conference from the PLM World organization.
What’s New in NX 12
While users are interested in new functions, the marketing team was most excited about NX switching to continuous releases next January. This year's NX 12 is the last big-R release. Siemens decided to make the change after learning that the average customer is running NX from five years ago (three releases out of date), and that a single big-R update can cost a large customer $1 million to deploy.
Customers on maintenance or subscriptions will get the updates, which could be rolled out as frequently as daily with security patches, bug repairs, and feature updates. Enterprise customers can block the updates as desired, and problematic upgrades can be rolled back.
I asked, "How do automatic updates affect file compatibility?" Not at all, because with NX you can go back and forth in time, even to the very first release of Unigraphics from 1974.
Senior vp of product engineering software Bob Haubrock told us that NX for the last six years has out-performed the rest of the CAD market by 4%. "We are now in a replacement market, so we grow by taking business away from competitors." He emphasized that NX is both a product and a platform for doing 3D simulation, plant design, VR/AR [virtual and augmented reality], and so on.
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Let's move on to what's new in NX 12. Some of it isn't, however, new to us, as we have seen some functions present in other MCAD systems already.
NX 12 has tabbed windows for opening multiple parts, as well as multiple viewports in a single window. The Part Navigator changes according to which window is current, especially relevant when two or more windows are visible.
You can use either a solid body or a face to create lattice arrays. Choose the lattice type and its parameters, and then NX patterns a 3D array throughout the selected portion of the body. When working with a face, you can specify the number of layers of lattices -- one is the default.
(The lattice function requires a separate license, as do some of the other advanced functions described here, although this was not stated explicitly.)
Variable blends are now associative, so you can move them along edges.
The new Combine command combines several sheet metal parts into a single sheet metal body, with a defined volume; the excess is trimmed. As you pick individual sheets, say five sheets surrounding a volume, the unneeded parts are removed. With six sheets, a watertight volume is found, and then a solid created.
Variable offset faces are enhanced by being able to offset one or more regions of a single shape (instead of the entire shape). Bridges transition the different offset heights. A pad can be defined inside a region to offset separately, like creating a bulge.
In assemblies, components get custom anchor points. Components can be added and moved in a single step.
Convergent modeling is where 3D meshing meet solids modeling, the latest hot spot in 3D modeling. The most common examples of convergent modeling are medical, such as designing a new joint (designed with solids) for a knee (a 3D mesh from scan data), or a hearing aid (solids) for a scanned ear (meshes). It was introduced in NX 11; before 11, an imported STL file was just for visualization and could not be edited.
In NX 12, imported facets have to be converted to the new Convergent Body entity type, which replaces the JT facet, which NX 12 no longer recognizes. Correction from Siemens PLM Software: All parts have JT lightweight data for fast load and display. Convergent allows NX to take any mesh/facet format and do CAD modeling with it. NX performs a number of editing functions on the new entity type, which still is a 3D mesh, but a smooth-looking one:
Fine control over selecting regions of facet (ie, convergent) bodies, such as snipping, dividing, and selecting a single facet
- Merge faces from different components
- Divide a facet face into as many faces as you need
- Offset a facet body, such as to create a mold
- Apply fillets (a.k.a. circular blends) and chamfers to facet edges, although they are non-associative
- Create surface features from facet bodies
We saw the demo jock remove a hole from a convergent body, and then smooth out the surrounding dimple. Siemens promises that NX 12 is just the start of convergent modeling, with much more to come in future releases.
There was more about what's-new in 12 (350 in all, apparently), but the details were scattered among smaller, parallel sessions, which I could not always attend. Oh yes, and Siemens has taken out 45 patents over last two years, just for NX.
Mentor Graphics
I sat in a session about the newly acquired Mentor, previously known as Mentor Graphics that was founded in 1981. In simple terms, Mentor determines what goes through the wires, while MCAD determines where the wires go. I say 'simple,' because at one keynote we were introduced to a new chip from Mentor that enables Level 5 vehicle automation (no driver needed). Capital is the name of the Mentor software used for developing electrical systems in vehicles.
