August 31, 1998

2PDM www.johnstark.com

Volume 1 Number 1

Page 1 - Welcome Page 2 - The need Page 3 - News Page 4 - Brief lines

*Welcome* This is the first issue of 2PDM so we'll start with a few words about what it is, who we are and what we want to achieve. 2PDM is an e-zine that will be distributed every two weeks on a free subscription basis. 2PDM comes to you from the people who've been publishing the monthly paper-based Engineering Data Management Newsletter since 1991. *Objectives* The Newsletter's mission statement is in two parts. Firstly, to help companies implement EDM/PDM systems quickly and effectively, and to manage and use these systems to their full potential. Secondly, to help Engineering VPs, Directors and Managers to understand the key role of EDM/PDM, and to help them develop and implement Engineering visions, strategies, plans, budgets, metrics and initiatives to improve Engineering and product development performance. 2PDM addresses the two parts of the mission - Product Data Management (often referred to as EDM/PDM) and Product Development Management. In the past these could be addressed separately, but they are becoming so closely linked that it's almost impossible to do one without the other. *Benefits of Product Data Management* Product Data Management is now acknowledged by most companies as a necessary technology, although many still haven't achieved the type and scale of the benefits that EDM/PDM can bring. EDM/PDM helps reduce the time to introduce new products and the cost of developing them. It helps reduce the cost of new products and improve the quality of products and services. Companies using EDM/PDM have found it can help reduce product development costs by 15%, product development cycles by 25%, engineering change time by 30%, and the number of engineering changes by 40%. Results like these will have a significant impact on a company's ability to compete, its market share and its revenues. *The importance of Product Development Management* In recent years many companies have also realized the importance of Product Development Management - but not yet been able to achieve the desired product development performance. Companies such as HP, Sony and Motorola that are good at Product Development Management consistently manage to develop products that customers want to buy. They develop new products quickly - and these products are of high quality and priced competitively. Other companies that are not so good at Product Development Management take much longer to develop new products and when these finally get to market they have quality problems and are priced too high.

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Page 2

*The need for PDM and PDM* In the past, before competitive pressures and the volume of product data had reached their current levels, it was possible to address Product Data Management and Product Development Management independently - but these days that doesn't work. Nevertheless many companies still try to manage them separately - with one person responsible for one of the PDM's and another person responsible for the other PDM. To explain why it's not possible to manage PDM and PDM separately, we use an eight-level model of the major components of the product development environment that we've developed in recent years: - Market / customer - Corporate structure - Product development process - Department / team organization - People - Information - Techniques - Computer systems The short explanation of this model is that to achieve a successful product development environment all of the above eight levels need to be aligned, and they need to be addressed top-down - starting with the market and customers. They need to be addressed top-down because the lower-level components only exist to support the upper-level components. For example, if a company changes its focus from one market and set of customers to another, then it will need to change its processes, people, information usage and computer systems. This model says two things about the computer systems in the product development environment. Firstly, these systems represent just one of the parts of the jigsaw to be assembled into a successful product development environment. And secondly, they come right at the end of the list. You shouldn't expect much change in performance when you implement a system such as EDM/PDM unless the upper levels have already been aligned, and unless the computer system is aligned with the upper levels (e.g. the process). If you're very lucky you might get 10% of the possible improvement in product development performance. On the other hand, if the other parts have been aligned, then the systems complete the jigsaw - and the benefits are immense. *Our objectives - and yours* Which brings us back to our objective of helping people implement EDM/PDM systems quickly and effectively. The potential improvement in performance is huge, but it's not easy to achieve. The more you know about PDM and PDM the better your chance of success. Stay with us - and let 2PDM help your projects succeed.

To learn all about EDM/PDM, make sure you attend International EDM/PDM Symposium 98 on September 22-23, 1998 in Heidelberg, Germany. Day 1 has three parallel tracks : 5-year EDM/PDM Vision (1998-2003); EDM/PDM State-of-the-Art 1998 ; Management and Implementation of EDM/PDM. Day 2 has four parallel tracks : EDM/PDM in the Power Industry ; EDM/PDM in Mechanical Engineering Industries ; EDM/PDM in the Electronics/Electrical Industries ; EDM/PDM in Aero-, Auto- and Rail Industries. Exhibition both days. 26 leading vendors present. More Info.

