UGS Extends Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Agreement With General Motors (GM)

GM to Leverage Open Manufacturing Backbone (OMB), UGS' Globally-Scalable Digital Manufacturing Technology Platform, to Enhance Collaboration at the Plant Floor Level

PLANO, Texas, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- UGS Corp., a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced the extension of their current PLM software license agreement with General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM). Financial details were not disclosed.

This agreement advances GM's PLM solutions strategy by expanding the use of UGS' PLM software and services. UGS technology currently enables GM product development, manufacturing and supplier teams to define, organize and conduct real-time design reviews with access to digital product information across all of GM's global engineering centers and to more than 1,000 supplier locations worldwide.

GM's global collaborative engineering network is facilitated by UGS' technology -- the only solution with the scalability necessary to enable GM to access current and accurate digital information, without translation, wherever and whenever required. UGS' suite of products, including NX(TM), Teamcenter(R) and JT Visualization, which provide unparalleled software interoperability and knowledge based capabilities, serve as the platform upon which GM implements and maintains common engineering and manufacturing processes.

"UGS' PLM technology has already delivered on GM's requirement for production tested, globally scalable systems," said Terry Kline, Process Information Officer, General Motors Information Systems & Services. "GM now has a single, common suite of commercial applications for use on all its vehicle and powertrain programs globally. This allows us to better manage the IT environment, upgrade systems, and collaborate in real time. With over 30,000 installed seats, UGS' PLM software is an integral component of our vehicle development process."

Transforming GM's Process of Innovation

The agreement expands GM's use of UGS' Digital Manufacturing solutions for factory layout, simulation and planning. Digital Manufacturing is a PLM strategy that focuses on improving every aspect of how a company builds its products. Many of the world's most forward-thinking manufacturers are embracing the technology -- and they have reported a number of benefits such as better asset utilization, reduced launch times, more predictable processes and improved profitability.

At GM, this technology maximizes the downstream use of digital product data for tooling and on the plant floor. Using UGS' Open Manufacturing Backbone (OMB) GM will extend its manufacturing capability to enable global common processes and re-use in the manufacturing environment.

"GM continues to leverage the best PLM tools in the world such as UGS' OMB. The company continues to transform its process of innovation through PLM, and is increasingly able to get exciting vehicles to the market in shorter periods of time," said Tony Affuso, chairman, CEO and president of UGS. "We believe the result of UGS' open model in the PLM industry will inevitably further reduce product development costs and enhance product quality and innovation worldwide."

The Open Manufacturing Backbone, a globally-scalable technology platform designed to transform the process of digital manufacturing through an open environment in which third-party software applications can interoperate, extends product data management (PDM) functionality for revision handling, change management and workflow control into the manufacturing discipline, enabling product, process, resource and plant information to be managed and stored in a single environment.

About UGS

UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with nearly 4 million licensed seats and 46,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, UGS' vision is to enable a world where organizations and their partners collaborate through global innovation networks to deliver world-class products and services while leveraging UGS' open enterprise solutions, fulfilling the mission of enabling them to transform their process of innovation. 

www.ugs.com

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