ACE 2015 Round Up

ACE 2015 in Detroit kicked off the annual ACE series of global conferences with a bang! This year we had more than 400 community members register, representing more than 180 companies from 24 countries around the world – making it the biggest ACE ever!

I want to personally thank everyone for joining us and for your commitment to the Aras community. Your enthusiasm is what makes these events so good for collaboration.

I'd also like to give a special shout out to all the people that presented and participated throughout the conference – thank you for sharing your perspectives and experiences with others. Your presentations and demos were outstanding!

I would also like to thank all of our sponsoring partners: 3D PDF Consortium, AESSiS, BigLever Software, CloudOne, The Institute of Configuration Management, CMPIC, Dell, Elysium, FISHER/UNITECH, IBM, IHS, Infor, ITI TranscenData, Javelin Technologies, Kalypso, Kisters, Microsoft, Minerva, NorthRidge Software, Razorleaf, SofTech, T-Systems, The vdR Group, UltraLevel, xLM Solutions, xPLM and Zionex. Without their sponsorship we wouldn't be able to make the ACE conferences free events. The theme of this year's event was Rethink PLM. The agenda was packed with user experiences, live demos, round tables and other sessions designed to challenge conventional assumptions and approaches to PLM in order to increase the pace of innovation.

Download all the slides form ACE 2015 (warning it's 49 MB)

 

ACE 2015

Aras Keynote – Peter Schroer, CEO

Aras Founder and CEO, Peter Schroer, got things rolling with an impassioned presentation and community update tying back to the conference theme – Rethink PLM.

He pointed to the fact that market demands and customer preferences are changing faster than ever forcing companies to rethink how products are designed and how value is delivered. This constant transformation is driving more and more complexity which must be managed to compete effectively.

Peter discussed how the need for secure collaboration has never been greater, and highlighted our latest release with Visual Collaboration. He explained how Visual Collaboration in Aras breaks down barriers throughout the enterprise to speed up processes and accelerate innovation.

He introduced new partnerships and strengthened relationships with Microsoft, IBM, Infor, IHS, Dell, UltraLevel and CloudOne, to name a few.

As an example he spoke about the Aras Component Engineering application with IHS. The new release of Component Engineering connects the IHS CAPS Universe database into the Aras platform providing seamless access to over 400 million electronic components with side-by-side performance comparisons, RoHS, REACH, Conflict Mineral compliance data and more.

Peter also talked about the importance of Resilient PLM in today's fast changing environment and why greater scalability, flexibility and upgradability matter. He concluded by challenging the Aras community rethink their approach to PLM in order to better enable the business saying, “Do something BIG.”

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ACE 2015 Key Safety SystemsGlobal PLM Implementation for Automotive Supplier – Key Safety Systems

Key Safety Systems, a global tier 1 automotive supplier, discussed their PLM vision, why they selected Aras, success to date, lessons learned and plans for the future. Key Safety shared details of their global ENOVIA MatrixOne replacement with Aras for PLM, and how they have integrated to Teamcenter which is used for CAD management.

Get the slides to find out how Key Safety Systems modernized their PLM backbone with Aras and the critical factors to their success.

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The Road to Smarter Work – Sonnax Industries

Sonnax Industries, a provider of aftermarket performance vehicle transmissions, shared their story of how Aras helped them escape a “PLM Nightmare” and brought them to “PLM Heaven” by providing greater flexibility and access to all across the organization.

The company explained how they have driven PLM in unconventional directions for more than a decade using Aras for dozens of processes across the company from engineering to manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and the supply chain. They went on to share why they think Aras is so Special – Secure, Scalable, Flexible and “it can do cool new stuff” :-)

Sonnax ended by saying, “Don't stop looking for ways that Aras can make your business better!”

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ACE 2015 Martin EignerGuest Keynote – Dr. Martin Eigner

Dr. Martin Eigner from the University of Kaiserslautern kicked off day two with a presentation about Model-Based Systems Engineering with Aras. He stressed that MBSE boosts a more interdisciplinary and integrative approach to product development and forces people to rethink PLM.

He went on to discuss steps to an upstream approach of PLM to support MBSE, as well as, how the university has done a successful MBSE reference implementation project with Aras. Closing the presentation, Dr. Eigner stated that in order to serve the business, PLM must be continuously customized and upgraded to support constantly changing business processes.

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ACE 2015 Nidec Motor CorporationAdding Business Value with Aras – Nidec Motor Corporation

Nidec Motor Corporation, a global manufacturer of industrial, commercial and appliance motors and controls, discussed how they had been rethinking PLM to add value throughout their business with Aras.

