AimaSoft OEM Integration Business Case
for ERP/PDM/EDM Software Developers
Executive Overview
CAD Integration within a customer's ERP/PDM/EDM installation helps engineers and production personnel share and control engineering data, thereby saving significant time, reducing data entry errors and improving overall productivity.
Customers do recognize the need for CAD integration in any Corporate IT manufacturing solution. As a software developer, each OEM must choose to embrace, or ignore, this critical functionality. AimaSoft offers CAD integration as an OEM tool, which can be sold in partnership, or integrated as a "built-in" tool for your ERP solution.
AimaSoft offers two products: BOMLink, which links AutoCAD bi-directionally with any database, assuming there is an AimaSoft BOMLink adapter for that database; and EntraLink, which offers links from a customer's ERP/PDM/EDM to any and all relevant parts data, from CAD (2D/3D), Excel, word, PDF, etc.
BOMLink technology has been proven over 10 years and has been modularized to support AimaSoft ERP Adapters to any ERP database. By partnering with AimaSoft, we can offer the OEM an immediate product in the CAD-ERP integration space for small to medium ETO and MTO manufacturers.
EntraLink is a new product offering from AimaSoft, which acts as a gateway to your ERP database, linking disparate data from CAD, Word, PDF, HTML, XLS, etc. directly to the Master Data Record. Its advantage is that it is primarily CAD independent, and can pull data from the MDR to populate the CAD parts and drawings. Managers can quickly get an oversight on any CAD drawing, or Part record, and locate relevant documents associated with that Master Part Record.
Market Analysis
OEMs Must Anticipate Customers’ Changing Needs: The requirement for CAD Integration is proven by general market conditions, an analysis of customer problems and prospect requirement lists.
Key supporting points include:
AMR estimates that 80% of SMB manufacturers are not currently using Product Data Management (PDM) or Electronic Document Management (EDM) automation. This is in part because integration between their existing systems and ERP are unwieldy and also because the vendors of these systems have focused on “creation” of product data rather than “distribution,” the more visible and more easily justified element.
Drawing and product data are especially dynamic in the “best fit” segments of Engineer-to-Order (ETO) and Make-to-Order (MTO). Support for engineering/production integration is critical in a strategic product plan. Otherwise a lack of CAD integration is a gap which can be exploited by competitors, and for which critical sales can slip away.
A recent poll of sales and consulting personnel indicates that approximately 80% of overall customers and prospects are currently using CAD. AutoCAD claims a 65% share of the overall desktop CAD Market.
Less than 20% of the market is served by PDM or EDM systems controlling production related data. This leaves over 80% of the market relying on paper-based systems.
Distribution (NOT creation) of controlled information is what drives enterprise strategies.
Integrations to the ERP system are viewed as a top critical concern when selecting and implementing a system. Without the Integration the system lacks the necessary controls to be effective.
Time and cost to implement are viewed as the major hindrances to developing these systems in-house.
Major inefficiencies result from the lack of CAD integration, which are often blamed on the ERP system manufacturer.
CAD Integration Technology
Cad Integration solves very real problems which traditionally have not been effectively addressed. Five key customer problems are addressed below:
Data in the ERP database is not connected to, nor is it readily accessible from the CAD drawing tool, adding manual “look-up” time to the process. This is addressed by an integrated Gateway capability.
BOM data is normally not generated using the central Part Master database. This causes part number mistakes, incorrect purchases, retyping, duplicate part numbers, etc.
Data from new or revised drawings must be manually entered into the ERP system, introducing the risk of error and consuming data entry time. The BOMLink CAD Title Block-to-Item Master generator solves this problem.
Drawings are often difficult to locate when needed, especially for production and maintenance personnel. The drawing finder/viewer capability in EntraLink reduces the time to locate the correct drawing and eliminates the need to have AutoCAD or SolidWorks on each workstation.
It is difficult to view, and especially to redline, drawings from the production floor. Integrating a viewer/redlining capability enables non-engineers to see and mark drawings, to e-mail them to engineering where the engineer can compare for differences between them.
A Needs Analysis for CAD Integration
ERP/PDM/MDM developers must continue to develop new features which meet strategic needs and contribute to attaining the market leadership. CAD Integration is usually high on customer priority lists.
Prospects are asking for this capability today. There is strong interest in having the ability to link their ERP and CAD systems together.
This fits the “Best Fit” market segment. Recent market segmentation analysis confirmed that ETO and MTO manufacturers are the largest proportional user group.