Page 3 News

Altris Software, Inc. reported results of operations for its second fiscal quarter ended June 30, 1998. Total revenues for the quarter were $3.5 million compared to $4.7 million for the quarter ended June 30, 1997. Aspect Development, Inc. announced results for the second quarter ended June 30, 1998. Aspect reported revenues of $20,407,000, an increase of 75% over revenues of $11,679,000 for the same quarter in 1997. PC DOCS Group International Inc. announced results for the fourth quarter ending June 30, 1998. Revenues for the fourth quarter were $46.2 million, a 71% increase over the $27.1 million for the same quarter last year. Unigraphics Solutions Inc. announced revenue for the second quarter was $101.9 million, a 25 percent increase over second quarter 1997 revenue of $81.3 million. Eigner + Partner AG announced Bill Chappell was appointed Chief Financial Officer. ACS Software announced it has developed a new web interface for AutoEDMS - the AutoEDMS Web Publisher. Allegria Software, Inc. launched its ForReview Web Plug-In for Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Auto-trol Technology announced Lockheed Martin has chosen CENTRA 2000 as the EDM system to meet the document management and workflow needs of the RSA Phase IIA project. Auto-trol Technology announced Susan Floyd has tendered her resignation from Centra 2000 citing the need to return to Florida for personal reasons. Steve Spradlin will succeed Ms. Floyd at Centra 2000. auxilium inc., announced a volume sale of Info*Engine user licenses to Ford Motor Company. Cimage Enterprise Systems, Ltd. announced The Nuclear Business Unit of Public Service Electricity and Gas has chosen the Cimage system. Engineering Animation, Inc. announced Ferrari S.P.A. of Maranello, Italy, has selected EAI's VisProducts. Enovia Corp. announced automotive system supplier Wilhelm Karmann GmbH will purchase 900 seats of Enoviapm. SDRC announced a strategic alliance to implement Metaphase Enterprise PDM software at Visteon. Spicer Corp., developer of imaging technologies for document solutions, announced a new agreement that signs Stewart Engineering Supply as a reseller of Imagenation. CoCreate Software Inc. announced SAP has certified CoCreate's WorkManager Integration product for SAP's R/3 System. Workgroup Technology announced CMS 6.6 includes the availability of a new Windows NT application server, as well as enhancements to Windows clients and new administration capabilities. International Computex, Inc. announced the opening of its European office located in Sevenoaks, England. Documentum, Inc. announced the establishment of its Japanese subsidiary, Nihon Documentum K.K., a Korean office, and the appointment of key local executives. Sherpa Corp. announced general availability of Sherpa/Gateway for use between the SherpaWORKS applications and SAP R/2 and R/3. Agile Software Corp. reported revenues in the first quarter of its 1999 fiscal year ending July 31 were up more than 150% on FY98 Q1.

For full information about the above + all the other EDM and PDM news + articles to help your implementation succeed, subscribe to the monthly 16-page Engineering Data Management Newsletter. The annual subscription fee for 12 monthly issues is : US$ 345 in North America, South America, Africa, Asia (excluding Japan) and Australasia ; 39500 Yen in Japan ; 195 Pounds Sterling in the UK ; 426 Swiss Francs in Continental Europe.

Page 4 Brief lines

Subscription information To subscribe to 2PDM, fill in the subscription form or send an e-mail headed 'start subscription' to pdm@2pdm.com Subscription cost Subscribers receive 2PDM free of charge. Privacy policy We understand and respect your desire for privacy. The information we ask for at subscription time is the minimum necessary to effectively fulfill your subscription and communicate with you if and when necessary. We do not release the information you provide us to third parties. In case of further questions, you can reach us at pdm@2pdm.com Termination of subscription To terminate subscription, please send an e-mail headed 'stop subscription' to pdm@2pdm.com Sponsorship 2PDM is provided free of charge to its readers. Companies that share our objectives of promoting successful implementation of EDM and PDM systems and world-class product development performance may sponsor 2PDM. There is space for a maximum of one sponsor message per page, except on this 'Brief lines' page - where there is room for several short sponsor messages. Publication frequency 2PDM is published every two weeks. Copyright Copyright 1998 by John Stark. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce text or graphics Applications for permission to reproduce part or parts of 2PDM (text or graphics) should be sent to pdm@2pdm.com Permission to make 2PDM available within an organization Applications for permission to make 2PDM available within a company or other organization (e.g. by internal mail, corporate Intranet, etc.) are usually accepted. Please send a request for permission to pdm@2pdm.com Disclaimer Information provided in 2PDM is intended solely to provide general guidance on matters of interest for the personal use of the reader, who accepts full responsibility for its use. Information is provided 'as is', with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to, the warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose. Nothing in 2PDM shall to any extent substitute for the independent investigations and the sound technical and business judgement of the reader. Technology, laws and regulations are continually changing, and can only be interpreted in the light of particular factual situations. The information in 2PDM does not constitute technological, business, legal, investment or consulting advice, and should only be used in conjunction with appropriate professional advice obtained by the reader from a suitably qualified professional who understands the reader's particular factual situation.