before embarking on the work.

“Despite the state of the economy, this continues to be an important and thriving part of our business,” Merhib continues. “People may not be buying a lot of new equipment, but they are trying to get more efficiency out of the equipment they have and consolidating production to conserve costs.”

AMT, which uses Siemens PLM’s Technomatix for its simulation work, isn’t the only engineering services company to see the area as important. Fulda, Germany-based EDAG GmbH & Co. is implementing a Delmia automation solution from Dassault Systèmes.

“The ability to virtually optimize and validate control behavior in a production cell is particularly advantageous for us as an engineering partner with our own associated line builder,” says Karina Schäfer, head of the digital factory at EDAG. “It lets us move from the construction site into the office, which in turn, creates better working conditions.”

More to the point, the way engineering services firms are getting involved makes it more likely that some of the smaller manufacturers and integrators in the market may get involved in what is still a pricy area. Says AMT’s Merhib, “For us, the costs get amortized, while our customers get the full benefits today.”

Subdued enthusiasm

While somewhat subdued in his predictions, Slansky hasn’t lost any of his enthusiasm for the potential impact that digital manufacturing and virtual commissioning can have on businesses, despite the up-front investment. “Manufacturers are going to need technology like this. They may have to make some tech investments up front, but it will pay off for them in the long term.”

“Given the intense competition for market share and the absolute necessity to get products to market in time to hit the market window for consumer acceptance, companies are looking for any competitive edge,” Slansky concluded in his January report. “Streamlining the design, validation, and commissioning of production systems will be a key factor for manufacturers in meeting requirements for cost-effective and efficient product launches and hitting market windows. Virtual commissioning and other digital manufacturing tools have emerged at precisely the right time in a global manufacturing climate where accelerating time to market and implementing manufacturing process optimization will be critical to a company’s success.” 

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