Siemens PLM Software and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) , a leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization, announced Teamcenter for Medical Devices, the first fully integrated PLM solution for the medical device industry.

Teamcenter for Medical Devices leverages powerful Teamcenter foundation elements to deliver the most holistic and integrated solution for end-to-end management of the medical devices industry's product lifecycle. Teamcenter enables companies to fully trace all activities from concept to retirement by automatically linking compliance requirements with engineering and specification data. The solution combines compliance management, traceability and reporting capabilities to help medical devices manufacturers address strict quality and regulatory requirements, increasing competition and demanding time-to-market pressures.

"Guarding the health and safety of consumers is job one for Wright Medical and therefore complying with regulations set forth by regulatory agencies must be part of a comprehensive product lifecycle management strategy," said Amy Cooper, quality documentation supervisor, Wright Medical, a global orthopaedic medical device company specializing in the design, manufacture and marketing of reconstructive joint devices and biologics. "Siemens PLM Software's Teamcenter solution helps Wright Medical insure that information regarding our products will be available for the life of the product which can be 40, 80 or even 100 years."

Teamcenter for Medical Devices facilitates comprehensive program lifecycle management, which in turn results in faster design cycles, accelerated time to regulatory agency approval, fewer design and submittal iterations and lower costs for design, development, manufacturing, testing and tracing.

Teamcenter facilitates this strategic approach by tracking all of the product data that pertains to product development activities performed by a medical devices OEM and its suppliers. By integrating compliance management into a complete product lifecycle, Teamcenter virtually eliminates manual data entry, improves data accuracy and reduces the costs of both compliance and non-compliance.

"Wright Medical has dramatically enhanced the availability of compliance data and reduced the time it takes to access that data," added Cooper. "Teamcenter allows device history of the part to be available at the click of a button rather than having to search through physical files. Something that previously took weeks to find can now be accessed within minutes. Suppliers have direct access to data, enhancing efficiency and reducing time-to-market."

"With our recent launch of Teamcenter 2007 complete, Siemens PLM Software is making good on its commitment to expand its list of industry specific solutions that create real value through tailored functionality," said Steve Bashada, vice president of Teamcenter Applications, Siemens PLM Software. "Companies producing medical devices can now use Teamcenter to establish regulatory compliance as a strategic initiative by integrating the solution into their existing supply chain, design and manufacturing systems to support efficient data collection, reporting and traceability. Teamcenter's robust capabilities and integrated features establish the industry's premier quality assurance environment for creating, managing, controlling, tracking and distributing all of the electronic product records associated with the medical devices lifecycle."

TCS' industry domain knowledge and solution development experience coupled with its system integration capabilities and channel partner relationships make it an instrumental partner in development and implementation of Teamcenter for Medical Devices. TCS' Engineering and Industrial Services Practice helps customers across the world focus on developing and bringing innovative and efficient products to market faster.

"Teamcenter for Medical Devices, developed in collaboration between TCS and Siemens PLM Software, is an innovative solution that caters to the needs of the growing global medical devices market. Teamcenter for Medical Devices encapsulates predefined compliance needs of the industry thus making it easy to deploy and reliable to use," said Regu Ayyaswamy, vice president, Engineering and Industrial Services, TCS. "TCS' two decade-old partnership with Siemens PLM Software has grown stronger with time and has brought benefits to a multitude of customers across the globe in industries such as high technology, medical devices, aerospace and automotive."


Commentary By Jeffrey Rowe, Editor
If there were ever two companies that could tackle the huge issues associated with the medical product design industry, these two are among the few that could do it. They are both multi-billion-dollar companies that are accustomed to dealing with big projects, and most medical products are definitely big with regard to reliability, liability, and regulatory compliance. It’s this last area where Teamcenter and its collaborative capabilities will really shine, with TCS serving as the Teamcenter integrator/implementer.

For its part, TCS is no stranger to the medical industry, since it has extensive experience in scientific and diagnostic instruments. As a part of the Tata Group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 100,000 IT consultants in 47 countries and revenues of $4.3 billion for its last fiscal year. So, it’s a pretty good-sized company any way you slice it.

Collaboration has increased between companies dealing with scientific instruments, laboratory informatics, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostics. Yet these enterprises are finding it difficult to keep pace with rapid technological changes, frequent product introductions, rising manufacturing costs, increased competition, and stringent regulations. To be able to focus on new instrument design and development successfully, enterprises are outsourcing their IT development and support functions to companies like TCS. Instrument manufacturers also are optimizing their manufacturing processes and collaborating with partners to co-develop products as well, again, with companies such as TCS. It works with manufacturing companies in this sector to manage software development and maintenance activities, as well as execute strategies to streamline manufacturing processes and jointly develop products.

