Daimler Selects CAD Software from Siemens as New Platform for Worldwide Car and Truck Development

Erlangen - Daimler AG has selected CAD Software from Siemens as their standard for their worldwide vehicle development. Starting in the summer of 2012, Daimler will integrate work from over 20 development centers and their most important suppliers on a single product development platform. Both companies have agreed not to disclose the contract value.

With the decision for the NX™ CAD Software of Siemens, Daimler completes their current implementation of Teamcenter®, the company’s product data management backbone. Based on this combination, the automotive manufacturer will establish digital collaboration from initial concept design, through simulation during design, down to proof of concept of design solutions. The consolidation of digital product information in one single worldwide data pool will facilitate new vehicle development. The introduction of parallel processes in development, design, production planning and production will further optimize the entire value chain.

“The combination of NX CAD software with our product data management system Smaragd, which is based on Teamcenter, will integrate our entire product creation process from design through production planning down to managing production machines,” said Prof. Bharat Balasubramanian, who is responsible at Daimler for R&D product innovation and process technology.

With Daimler another vehicle manufacturer decided this year to optimize their worldwide vehicle development process with software solutions from Siemens. By changing to Siemens’ open software solutions, car manufacturers can enhance their quality and efficiency in vehicle design and development.

Modern vehicle design requires an increasing integration of mechanical, electrical and electronic components with an ever expanding software ratio. This requires the integration of all of the information associated with mechanical, electrical and software in an integrated platform to allow for collaboration across the full value chain, including suppliers.

“Our CAD and PLM software will help manufacturers enhance their development processes and their production planning and therefore increase their productivity,” Chuck Grindstaff stated, president and chief technology officer of Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Division Industry Automation.

With software from Siemens, car manufacturers can manage the product and production planning in parallel with production, encompassing the entire value chain. Daimler has worked with Siemens’ Teamcenter software for collaborative product data management since the mid 90s. With NX CAD software from Siemens, Daimler will implement a computer-based tool for the entire product development process and therefore a solution for collaborative design, engineering- and development work.

Today Siemens is one of the leading suppliers of PLM software with 6.7 million licenses and 69,500 customers around the world. The market for PLM software is exhibiting stronger growth than any other business software market. In 2009 the market had a volume of € 23 billion with a growth rate of 8% p.a. by 2014.