DSC at the SAPPHIRE NOW + ASUG annual conference 2016

Threefold success: from exhibition stand, lectures, and networking.

The SAPPHIRE NOW + ASUG annual conference combines the world’s largest SAP customer fair with the annual meeting of the American SAP user group. It was attended by about 200 exhibitors and 18,500 visitors, over 10 percent more than last year. As SAP Gold Partner, DSC was also present again: from May 17–19, 2016 in the Orange County Convenience Center, Orlando (Florida). And it paid off – three times over, in fact. First, the stand that DSC shared with CENIT got a lot of visitors – both existing and potential customers. Second, the DSC products SAP Engineering Control Center and Engineering Control Center – ECTR – were commended in presentations by others: one SAP presentation and one by a customer. Third, besides important SAP colleagues, the joint CAD integration partners were there. For DSC, this was the perfect opportunity to exchange views profitably with others and intensify networking. This they also did with the ASUG, whom DSC was able to persuade to arrange a PLM round table.

Whether MCAD/ECAD integration with NX direct link, document management including visualization, or smart factory: DSC presented suitable solutions in live demos at the stand. SAP Engineering Control Center, the solution for multi-CAD integration and document management, was also one aspect of the talk “Leverage SAP PLM to Design, Manage, and Sell your Individualized Products” – given by Mark Landrosh, Solution Director  SAP PLM. The previous solution – ECTR – was the main content of the working example from Crown, one of the world’s five largest producers of industrial trucks. The title of the talk (which attracted many visitors) was “From Legacy PDM/ERP and Native CAD to ECTR for CAD Management”. In it, the speaker Allen Heindel, SAP Global Process Leader at Crown, sketched the changeover of standalone systems to SAP PLM and ECTR. He summarized the most important benefits of the new, integrated solution for Crown as follows:

  • CAD assemblies remain intact since links are also automatically updated.
  • BOMs are derived directly from the CAD structure – with an enormous saving in time.
  • In the document check-in, PDF files are automatically generated for drawings.
  • Documents no longer have to be created twice (first in the CAD system and then in the PDM system).
  • Unlike in the legacy system, old document versions remain stored in the productive system.
  • Everything is handled in a single system, the SAP system.