TCS realizes that in the medical product arena, regulatory compliance has become a core part of the business. By being regulatory compliant, enterprises can improve the overall quality of company operations and products, and more effectively support risk management decisions. With a view to resolve regulatory compliance issues, medical product companies are focusing on a comprehensive strategy rather than isolated applications that can help them manage the myriad regulations associated with those products. Through its experience, TCS understands the importance of regulatory compliance in the medical product industry and helps businesses use compliance as a business improvement tool.

Teamcenter is probably the UGS PLM component that has more exposure to more customers than the rest of its PLM suite combined. Teamcenter is an integrated suite of PLM software modules for managing product and process data. Teamcenter is best known for managing various types of CAx data, but it can be used for other kinds of data management, as well, including regulatory compliance. Again, Teamcenter is not just one, but actually several modules for managing data and processes, many of which are well-suited for the medical product design business, and can be tailored and implemented to work with companies of virtually any size.

Teamcenter for Medical Devices is a specialized “flavor” of Teamcenter that facilitates program lifecycle management, which in turn results in faster design cycles, accelerated time to regulatory agency approval, fewer design and submittal iterations and lower costs for design, development, manufacturing, testing and tracing. That’s a lot of ground to cover.

As I’ve stated before, by itself (and by definition), Teamcenter is not PLM, but does provide a crucial part of the PLM puzzle that is involved with process as well as product. Based on a multitude of factors, Teamcenter and PLM continue to move to design and manufacturing companies of all sizes. Some of these factors include regulatory compliance, shorter product lifecycles, or for companies to remain competitive and growing top-line revenue while cutting bottom-line expenses. These factors boil down to management issues and Teamcenter has proven well-suited to this task by a customer base and associated markets that continue to grow. UGS has been quite successful with Teamcenter and this trend should continue with Teamcenter 2007. The relationship with TCS should only further the growth potential in this vital product sector.



The Week’s Top 5

At MCADCafé we track many things, including the stories that have attracted the most interest from our subscribers. Below are the five news items that were the most viewed during last week.

VX CAD/CAM Selected for New Programs at the Erie Institute of Technology
VX Corp. announced that VX CAD/CAM has been selected by the Erie Institute of Technology for use in their new manufacturing and technology programs. As part of a mold and die industry revival, the Erie Institute of Technology, www.erieit.edu, has recently added six new manufacturing programs and a new 50,000 square foot training center in Erie that includes computer labs for running CAD/CAM software and machine tools for providing hands on training. "VX CAD/CAM will have a big impact on our mold design and mold making programs. With VX mold design software, students will learn how to import models, fix undercuts, gaps and poorly defined draft angles while realizing the advantages of using software with built-in plastic processing know-how," said Kit Carson, CNC Program Director. "For machining molds, VX's QuickMill will help students learn roughing and advanced finishing techniques, how to optimize machine tool utilization for reducing wear and tear, and how to produce high-quality finished molds that minimize polishing time."

New SolidWorks Tutorials; Become faster and more productive using SolidWorks
AboutSolidWorks.com has published two new SolidWorks tutorials emphasizing the new functionality of SolidWorks 2008. These tutorials demonstrate some of the ways in which SolidWorks 2008 makes every day part creation easier and faster. The first tutorial shows how the new context toolbars magically appear after you select an item. The second tutorial teaches how to customize the new shortcut bars to provide quicker and easier access to your favorite tools. The practical and straightforward tutorials are enhanced with images to guide new or experienced users step-by-step to teach you as many techniques as possible in the least amount of time. These new SolidWorks tutorials are available at www.AboutSolidWorks.com.

MSC.Software and T-Systems Announce Partnership
MSC.Software announced a partnership agreement with T-Systems Enterprise Services GmbH, providers of information management and telecommunication systems. Under the agreement both companies will work together to provide mutual service benefits to customers across a range of automotive and aerospace manufacturers and other industries. MSC.Software will continue to develop and offer the simulation process & information management system, SimManager, and its other products from the SimEnterprise suite; these software offerings will be complemented by services in custom development, consultancy, and training. T-Systems will contribute complementary technology from their MEDINA/SDM.Post solution, including enhanced results management and evaluation, and will be enhanced through available systems integration; especially the integration of SimManager in the customers' customized PLM environments.