At this session, I learned that electrical system complexity is at a tipping point (tipping towards inordinate complexity, I am guessing), because something as compact as a Gulfstream jet already has 50 miles of wiring made of 33,000 segments and 3,000 connectors. I wonder, however, if Wifi broadcasting entertainment to passengers reduces wiring complexity.
Solid Edge 2019
Solid Edge numbering got a renaming, so instead of Solid Edge ST11 we have Solid Edge 2019 this year. It was last renamed a decade ago -- jumping from Solid Edge 20 to Solid Edge ST1 -- to highlight the addition of Synchronous Technology. (NX also uses ST.) Whereas ST had been a highlight, highlight, highlight at conferences in previous years, this year it was barely mentioned, maybe because users find ST tough to employ.
(Solid Edge was launched by Intergraph in 1995, the same year as Solidworks, then sold to UGS, who changed the kernel from ACIS to Parasolid. UGS, NX, Solid Edge were later acquired by Siemens PLM Software. Remember Project Jupiter?)
I learned more new news about Solid Edge than NX, which impressed me greatly. Here is what's added and updated:
Generative design maximizes the strength and minimizes the weight (or material usage). In SE19, it is updated with organic lattices and struts. It can be used for subtractive manufacturing (casting and machining) now, and no longer just for additive manufacturing (3D printing). It automatically recognizes when faces are parallel, and so on. You can sketch on the faces of generative models to make holes, and specify a safety factor.
Reverse engineering works with scanned-in models, such as scanning a bottle to design a bottle holder. Solid Edge 2019 offers mesh smoothing to get rid of mesh imperfections, the ability to replace faces on raw mesh data, and use mesh bodies directly in assemblies. In short, you can work on them as if they were b-reps -- just as in NX. As a bonus, the processing speed is 5x to 10x faster.
Convergent modeling is updated, which you can read about in the NX section, above.
The Core of Solid Edge
In the area of basic modeling, Solid Edge 2019 offers...
- Auto simplify to hide IP [intellectual property], speeding up performance (by hiding internal components), and for CFD [computational fluid dynamics] analysis
- Swap out simplified parts with detailed parts
- Find accurate volumes of complex shapes
- Route electrical wires through hoops
- Break views in drawings at any angle
- Design for cost for sheet metal, like the cost of each bend and stamp operation, change material or thickness to drop the cost, or remove gussets
Synchronous Technology also has new functions, even though ST is dropped from the name. The Keyshot rendering add-on is improved with workspaces, new materials, and a free viewer
Add-ons to Solid Edge
The big surprise is the binge of add-ons to Solid Edge 2019. The first two are a direct result of the Mentor acquisition:
Solid Edge Harness Design handles wiring design, circuit simulations (such as what is the voltage drop, what is the current across two points), and a verification system that highlights errors. It generates BOMs [bills of materials] atomically and 2D harness design documentation. Making a change in the electrical schematic shows up in the 3D model on the same computer -- or on two computers.
Solid Edge PCB [printed circuit board] Design handles schematic capture, PCB layouts, and sketch-based routing.
Solid Edge P&ID [piping and instrumentation design] and Solid Edge Piping Design are both standalone packages, but can also be purchased as versions that integrated into existing seats of Solid Edge.
The analysis software for Solid Edge now handles transient heat and thermal analysis over time, and free surface simulation, such as water sloshing around in a tank mounted on a trailer to determine where to put baffles to keep the trailer from tipping over. You can import PCBs from other systems to determine the thermal heat gain from CPUs and other electronic components.
As well, there is more structural simulation and lighting simulation.
For 3D printing, a new gravity function lays out parts naturally (heaviest side closest to the printing plate). The 3D printer utility lets you add bosses to the model.