During the sales process, you usually need an ally in the engineering department, who will insist on art-to-part integration.
This fulfills your product strategy to anticipate customers' changing needs, evolve with accepted industry standards and work smoothly and intuitively.
Competition is investing millions to achieve this capability.
Most alternate options for CAD integration either cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or take months to install, or both. AimaSoft solutions can be installed in 2 business days.
A major obstacle for selling and installing an ERP database is dealing with legacy systems, both ERP and CAD/engineering. AimaSoft products are designed to leverage existing legacy data sources as well as move into the future with new data sources.
AimaSoft Solutions
BOMLink takes full advantage of the de-facto standard, AutoCAD. AutoDesk has over 7 million licensed users around the world. AutoCAD users need intelligent BOM capabilities. EntraLink is fully compatible with SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Inventor and SolidEdge. This covers over 95% of the CAD market. Other CAD software has varying degrees of compatibility. By providing an Integration to AutoCAD we increase the number of: (a) sales prospect opportunities; (b) sales closed per prospect; (c) leveraged sales over the competition; (d) adjacent seats installed; and (e) increase your overall revenue potential on every sale.
Positioning Statement
The BOM Module seamlessly integrates ERP with AutoCAD drawings using BOM and Drawing Control automation tools. Non-engineering personnel can search for, view, annotate, compare, redline and find drawings while preserving the security and integrity of original engineering drawings.
Seamless OEM Integration Options
Optional Integrated BOMLink and EntraLink Software Solutions: AimaSoft can work with you, as an OEM, to develop an integrated solution that incorporates CAD integration seamlessly to your customer. The Integration is sold, installed, and supported by the OEM. We can work with you to help understand how this program works, the extra end-user benefits, and the software engineering required. The solutions work exactly the same, but with your name on top of the technology.
BOMLink Adapter integrated into your product: Using a custom adapter, it can link bi-directionally into almost any ERP style database. The AimaSoft Adapter can be made to follow any access or other database rules which need to be enforced. BOMLink can be used without an adapter as a read-only access to the ERP database.
BOMLink: BOMLink is launched via a command line in AutoCAD. BOMLink behaves as an integrated gateway between CAD drawings and ERP. The gateway provides the user with access to Master data records from within AutoCAD. This provides the user with the ability to reduce or eliminate redundant data entry. The user is able to Tag/Balloon references on drawings using Item Master Data. The tagged drawing elements can be used to generate a BOM listing on the drawing which maintains links to the Master Data record. The BOM on the drawing can also be used to generate a BOM for a quote, sales order, job or standard. Multi-level BOMs can be easily created by attaching assemblies to the master drawing. Changes to either the drawing or the BOM will be reflected by both systems.
EntraLink incorporated into your product: EntraLink offers taxonomy management, fast elimination of duplicate part numbers, advanced database queries, access to MDR information from any workstation inside the customer network, and more. Customers can build prototype BOMs before creating a formal drawing, manage outside data such as change orders, revision data, etc. EntraLink is designed to be modular, with multiple levels of user access, from limited read-only, to complete read-write access. Writing to the database requires an Adapter to be written for the implemented ERP database. As with the BOMLink Adapter, it enforces all use rules for writing data to the Master Data Record.
A Partnership with AimaSoft
Business Strengths
Leaders in CAD Integration technology. The First to develop CAD/ERP integration to AutoCAD.
Fast moving company willing to incorporate technology to strict deadlines.
Strong market connections with AutoCAD users and associated relationships.
Long term vision for product development and enhancements.
Market mission is to provide middleware (software that connects applications together).
Does not compete with the OEM. AimaSoft does not sell ERP/PDM/MDM applications.
Customer Benefits
Allow engineers to retrieve item master records for AutoCAD print development, generate BOM from the print, and transmit BOM record to their database. This gives users a central database for all Item Master and BOM records.
Installs in 1 week. 3 days of AimaSoft internal review of Customer data, CAD drawings, special rules, etc. After AimaSoft has completed a customer review, an appointment is set for installation. An installation takes 1-2 business days, depending on the complexity of the install and number of workstations.
While most OEMs prefer to wait until they install their system before BOMLink or EntraLink is installed, both products can generate immediate benefits before the ERP/PDM/MDM software is installed. Customers also have the benefit of using legacy systems, allowing CAD integration into both their NEW ERP and OLD ERP data simultaneously.
If your are interested in how AimaSoft can help you leverage more sales please Call 415-453-2063 and ask for Anand Ayyar, CEO ananda@aimasoft.com or email sales@aimasoft.com.