FEA-Opt Technology Announces SmartDO 1.6, Supporting Concurrent Sizing, Shaping and Topology Global Optimization
FEA-Opt Technology ( www.FEA-Optimization.com) announced the release of SmartDO 1.6, which will support concurrent sizing, shaping and topology global optimization. The SmartDO, which stands for the Smart Design Optimization System, is a general-purpose design optimization system focusing on the Smart Global Optimization Technology. According to FEA-Opt Technology, the Concurrent Sizing, Shaping and Topology Global Optimization is made possible by its Roboust Genetic Algorithms (RGA) solver of SmartDO. Because SmartDO can handle different kind of design variables, like binary, Boolean, integer and floating points, this made it possible to solve almost all kinds of problems. In addition to that, SmartDO uses proprietary technologies like the Adaptive Penalty Function, Automatic Schema Representation, Automatic Population and Generation Number Calculation and Absolute Descent, it is far more stable and "intelligent" than the conventional Genetic Algorithms. Since the Genetic Algorithms is usually called the heuristic search approach, there is very few rigorous mathematical prove of its convergent properties. It relies on huge amount of calculation, and uses statistical approach to swam the design space. Usually there is no even clear idea about when the program should stop.

ERP-CAD Data Integration System for SolidWorks and Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta) ERP Ships
Elmo Solutions announced Agni Link, a live, bidirectional ERP-CAD connector for SolidWorks and Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta). Agni Link is a SolidWorks add-in that provides real-time, bidirectional integration with Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta). Agni Link offers a unique and reliable way to integrate SolidWorks and Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta) databases. Every time a SolidWorks document is saved, after automatically resolving discrepancies between ERP and CAD data, Agni Link allows the user to edit data shared between SolidWorks and Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta) using possible values obtained "live" from Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta). Upon end-user confirmation, data is updated in both the SolidWorks document and the Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta) database, thus ensuring perfect synchronization of both data sets and completely eliminating redundant data entry. Agni Link can process and synchronize a wide range of data from either environment, including:
• SolidWorks Part, Component and Assembly data
• Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta) Bills Of Materials, Routing Instructions, Sales Quotes, Work Orders, Estimation and/or Customer Data
• Microsoft Dynamics/AX (Axapta) Routing instructions

Jeffrey Rowe is the editor of MCADCafé and MCAD Weekly Review. He can be reached at Email Contact or 408.850.9230.


This Week

Lead Story

Siemens PLM Software and Tata Consultancy Services Announce New Teamcenter-Based Solution for the Medical Device Industry

