Siemens PLM Software

Siemens PLM Software

Type	Strategic business unit
Industry	CAD/CAE/CAM/PLM Software
Predecessor(s)	UGS Corporation
Founded	1963, Torrance, California (as United Computing) 2007, Plano, Texas (as Siemens PLM Software)
Headquarters	Plano, Texas, U.S.
Key people	Tony Affuso, Chuck Grindstaff, Paul Vogel, David Shirk
Products	PLM software and services — Teamcenter, NX, Tecnomatix, Velocity Series, COMOS
Employees	7600 (2011)
Parent	McDonnell Douglas (1976 - 1991) EDS (1991 - 2004) UGS Corporation (2004 - 2007) Siemens (2007 - present)
Website	www.plm.automation.siemens.com

Siemens PLM Software (formerly UGS) is a computer software company specializing in 3D & 2D Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software. The company is a business unit of Siemens Industry Automation division, and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

History

Siemens PLM Software Headquarters in Plano, Texas

Evolution of Siemens PLM from UGS : 1963 to 2007

The first commercial product developed by what is now known as Siemens PLM Software was called UNIAPT,^[1] released in 1969 by a software company then called United Computing. UNIAPT was one of the world's first end-user CAM products. United Computing was founded in 1963 above a hair salon in Torrance, California,^[2] and went on to purchase the Automated Drafting and Machining (ADAM) software code from MGS in 1973. The code became a foundation for a product called UNI-GRAPHICS, later sold commercially in 1975 as Unigraphics.

The following year, United Computing was acquired by the aerospace company McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing), who created new CAD/CAM divisions, naming one the Unigraphics Group. Finally, in 1980, Unigraphics was released, marking the group's first true 3D modeling hardware and software offering.^[3][4] Already home to McDonnell Douglas, the Unigraphics Group grew in St. Louis, Missouri, which became the new headquarters.

In 1991, the McDonnell Douglas Systems Integration groups, including Unigraphics, were acquired by EDS (then a part of General Motors Corp., now part of HP Enterprise Services). EDS branded the acquired business as EDS Unigraphics.^[5] Eventually, in 1997 EDS set up its Unigraphics division as a wholly owned subsidiary called Unigraphics Solutions. EDS took Unigraphics Solutions public while continuing to own majority controlling shares in Unigraphics. During this time, Unigraphics acquired a few companies itself including Engineering Animation, Inc., the former Ames, Iowa-based visualization company.

In 1999 the company acquired Applicon, a long term player in the EDA field.

Unigraphics changed its name to UGS Corporation in 2001. Also that year, EDS repurchased all outstanding UGS stock, and acquired a UGS competitor, SDRC.^[6] In 2003 UGS also received a perpetual, royalty-free license to the MSC Nastran source code. UGS, SDRC, and Nastran were merged into a single Line of Business (LOB) named EDS PLM Solutions.

In 2004, EDS sold off its EDS PLM Solutions business to the private equity group of Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, and Warburg Pincus.^[7] The company resumed operating under the UGS name following the private equity sale.

In 2005, UGS purchased Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd.^[8]

On January 24, 2007 the German electronics giant Siemens AG announced that they would acquire UGS for $3.5 billion.^[9][10]

Siemens PLM : 2007 till date

The 2007 acquisition of UGS laid the foundation for the Strategic business unit of Siemens Industry Automation division - Siemens PLM Software. The entire operations of UGS were amalgamated into Siemens Automation & Drives group as Siemens PLM Software.

In October 2008, to expand its portfolio, Siemens acquired Schwelm based 'Innotec GmbH' - an international vendor of digital engineering software and services for the process industry, and known for its COMOS platform .^[11]

On November 9, 2011, Siemens announced the acquisition of 'Vistagy, Inc.' - a Massachusetts based supplier of specialized engineering software and services with emphasis on designing and manufacturing structures made of advanced composite materials.^[12]

The Siemens Industry Automation Division has now acquired a number of software companies and, in so doing, has consolidated its leading position in the industrial software market. All the firms concerned are leading suppliers in their respective segment: namely, UGS (USA, 2007), Innotec (Germany, 2008), Elan Software Systems (France, 2009), Active Tecnologia em Sistemas de Automação (Brazil, 2011), Vistagy (USA, 2011), IBS AG (Germany, 2012), Perfect Costing Solutions GmbH (Germany, 2012), VRcontext International S.A. (Belgium, 2012), and LMS International (Belgium, 2012).

Products

Siemens PLM Software's products^[13] include NX, a CAD/CAM/CAE commercial software suite, Teamcenter, an integrated set of PLM and collaboration (cPD) tools, Tecnomatix, a manufacturing and factory planning suite and Velocity Series, an application bundle focused at the mid-market that includes Solid Edge.

The company's portfolio also contained NX I-deas, NX Nastran, Solid Edge, Imageware, Tecnomatix, Femap, D-Cubed, JT, PLM Vis, PLM XML, and Parasolid.

See also

• Daftar/Tabel -- Siemens products for manufacturing IT

References

External links

• Company web site