Well, 2009 is really coming to its end, and after last week’s retrospective, and as promised, it is now time to look at the future! As we said, we’ve got really cool things to announce for the PLM MarketPlace community. In 2009 (also applies for the previous years ), we spent time meeting our customers, partners, resellers online but also for real (COE, DEVCON, ECF, …) and tried to find out how we could do better to help them.

Of course, today, it is still too soon to disclose everything, but this, for sure, what you will get from the PLM MarketPlace in 2010.

A growing catalog

The software catalog will welcome two new post-processors providers: ICAM and IMS. Their offers should be available online mid-/end-January. Note that in the field of post-processors, CENIT referenced their offer a few weeks ago.
On the hardware catalog side, we are very proud to announce that AMD decided to join the PLM MarketPlace! Their offer is scheduled to be available next month, a special announcement will be made once it is online, stay tuned!
Finally, we remind our services providers that we are still looking for candidates to be referenced on the Services Catalog of the PLM MarketPlace. The referencing mode is very flexible and made to comply with your business habits. Don’t hesitate to contact us to know more!

You remember IBM?

In October, Dassault Systèmes announced the acquisition of IBM PLM and its 700 Sales Reps. These guys showed interest in the PLM MarketPlace and the easy way it represents to deliver more value to customers. This is why, in the coming weeks, IBM PLM Sales Reps will be able to resell the solutions available on PLM MarketPlace! This represents a good opportunity to make a connection between customers and referenced partners… Again, “connecting partners” is our motto!

Buy one, get…

… maybe not one free but, for sure, in 2010, there will be special discounts from our referenced partners, even new ones! Check regularly the homepage (www.plmmarketplace.com) to discover the current discounts available and ask your VAR for more details!

2010 will be a year of new challenges and maybe, for some of us, of a new start. We want to remind you that we are here to help you find the best way to develop your activity, your business, meet your challenges,…

Consequently, whatever (well… almost )you need, feel free to contact us and ask, we’ll do our utmost to help you.

Customers, resellers, solutions providers, this program is yours and we are open to make it change the way you think it will help you. This is our challenge for 2010.

On behalf of Jacques and Alexandre, I wish you all the best for 2010!

Anthony Rosendo

We are almost at the end of 2009 and I take a short break before tonight's Christmas celebration to have a look at how the PLM MarketPlace program evolved this year...

First, many new Referenced Partners joined bringing along a lot of new, innovative and comprehensive solution one click away from customers:
- Elsys, with CATELECTRE, ELECTRE and SMARTELECTRE in the field of electrical harness design;
- Icona Solutions, with the aesthetica product range helping you to face perceived quality challenges;
- Magestic and its Truenest and Truelaser View solutions for the composite manufacturing process;
- Mecamaster, with Mecamaster Analysis (Tolerance analysis);
- Noomeo, offering handheld 3D-scanners.
Take a look at what they offer and don't hesitate to drop their solutions in your shopping cart if need a quote or simply just more information!

We had also dozens of Value Added Resellers joining the program. They are now almost 100 all over the world able to deliver all the solutions listed on the PLM MarketPlace catalog to their customers.

The motto of the PLM MarketPlace has always been "Connecting Partners". Thus, we wanted to go a step ahead and open new channels where Referenced Partners, VARs and Customers would have the opportunity to interact:
- We launched a Twitter in April and today, more than 600 people (mostly users, partners, and 3D enthusiasts) follow us and discuss! Join them for free on Twitter!
- "See what you mean" is Dassault Systèmes' motto. This is why we gathered all the videos of our Referenced Partners on a dedicated channel on YouTube. People can now see for real what their software do, ask questions and share the videos in an easy way.
- Last but not least, something we are very proud of: the PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone. Thanks to it, bring all the PLM MarketPlace (RSS news, blog and, above all, the catalog, including product datasheets, videos and images) whereever you go! This application is free and can be downloaded from Apple's App Store.

This was all the exciting stuff we did in 2009! But we've been working on even more cool things for 2010! Next year, PLM MarketPlace will bring you even more opportunities. Want to know what? I suggest you to come back here next week...

I would like also to thank all our PLM MarketPlace partners all over the world for helping our customers every day with their solutions and knowledge.

On behalf of all the PLM MarketPlace Team, I wish everyone a merry Christmas.

Anthony Rosendo

After ten years promise ERP vendors have failed to deliver accurate production planning and scheduling or advanced planning as they call it. The problem seems to lie in ERP's inaccurate process planning and process model. This has lead to wide use of MS Excel to temporarily overcome the problem.

With Delfoi Planner companies can typically decrease their lead time by 50% compared to traditional ERP/Excel planning. Also, the simulation model enables rapid change implementation by using simulation as a virtual validation without a need of testing with the actual production. Delfoi capability to use DELMIA simulation and process models enables flexible and fast production planning and accurate finite scheduling with validated and up-to-date production model.

Read how e.g. long term Dassault customer Metso Paper Inc. has implemented Delfoi's simulation based production planning and scheduling in their operations.

Do you have initiative to reduce the lead time? And do you think that ERP and spreadsheet applications do not provide capability to improve production efficiency and visibility?

If you have question regarding this topic, feel free to ask, we'd be more than happy to help!

Raimo, on behalf of Delfoi

PS: if you want to know more about ERP, have a look at our folk Oleg who wrote an article about "PLM and ERP integration" this week on his Daily PLM Think Tank Blog.

