PLM software provider expands development

CoCreate Software, a leading provider of 'third generation' PLM software applications, has announced a 10% expansion of the CoCreate product development platform at Molex, USA.
CoCreate Software, a leading provider of 'third generation' PLM software applications, has announced a 10% expansion of the CoCreate product development platform at Molex Incorporated to accommodate engineering growth. This major expansion also marks Molex's 10-year anniversary of standardizing on CoCreate's product development suite. In that time, a six seat 3D CAD pilot has grown into a global product development platform with nearly 400 licenses of Designer Modeling used globally across dozens of countries.

What was initially a better approach to 3D design is now an integral part of Molex's business process of product lifecycle management (PLM).

Since standardizing on CoCreate, hundreds of new products have been designed using the full OneSpace product suite of 3D CAD, add-on design modules, integrated data management and collaboration.

History-free Dynamic Modeling sets CoCreate's product development platform apart from the noisy CAD/PLM marketplace.

This radically different approach to 3D design introduces advantages for fast and flexible product development, enabling companies to rapidly introduce new products to market.

These attributes are highly valued for products with short development cycles and intense time-to-market pressures, characteristics often found within the electronics industry.

Benefits cited include the following.

* Faster design creation and modification with Dynamic Modeling's freedom to design.

* Quicker turnaround on tool design and fabrication with OneSpace.net.

* Fast ramp-up - designer Modeling is easier to learn and use, which has proven to be highly valuable in rapidly growing regions such as Asia where new users are trained within three days.

CoCreate's design data management solution has provided some of the most significant benefits allowing Molex to effectively leverage product information throughout the company.

In addition to promoting design reuse, the single global database is a core back office system to its product website providing key up-to-date information about products to customers.

Meanwhile, distributed file servers automatically synchronize in the background to deliver up-to-date information to product development teams at all locations.

When development issues surface, engineering teams hold online design reviews and bring together team members from across the globe to resolve problems and share ideas.

Molex displays the enterprise scalability of CoCreate's product suite.

Following a single system vision, CoCreate delivers full capabilities to create, manage and collaborate on engineering data across the world.

Global licensing maximizes Molex's software investment as workers from all regions pull from a single license pool.

As the sun sets on one region and another comes online, licenses travel the world and create opportunities for 24 hour utilization.

CoCreate's global deployment model not only delivers a robust and reliable development network, but also economies of scale.

'We have been able to provide our global engineering community with a unique and effective engineering toolset very cost effectively,' said John Koester, technical systems manager, Molex corporate development group.

Molex's view of development extends far beyond the design team to include the entire business process of developing and manufacturing products.

By recognizing PLM as a process, Molex works to identify bottlenecks and gaps in the flow of information within the company as ideas are turned into physical products.

As example, Molex recognizes opportunities to create stronger connections between the engineering and manufacturing processes, such as managing electronic change orders between CoCreate and SAP.

While CoCreate's data management product manages the highly iterative and chaotic process of design, SAP manages the manufacturing process.

Seamless transitions and exchanges between the two environments helps to further streamline the business process, eliminating hidden costs and speeding the overall development cycle.

'We are pleased that Molex has embraced CoCreate's world-class product development software and taken the strategic step to integrate design data with systems throughout the enterprise.

Sharing design information with teams outside engineering is critical to achieving product lifecycle management.

CoCreate's third generation PLM approach delivers a low deployment cost, high value, and quick implementation time,' said William M Gascoigne, CoCreate CEO.

'Molex's enterprise implementation of the OneSpace product suite exemplifies that PLM can be both cost effective and scalable.' * About CoCreate - CoCreate develops 3rd generation PLM software for companies that want to accelerate their business with lean product development, fast design creation, and efficient knowledge re-use.

CoCreate is also the world's No 1 provider of Dynamic Modeling technology, an approach to 3D product development that delivers unrivaled speed, flexibility and responsiveness to change throughout the design process, and is the key enabler for lean product development.