LAS VEGAS, NV (PLM World), May 3, 2011 - I am herded into a a Tecnomatix presentation at Siemens PLM annual user meeting. The speaker wastes no time in declaring Tecnomatix the world leader in DM. That's digital manufacturing, if you must ask. I'm watching the presentation and it looks good, robots on assembly lines, digital mannequins...but #1?
We get that a lot. So many products, all of them clamoring for a way to differentiate themselves, all superior. The conference itself has been hailed as the #1 PLM conference in the world. I flash on big conference claims, AU, Autodesk's national user meeting and conference is the biggest CAD meeting I know of. SolidWorks World claims to have the biggest MCAD conference...
I feel obligated to check out the Tecnomatix claim, especially after just Tweeting the speakers claim. I start where everyone does: Google. Yes, Tecnomatix is listed on the first page of the Google search for digital manufacturing (although not by name, it is listed as a Siemens PLM application)... but not before Dassault's DELMIA, its arch competitor. The vaunted #1 spot in Google belongs to 3D Systems, for whom digital manufacturing takes on a whole different meaning: rapid prototypes. In fact, a couple of the article presumably about digital manufacturing are prominent, one listed ahead of the Tecnomatix entry. They are either about DELMIA or written by someone at Dassault.. It seems Siemens PLM will have to first convince Google of its eminence.
But great as Google is, it certainly is not the final arbiter on digital manufacturing market share. I look for "digital manufacturing market share" which turns up a CIMdata 2006 market study (hmm, not terribly useful). I am getting mired. I realize the speaker has concluded his discussion and I remain mostly none the wiser about Tecnomatix... which is really the reason I am sitting here. Dang!
It occurs to me to ask the vendors to tone down their claims. I want to tell them not everyone can be #1. Oh, yeah, that would work. Hahaha.
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