A few days ago, from December 2 to December 5 2009, designers and engineers met in Frankfurt, Germany for the Euromold 2009 World Fair for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design and Application development.

Based on its name, this event was first dedicated to the European market but there are more and more attendees and exhibitors coming from several parts of the world. The number of exhibitors has increased by 10% (in comparison to 2008), with a significant part of people coming from China. This year, there were 1354 exhibitors from 37 countries attending the event.

Scanning Euromold

The PLM MarketPlace team wasn't there but we were well represented with some of our partners attending this major event: Geometric, Cenit and our new provider: Noomeo. 
Since it was the first time Noomeo attended this event, they kindly offer you a little feedback of the event along with their personal feeling.

“For the very first time, Noomeo attended on its own to an international show, Euromold in Frankfurt, for presenting its “scan for dummies” that can scan everything in every place without any skills. Nevertheless, we were in the middle of high level industries involved in the mold making and manufacturing processes. We welcome on our booth “000’s” and “000’s” of visitors who were really impressed by the ease of use of the system and the way it is responding to industrial processes while being so simple to handle. During this event, we had the great pleasure to demonstrate the accuracy of the OptiNum solution on a wide range of “objects”, such as a plastic bumper of a car, a portion of a injection mold, a plush of Hamtaro, a Volkswagen Combi toy, a bronze casted statue and a charming face of a booth hostess. All these lifelike experiences allowed us to capture and use in 3D these people and object as simply as taking a picture of them. Because OptiNum’s technology is unique, our capabilities are very huge and we are able to answer to very industrial and serious processes and needs. The next event we will attend will be Imagina on February 3rd to 5th, in Monaco where we will be just in front of your preferred CAD system vendor and our best partner, Dassault Systèmes.”

According to the picture above, it seems that their 3D handheld scanners attracted a lot of people!

Did you attend Euromold 2009? What are your impressions?

Alexandre and the Noomeo team.

Our aim has always been to deliver you the value of our PLM MarketPlace solutions providers as fast and accurate as possible. We know that time is money and customers need the right information regarding the right product no matter when, no matter where.

Based on these facts, we are proud to announce today that the PLM MarketPlace is now available for iPhone! You can download the application from Apple iTunes' App Store FOR FREE!

With the PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone, you have access to our solution providers' latest news and blogposts but also, and this is the core value, to more than 145 solutions! All this right in your pocket!

Browse our catalog, discover product datasheets, videos, screenshots and share all this information with customers, colleagues, partners,... in just one click!

Also, keep in touch with our ecosystem thanks to a direct access to our LinkedIn business group, Twitter and YouTube channel.

In a few words, PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone is the latest and ultimate way to discover, share and connect around CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA and 3DVIA complimentary solutions! Business, technology, knowledge and communities have never been so mobile!

Feel free to download the PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone and share your impressions with us by leaving your comments below!

Stay connected!

The PLM MarketPlace Team

PS: for other devices and PDAs, our generic mobile version is still available!

All good things come to an end…

Checklist before leaving ECF 09: complete! All the stuff is packed, last exchanges of business cards, last meetings and sessions finished. Time for all the attendees to fly back home all over Europe. We definitely had a good time here in DisneyLand Paris with our PLM MarketPlace partners.

European Value Added Resellers and Customers were really impressed by how rich our catalog is! Some of them didn’t even image that so many specific and niche application were available on the PLM MarketPlace. “It’s amazing how so many solutions are easy to find here and within our reach!” a customer told us. Indeed, the combination of Referenced Partners, Value Added Resellers and PLM MarketPlace help customer improve their PLM configuration easily, this was proven and understood during these two days.

Last but not least, we were proud to show the new auto-translation feature we've just implemented that allows all our visitors (on site and online!) to get all the content of www.plmmarketplace.com in their own native language! No need to say that this new feature made great impression during these two days...
Just select a language to get the page translated in a few seconds!

Back in the Agora for a while, just the time for me to finish our “virtual tour” we started yesterday.

Crowded Agora full of people connecting

Let’s start with our neighbors: Optis. Optis is a French company based in the South of France (you know, where’s sun, cause light is very important for them). Pete and his team explain that their aim is to illuminate your design process, make simulation an integral part of your development cycle to reduce time to market and optimize product quality. The idea with the Speos product line is to put the physic based representation of light and human vision inside CATIA V5 as part of the PLM strategy.

Let’s cross the border to see Prostep, our other neighbors who traveled from Germany to show the value of their Federated eBOM solution. As Manfred told us, the software offers the fast way to find the specific solution to reduce end-to-end life systems, integrate expert systems and build your enterprise PLM. With Prostep, you can find opportunities to make your PLM landscape more efficient using V6 technology.

Back to France now to visit our folks from ESI Group. The product lines of ESI Group (PAM-Diemaker, PAM-TFA, PAM-Quickform and PAM-RTM among others) help you to use simulation driven design to get the product right at the first time. The ESI Group team says that they offer CATIA V5 integrated solutions for composite design and manufacturing but also for sheetmetal forming and stamping simulation. These solutions are used in various industries such as automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, consumer goods products,…

We have now finished our Agora tour and I hope it helped you to see more clearly the value brought by our partners. ECF is always a great opportunity for all of us to exchange, discover powerful complimentary solutions to DS products, discuss on new business cases,…

If you attended ECF09, tell us your feelings here! What did you like? Did you discover new things? Have you met our Partners? We’re curious about it!!

Anthony Rosendo, on behalf of the PLM MarketPlace Team