Siemens PLM Software announced the latest release of NX software, digital product development solution. With NX 7.0, Siemens PLM Software introduces HD3D, an open and intuitive visual environment to help global product development teams unlock the value of PLM information and significantly enhance their ability to make efficient and effective product decisions. In addition, NX 7.0 includes enhancements to synchronous technology the widely acclaimed computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering analysis (CAD/CAM/CAE) productivity software introduced by Siemens PLM Software last year that will further accelerate a variety of product development tasks and expand the unmatched ability of NX to effectively work with data from third party CAD applications.

Our introduction of synchronous technology and its implementation into NX earned high praise, not only from the vast majority of CAD/CAM/CAE pundits and industry analysts, but more importantly from the companies that deployed it to boost their design productivity, said Joan Hirsch, vice president of Product Design Solutions, Siemens PLM Software. Todays launch of NX 7.0 builds on that productivity leadership with the addition of significant new synchronous technology functionality, and the exciting introduction of HD3D, an innovative environment that will accept data from a variety of sources to set a new standard for High-Definition visual analytics in product development.

Globalization and an escalating regulatory environment, coupled with the increasing sophistication of virtually all manufactured products, has created a complex product development process for companies worldwide. Hundreds of decisions need to be made throughout product development based on information that exists in a variety of formats and locations, and usually created by software applications from multiple vendors. The speed and accuracy with which those decisions can be made has a profound effect on a companys success.

A natural and effective way to address these obstacles is to use visual information as a way to communicate across barriers and level the playing field for all participants, said Joe Barkai, Practice Director of Product Lifecycle Strategies for IDC Manufacturing Insights. A collaborative decision-making process and visually-assisted tools that support it are essential for expeditious, informed and reliable decisions. Using these tools will facilitate better communication and understanding, and increase the fidelity of informed decisions across the enterprise.

The introduction of HD3D in NX 7.0 is part of Siemens PLM Softwares comprehensive approach to achieving this vision and establishing a new paradigm in visual analytics. HD3D is a visually-rich environment for working with virtually any type of PLM data. This environment will be common across NX and Teamcenter software, Siemens PLM Softwares industry-leading digital lifecycle management portfolio, and its open architecture will also allow for integration with a variety of third-party applications.
HD3D expands the power of NX and Teamcenter to visually deliver the information companies need to understand, collaborate, and make decisions in today's globally distributed and heterogeneous product development environments. HD3D provides a simple and intuitive way to collect, collate and present product information, where it can be immediately applied in critical decision-making. The implementation of HD3D in NX 7.0 will enable users to visually interrogate and evaluate a product design based on any type of data tracked in Teamcenter or NX, such as release status, weight thresholds, material type, delivery status, etc.

For example, an NX 7.0 user could run a report looking for parts that are currently in development and registered as on-schedule or late. The 3D NX model of the product will visually highlight all of the parts that are more than one week late and a cause for concern. Interactive tags are displayed on the screen and can be selected to navigate into more detailed information. With potentially thousands of parts in a given product, this visual feedback and interactive work environment eliminates the need to sort through written bills-of-materials and status reports to manually interpret where issues exist and what action to take.

In addition to this visual analytics capability based on PLM data, HD3D will be implemented within NX 7.0 Check-Mate, a standards-based checking application that ensures compliance with design criteria, consistency in CAD model file structure and adherence to a variety of corporate and industry standards. HD3D will enhance validation tools within Check-Mate with a new visual user interface for analyzing and reporting issues. Similar to the above example, the new environment improves decision making during product validation by providing an intuitive, visual means of viewing Check-Mate results and evaluating issues.

The synchronous technology enhancements in NX 7.0 impact all aspects of CAD/CAM/CAE. In addition to its obvious affect on productivity for product designers, the new functionality significantly benefits other members of the development team working with CAD data, including analysts and manufacturing engineers. These individuals primarily work with 3D models created by someone else and often times using a third-party CAD application.