The company has a PDM/PLM history ranging from 1982 to today's PLM technology with Aras. Nidec explained their experience replacing their legacy Teamcenter PLM system with Aras, migrating complex CAD data and more. Now with Aras they've increased quality, timeliness of deliverables and simplified processes extending PLM across the organization by including the multi-level BOM view with links to additional information including Creo CAD models, Drawings, Make/Buy, Preferred Vendors, Ordering Information.

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ACE 2015 GETRAGA Flexible Approach to PLM – GETRAG

Global automotive supplier of transmission systems, GETRAG, explained how they needed a system that would deliver results fast, be a single source of truth, support day to day work and most importantly adapt to changing business requirements. Aras fit the bill.

GETRAG opted not to use a “big bang” approach instead opting for a step-by-step scenario. They shared how their PLM implementation continues to transform their business as they extend further and further worldwide. Take a look at the slides to learn more about GETRAG's implementation process.

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ACE 2015 MicrosoftGuest Keynote: Understanding the Microsoft Cloud for PLM – Microsoft

Bob Baker, Director Microsoft Cloud + Enterprise, got us all thinking about the important considerations when bringing the cloud to your enterprise.

He explained the three reasons companies are using cloud-based capabilities: speed, scale and economics.

He discussed what enterprises expect most from a cloud platform starting with security, integration capabilities and the ability to run different technologies and explained how Windows Azure is built with these fundamentals in mind.

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Collaborate & Contribute Awards

Every year members of the community get special recognition for their contributions based on significance, popularity and impact. This year's winners of the Collaborate & Contribute awards were:

ANCA Motion – Sorting on BOM Structure Tab

Orio (Formerly Saab) – Technical Publications

GETRAG – Configurable Item Permissions for the Extended Enterprise

Let's congratulate the winners again and thank them for their contributions!

You can be nominated for an award by actively participating in many ways. Some examples include:

  • Submitting ideas
  • Making requests
  • Commenting in the Aras Forums
  • Contributing specifications
    • Form Designs
    • Use Cases
    • Workflows
    • Business rules
    • Data models
  • Collaborative development
    • Prototyping
    • Developing solutions & add-ons
    • Scripts / methods and code samples
    • Doing interfaces & integrations
    • Testing & verification
  • Creating documentation
  • Doing translations
  • Sharing Your Story

ACE 2015 Solution ShowcaseSolution Showcase

The Solution Showcase is one of our most popular sessions at ACE every year. This session is filled with 5 minute rapid fire demos – all software and no slides. People were able to show off their cool new solutions, add-ons and innovative concepts they've been working on. It's a great way to get a quick overview of a whole series of applications that global companies have developed on the Aras platform.

Some of this year's solution showcase participants included:

Digital Mockup – Kisters

Tech Support System – AMC Bridge

Server-Side Microsoft Office Integration – Amscan

Fun with Forms - Nidec

BOM BaseLine Viewer – Neo System

…and many more.

Download ACE 2015 Slides

Download all the slides from ACE 2015 (49 MB zip file)

Main Session

Aras Community Update

What's New from Aras

Global PLM Implementation for Automotive Supplier – Key Safety Systems

The Road to Smarter Work – Sonnax Industries

Model-Based Systems Engineering – Dr. Martin Eigner

A Flexible Approach to PLM – GETRAG

Understanding the Microsoft Cloud for PLM – Microsoft

What's Ahead: Aras Vision & Roadmap

Upcoming Applications

Quality Management System

Self-Service Reporting

Technical Documentation

Business Track (Sponsored by IBM)

The Impact of IoT on Product Development

The Importance of Continuous Engineering

ALM / PLM for Systems Engineering

Technical Track

Configuring Visual Collaboration

Managing Complex Security for Global Environments

Planning Your Upgrade

 

Developing Electronic Products

Component Engineering

High Tech Electronics Solutions

Rethinking ECAD & PLM

 

Business Track

Aras Innovator / BigLever Gears Bridge

IT Infrastructure for Global PLM Performance

Implementation Track

An Agile Implementation Approach for PLM

Testing Customizations

Planning a Successful PLM Migration

Product Workshops

Productivity Enhancements

Manufacturing Process Planning

Supplier Portal

Everything turned out great at ACE this year – I'd say it was the best ACE yet! The 30 minute breaks were a huge hit again because of the time to network. Energy filled the rooms during the entire conference and it seemed like there were more collaborative connections made between companies than the past years combined.

Thanks again to everyone for coming and making ACE 2015 such a spectacular event.

We look forward to seeing you at the other global ACE series events this year including ACE Japan and ACE Europe. And stay tuned for other local and regional ACE sessions. We'll post them in the newsletter and on the website throughout the year as dates and locations are announced.

Also, if you'd like to host your own mini-ACE session at your company, get in touch – we would love to help!

ACE 2015 Collage