New Aberdeen Group Report Finds Global Design is Integral in Meeting Market

         Demand for Product Development Across Five Key Industries



    PLANO, Texas, July 28 /EMWNews/ -- Siemens PLM Software, a business

unit of Siemens Industry Automation Division and a leading global provider

of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today

responded to the findings of a series of Industry Sector Insight reports

unveiled by Aberdeen Group. The reports were based on the findings of

benchmark research entitled "Profitable Design Chains: Global Product

Design Comes of Age" which identifies three key Best-in-Class themes for

global product development initiatives -- protecting product intellectual

property, designing in parallel, and coordinating global design teams. To

further this research, Aberdeen looked at the global design strategies of

five vertical industries and examined what these themes mean to each

industry.



    



    Released in June 2008(1) and spanning Aerospace & Defense, Automotive,

Consumer Packaged Goods, High Tech & Electronics and Machinery industries,

the research identified key strategic initiatives and challenges specific

to each industry and how manufacturers can best implement global design

strategies to address these initiatives.



    "The Aberdeen findings truly present an opportunity for manufacturers

to re-focus their efforts on implementing new global design initiatives or

improving upon the ones they have in place," said Leif Pedersen, vice

president, industry marketing, Siemens PLM Software. "Manufacturers and

companies across all industries are constantly faced with the challenges of

cost pressures and market demand for rapid product development. As they

look to maintain their competitiveness, they must embrace innovation and

global design as a way to help them stay ahead of the pack."



    "Our research indicates that companies are viewing global design more

strategically," said Michelle Boucher, research analyst, Product Innovation

and Engineering Practice, Aberdeen Group. "However, to realize the full

potential of their global design strategies, manufacturers should re-assess

their progress in implementing these strategies to adopt Best-in-Class

practices so they can remain competitive in their respective marketplaces."



    A summary of the Aberdeen Sector Insight report findings follows.



    Aerospace & Defense



    The report finds that while A&D manufacturers have begun to change how

they think about global design, they are behind other industry averages

across all key performance indicators. Furthermore, A&D manufacturers face

the greatest consequences of losing product intellectual property given the

complex nature of the components and subsystems involved. A&D manufacturers

are behind the industry average in terms of implementing capabilities that

would help to protect IP -- 44 percent compared with 69 percent

respectively. As A&D manufacturers look to capitalize on the growing global

workforce, it will be even more important for them to implement secure

global design strategies that address this challenge and help better

control who has access to the data as well as the amount of time that

access is available.



    Automotive



    With more and more automotive companies finding it hard to turn a

profit, the report finds that lowering costs is the top concern. In keeping

with this focus, meeting revenue targets is the area in which automotive

manufacturers lagged behind the most compared to the industry average -- 55

percent compared to 67 percent. As automotive manufacturers address the

challenge of lowering costs, they are taking advantage of different labor

costs around the globe. Furthermore, automotive manufacturers are beginning

to leverage a global workforce to not only reduce the cost of product

development but to gain more insight into unfamiliar markets.



    Consumer Packaged Goods



    In a challenging retail marketplace, consumer package goods companies

are constantly faced with the challenge of getting products to market

faster while making sure costs are kept at a minimum. Working across

multiple disciplines (R&D, marketing, packaging, sourcing, regulatory and

manufacturing, among others), CPG manufacturers must successfully

coordinate with these teams to ensure the successful launch of products

within short time windows. Overall, CPG manufacturers indicate performance

that is consistently at or below multi-industry average levels. While they

are behind in meeting cost targets, they remain ahead of the industry

average in meeting launch dates. In order to take full advantage of their

global design networks and to remain competitive within the retail

marketplace, CPG manufacturers must continually look to global design

initiatives to help them get products to market faster in a cost-effective

manner.



    High Tech & Electronics



    One of the biggest challenges that HT&E manufacturers face is getting

products to market faster before technology becomes obsolete. Despite this

recognition, the report finds that HT&E manufacturers are only slightly

ahead of the industry average when it comes to meeting target launch dates.

The majority of respondents report that they have had global design

initiatives in place for over a year (71) percent. High tech manufacturers

will need to capitalize on the opportunity for further improvement by

leveraging these design chains to effectively accelerate the design

process.



    Machinery



    Global design is a newer trend for Industrial equipment manufacturers

as only one-third of respondents to the study reported that their

initiatives were less than a year old. Industrial equipment manufacturers

fall behind the industry average across all metrics with a gap seen in the

ability to meet product revenue targets (56 percent compared to 67 percent)

and development cost targets (52 percent compared to 67 percent). Moving

forward, industrial equipment manufacturers will need to learn from the

experiences of other manufacturing industries with more mature global

design processes in place.



    Methodology



    Aberdeen Group examined the global design strategies of more than 170

enterprises. To gain an understanding of how manufacturers can best take

advantage of global design chains, respondents were benchmarked according

to their performance across five key performance indicators and divided

among three performance categories: Best-in-Class (top 20 percent of

performers); Laggard organizations (bottom 30 percent) and the Industry

Average (the remaining 50 percent). These measures included the percent of

products meeting targets for revenue, product cost, product launch,

quality, and overall product development costs.



    As companies look increasingly toward globalization, they must

continually look to address the issues of protecting product intellectual

property, designing in parallel, and coordinating global design teams. For

more information about how Siemens PLM Software is helping customers

address these issues and transform their process of innovation with product

lifecycle management software solutions, please visit:

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/industries/index.shtml



    Full reports can be found at the following links:



    (Due to the length of the URLs, please copy and paste into browser.)



    -- Global Design Strategies in the Aerospace and Defense Industry: The

Road to Safe, Effective, and Parallel Development

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/sector_insights/4925-SI-aerospace-

defense-design.asp



    -- Global Design Strategies for the Automotive Industry

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/sector_insights/4988-SI-global-desig

n- automotive.asp



    -- Global Design Strategies for Consumer Packaged Goods

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/sector_insights/4951-SI-global-desig

n- strategies.asp



    -- Global Design Strategies in the High Technology Sector

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/sector_insights/5045-SI-design-

strategies-technology.asp



    -- Global Design Strategies for Industrial Equipment Manufacturers:

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/sector_insights/4990-SI-design-

industrial-equipment.asp

    About Siemens PLM Software



    Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry

Automation Division, is a leading global provider of product lifecycle

management (PLM) software and services with 5.5 million licensed seats and

51,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Siemens PLM

Software's open enterprise solutions enable a world where organizations and

their partners collaborate through Global Innovation Networks to deliver

world-class products and services. For more information on Siemens PLM

Software products and services, visit http://www.siemens.com/plm.



    About Siemens Industry Automation Division



    The Siemens Industry Automation Division (Nuremberg), a division of

Siemens Industry Sector, is worldwide leading in the fields of automation

systems, low-voltage switchgear and industrial software. Its portfolio

ranges from standard products for the manufacturing and process industry to

solutions for whole industries and systems that encompass the automation of

entire automobile production facilities and chemical plants. As a leading

software supplier, Industry Automation optimizes the entire value added

chain of manufacturers -- from product design and development to

production, sales and a wide range of maintenance services.



    Note: Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens

AG. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks belong to

their respective holders.



    (1) Automotive Sector Insight report issued in April 2008.