There were lots of other new features, too many for me to record. For instance, Solid Edge CAM Pro is renamed, previously known as CAM Express. Technical publishing is enhanced, as is data management.
https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com
What Ralph Grabowski Thinks
NX and Solid Edge are part of a $100-billion-a-year manufacturing conglomerate, a benefit that no other MCAD software package can claim. This means that Siemens AG tells its MCAD division the kinds of practical functions it needs in designing medical devices, bullet-like locomotives, and more. Siemens PLM Software can then use the new functions as marketing features. Siemens PLM Software ceo Tony Hemmelgarn said his #1 priority is integration, getting his vast portfolio of software all working together.
This is the first time I've had close exposure to NX, but I've been around Solid Edge for many years now. I see Siemens PLM adding similar functions to both MCAD programs, and so Solid Edge has become a remarkable power-house of a design program at a mid-level price. Even so, one Siemens executive at the conference referred to Solid Edge as their "entry point" software.
Until last year, the revenues of Siemens PLM were roughly that of Autodesk, but with the acquisition of Mentor and its $1.2 billion in revenues, Siemens PLM has risen up to the level of Dassault Systemes, currently #1 in CAD revenues. The race to the next fiscal year-end will be fascinating to observe.
It is the approach that Siemens takes to data that will push it ahead of Dassault, I feel. Siemens works broadly with foreign CAD data thtough its TeamCenter PLM software, whereas Dassault would rather lock you into its Enovia database.
A couple of table mates at a luncheon eagerly told me why their firms switched from Dassault to Siemens. One said their Dassault software was at EOL [end of life] and so it was easier for her firm to upgrade to NX than to Catia V6. The other said his firm switched after it could no longer get support from Dassault in North America. The first one noted that Dassault's configuration software is pretty bad, but if they fixed that, she might consider switching back.
This shows how much CAD vendors have to keep on top of things, despite operating in a mature market. Competition is good for customers.
[Disclosure: Siemens PLM Software provided me with airfare, accommodation, and most meals.]
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| Here are some of the most recent posts on my WorldCAD Access blog:
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Here's what's new in ArchiCAD 22 from Graphisoft, the company that invented BIM before it was called BIM:
- Unlimited curtain wall design (see figure below)
- Unlimited parametric profiles
- Expressions in information management, the IM in BIM
- Performance
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The Linux version of 3D pre-design software Shape is making its way through the beta system at Bricsys. SketchUp for Linux users, but with solids instead of surfaces.
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"Mark Zuckerberg Warns Elon Musk: More People Will Die if We 'Slow Down Progress' on AI." Yah, that's what Elizabeth Holmes said about Theranos, too.
newTech \= livesSaved
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CENIT describes their 3D simulation software FASTSUITE Edition 2 as "the digital factory in a package":
- Layout planning
- Offline programming
- PLC [programmable logic controller] validation
- Virtual commissioning
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Creaform goes educational. The Canadian measurements company launches Creaform ACADEMIA 3D scanner and free software for research labs and classrooms. Learn about the offering from www.creaform3d.com/en/education/teaching
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After Essential launched its first (and now only) smartphone last August, the entire company is up for sale, apparently. Its trajectory followed that of Handspring, for those who follow history, down to the "it's our proprietary add-ons that will make us a success."
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CADExchanger Cloud adds folder creation and drag'n drop files from desktop to browser. Deets here -> cadexchanger.com/blog/215
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Graphisoft says that the average ArchiCAD project in 2017 holds 900,000 elements.
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SPEC Graphics Performance Characterization Group (SPECgpc) updates its SPECviewperf benchmark with
- New volume visualization viewsets for energy, medicine
- Redesigned GUI, improved scoring, reporting
- Updated viewsets
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I'm excited to be part of next March's BricsCAD event in Brisbane, Australia. More details as the planning progresses.
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For late-breaking CAD news, follow upFront.eZine on Twitter at @upfrontezine. |
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"More data, less privacy."
- Thomas Claburn
www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/15/ |
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