Product and Company News

The "MCAE Europe 2007" Report Ranks the Top MCAE Software Vendors
$1.1M KeyCreator Grant for SENAI Brazil
Blue Ridge Numerics Announces Strategic Partnership With SpaceClaim
KeyCreator and GibbsCAM Integration Announced
Geometric Releases DFM Pro for Manufacturability Analysis of Designs
CoCreate Software Receives Multi-Year Contract from HP
Dassault Systemes Reports Q3 Software Revenue Growth
SEMA Cuts Project Runtimes 30% With CoCreate OneSpace Suite
Blue Ridge Numerics Is One of America's Fastest Growing Companies
TriStar Recognized as World’s Top PTC VAR and Leading Windchill Provider
Altair Engineering HyperWorks Selected by Ducati
Siemens PLM Software Invests in Japan's Manufacturing Future Through In-Kind Software Grants
CoCreate Software Adopted by Apic Yamada Corp.
New Invensys Software Enables Multiphase Flow Simulation From Microsoft Excel
Autodesk Sponsors Sustainable Design Documentary Series
Open Design Alliance and Tech Soft 3D Announce Integration
Burgmann Industries Optimizes Process With Solid Edge and Teamcenter
Altair Engineering RADIOSS Selected by PSA Peugeot Citroen for Crash Analysis
Siemens PLM Software Technology Helps Hendrick Motorsports Win
Flomerics Helps Canadian Schools Pursue F1 Pole Position
Samsung SDI Adopts Windchill
VISTAGY Partners with Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials to Advance Composites Engineering Research
Catalog Data Solutions Adopted by Rino Mechanical Components
French Customer Celebrates 20 Years with Delcam
AutoForm Version 4.1.1 Released
MecSoft releases VisualCAM platform and application suite
New GibbsCAM 5-Axis Module Now Shipping ; New functionality provides a wide range of support for 5-axis machining.
SAMTECH to expand into China
Concurrent Announces its SIMulation Workbench Linux-based, Real-Time Modeling Tools
CSM Software delivers design and analysis for a large tier 1 supplier of Boeing
Autodesk Showcases Sustainable Design Technology
Rapidform Adds New Sales Partners
ANSYS and Network Analysis Team Up to Improve Thermal Simulation
Celeritive Technologies Launches VoluMill Toolpath Engine - Internet Toolpath Service now Available to all CAM Users via Subscription
CMM nests fully automatically with JETCAM Remote Control Processing
Catalog Data Solutions CAD Downloads Adopted by Sofasco
Audi Standardizes on MSC.Software's MD Nastran
3D Systems Participates in Habitat for Humanity Project
VISTAGY Expands Portfolio
SMTCL and EdgeCAM Establish Strategic Partner Relationship
Catalog Data Solutions Configurators implemented by ASCO Valve
Gibbs and MAG Infimatic Controls Division Announces Strategic Partnership at EMO 2007
Itipack S.r.l. Speeds Time to Market With CoCreate Software
AutoForm-DieAdvisor Released
SolidWorks Certifies Delcam's FeatureCAM
Delcam offers Direct Link from PowerMILL CAM to Vericut Simulation
COADE Introduces New CADWorx Video Training Course
PHASE 2 Launches ShareCAD for AutoCAD
Invention Machine Expands Global Reseller Network
Sharp Laboratories Selects EFD.V5 for CATIA V5
3D Systems Unveils V-Flash HA Production System
Forming Technologies Announces the Release of FormingSuite ProgNest for Progressive Dies
ANSYS Named to Software Magazine's Software 500
SAMTECH to Release V12.1 of its FEA Suite
3D Systems Equips Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology
Introducing “Doctor Walt’s FACE LOGIC STRIKES, Hyper Editing Solids in KeyCreator 7”
Vero to Present the Latest VISI Flow
Tormach Creates CNC Consulting Program
CoCreate Software's 3D CAD Adopted by Apic Yamada Corporation
Esdale gets more productive with WorkPLAN
Hexagon Metrology Qingdao to sell PolyWorks® software suite with portable & stationary CMMs in China
Tech Soft 3D's HOOPS Drives Graphics Performance Gains for COADE
Alibre Expands Reseller Channel in North America
Actify Increases Security for SpinFire Users

Related MCAD News

NASA Langley Celebrates 90 Years of Aerospace Innovation
Mexico Plans to Become Leading Automotive Producer
Ohio Using VR Technology for Innovation in Aerospace Development
Synopsys Advances Low Power Management for Manufacturing Test
HP Unlocks the Printable Web for Internet Users
Microsoft and Dassault Systemes Launch Microsoft Virtual Earth -3DVIA
High-Temperature Plastics for Airbus
Cleveland, Cincinnati Manufacturing Holds Top Spots Among Nation's Cities
Hotmath.com Adds Math Instant Messaging Feature For Online Collaboration on Math Homework
Visteon to Release Q3 Financial Results
Bombardier Aerospace Launches Learjet NXT Aircraft
Océ Debuts New Océ TCS500 Inline Folder
Berkeley Design Automation Delivers SPICE Simulator for Greater Than 1M Transistor Circuits
Automotive News PACE Award Program Advances Select Suppliers To Final Evaluation Round
Adept Technology to Showcase Robotics at Major Orthopedics Conference
Consumer Electronics Drives EDA

Industry Events

Report On CoCreate Forum 2007 in Sindelfingen Draws record Numbers
Stratasys Conference Call to Discuss Q3 Financial Results
Moldflow Executives to Present at Conference
Upcomming Webinars from Siemens PLM Software
Autodesk Extends Invitation to Join Its Special Shareholder Meeting
Cimatron Holds Global Annual Conference in China
3D Systems to Present at Financial Conference
MSC.Software to Host Q3 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast
fe-safe™ User Group Meeting a Hit with Customers; Download Papers and Presentations
WorkNC and MyWorkPLAN attract worldwide interest at EMO and TCT
Plexus Systems' CEO to Speak at Michigan Manufacturing Association
Free CD-adapco Surface Wrapping Seminars - Beginning October 25, 2007
3D Systems Announces Conference Call and Webcast to Discuss Financial Results

Corporate Newsletters

EDS Technologies Newsletter - October 2007
Autodesk Manufacturing Community Update - October 18, 2007
SolidCAM Newsletter - October 2007