The 4^th annual UGS Digital Manufacturing Symposium was held September 13^th and 14^th in Dearborn, Michigan.  It was another record year, with more than 300 people attending. 
 
During the first day of the event customers shared the successes they are having with innovation in manufacturing while day two focused on live manufacturing solution demonstrations by UGS. Because the location drew many attendees from automotive OEMs and suppliers, two tracks of the event were dedicated specifically to the interests of these groups.
 
Attendees found the symposium informative and the topics covered clearly applicable to their businesses. Mark Tuckfield, of Harbour Consulting, noted: “The UGS Digital Manufacturing Conference brought together people from a variety of industries who shared valuable experiences and insight with the latest virtual manufacturing technology. Afterward, it was easy to understand how, through a combination of technology, a flexible work force and lean processes, these collaborative tools can take one’s plant-floor performance to a new level.”
 
You can read a review of the symposium from ARC Advisory Group at: http://www.arcweb.com/txtlstvw.aspx?LstID=0f62ed2a-7207-48f8-9037-c5f2df97b342 and a report from Jeffrey Rowe for Cadalyst Manufacturing  at http://manufacturing.cadalyst.com/manufacturing/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=373532&searchString=ugs%20rowe%20tecnomatix 
 
If you missed this year’s conference plan now to attend in 2007 to learn about the rapidly growing value companies are gaining through digital manufacturing.
 
 
Details on speakers and topics covered during the two-day conference
 
Day 1
Industry presenters and topics

• Kevin Smith, Director Performance Consulting, Harbour Consulting:
  Key Measures of Manufacturing Leadership
• Cheryl Bruins-Rozier, Manager Virtual Manufacturing Center, Ford Motor Company: Virtual Manufacturing at Ford Motor Company
• Dan Grieshaber, Director, Die Engineering Systems Production, General Motors: Removing the Die Process off the Critical Path
• Bill Campbell, Supervisor CAD Technologies and Support, General Motors:
  Building the Next Generation Plants in 3D
• Jim Toeniskoetter, President and COO Hirotec Tesco Division:
  3D digital manufacturing processing at Tesco
• Allison Stephens, Ergonomics and Safety Manager, Ford Motor Company:
  The Truck that Jack Built
• Rajeev Kalamdani, Powertrain, Ford Motor Company:
  Powertrain Machining at Ford Motor Company
• Chuck Grindstaff, Executive Vice President UGS Products:
  UGS Executive Perspective on Digital Manufacturing
• Dave Anderson, Chief Variation Analyst, Spirit Aero Systems:
  Importance of Dimensional Management
• Jayne Abney, Supply Chain Manufacturing Planning Leader, GE Aviation: 
  Assembly Design and Documentation
• Ron Macklin, Member of Technical Staff Product Ergonomist, Corporate Product EHS, Applied Materials:
  Developing an Ergonomic Guideline for manual lifting of heavy process chamber lids
• Matt Thomas, Manager Computer Aided Process Planning, Rolls-Royce:
  Lessons Learned from Multi- Discipline PLM implementation

 
Day 2
Automotive solution demonstrations concentrated on how UGS manufacturing products work together within the Teamcenter managed environment in support of given business processes.  These were as follows:

• Body-In-White Lifecycle: This covered advanced topics related to BiW process definition and verification for automotive products.  The demonstration introduced the audience to concepts and solutions for managing and communicating common information across multiple disciplines.  Activities included feature authoring, process authoring, detailed simulation and documentation.  During the presentation, a number of Tecnomatix™ manufacturing solutions, such as Teamcenter® for Manufacturing, Process Designer, and Process Simulate were demonstrated.
• General Assembly Lifecycle: The demonstration covered advanced topics relative to final assembly planning for automotive products.  The major emphasis was on how to efficiently plan to build multiple vehicles in multiple plants, and how to utilize Tecnomatix™ manufacturing solutions such as Teamcenter for Manufacturing, Process Designer, and Process Simulate.
• Powertrain Machining: An end-to-end Part Planning solution demonstrating the use of Teamcenter Manufacturing Part Planner, Resource Manager, NX® CAM for planning and the validation of the manufacturing process of a new product with the integration of the Shop Floor.  The second part of the presentation focused on Feature Bases Part Planning with eM-Machining for Machining Lines.   In this presentation, the steps from product design, Feature based process planning, manufacturing and optimization was demonstrated. Also shown were different scenarios on how customers deployed the Component Manufacturing Solution from UGS.
• Die Manufacturing Process Solution: An overview and demonstration highlighting the technology available from UGS to support the automotive sheet metal stamping process.  During this demonstration, UGS’ integrated solution, which includes capabilities in NX, Teamcenter, and Tecnomatix, allowed all areas of the process to be addressed, including validation, engineering, die design, and machining. Also demonstrated were clearly defined interactions between product design, manufacturing process design, tooling design, and plant floor optimization, enabling concurrent engineering tasks and the reduction of rework.
• Manufacturing Planning and Quoting for Suppliers: This session demonstrated UGS’ dedicated manufacturing solution for Automotive Tier suppliers, and how this solution addresses the typical pains of suppliers.  Emphasis was on quoting and process planning.
• Manufacturing Change Management: The change process that occurs in manufacturing when a supplier receives an engineering change from the OEM was the focus of this demonstration.  It was shown how a change is easily managed through Teamcenter and how the addition of Tecnomatix solutions validates the manufacturability of the changed part or assembly in a supplier’s current environment or planned environment, thus, allowing the supplier to make a more informed decision on a change response. 

 
Some of the proceedings from the conference will be made available to all attendees.