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Brian Rooks: Brian Rooks is UK Associate Editor of Assembly Automation.
Tecnomatix Technologies, well-known for CAPE (computer aided production engineering) tools, such as Robcad, Valisys and Dynamo, has expanded its range of software solutions to facilitate communication on the Internet. To reflect this move to e-manufacturing, Tecnomatix has re-branded all its existing CAPE products and integrated them with the new communications tool products to create eMPower, which it terms e-Manufacturing for e-Business.
In what is claimed to be a world-first, eMPower combines manufacturing process content with Web-based collaboration capabilities. As a result, manufacturers will be able to communicate with their plants and suppliers over the Internet, anywhere in the world. This solution supports the entire manufacturing process life cycle from process planning and detailed engineering to plant operations.
Commenting on the initiative, Harel Beit-On, president and CEO of Tecnomatix, said:"The Internet has created a new paradigm for manufacturers, requiring them to perform at new levels of speed, flexibility and collaboration. Today, the extended enterprise is challenged by a customer-driven market that dictates shorter product life cycles and mass customisation. To succeed in this new environment, manufacturers must collaborate with their global production operations and supply chains to create one virtual enterprise capable of responding at the speed of demand. eMPower provides the tools that will allow manufacturers to excel in this new dynamic e-business environment."
Software evolution
The introduction of eMPower is the latest phase in Tecnomatix' evolutionary development of manufacturing software tools. The Israeli company was founded in 1983 by its current chairman, Shlomo Dovrat, primarily to develop robot simulation technology for industrial applications. In its first phase it introduced Robcad for simulating applications in robot welding and painting - now marketed as eM-Spot, eM-Arc and eM-Paint - which subsequently were expanded to deliver off-line programming capabilities.
At that time, customers were still using Tecnomatix's product as a verification tool, but then the company started promoting to its clients the value of using this solution as a process design tool concurrently with product design applications. At the same time, it considerably enlarged its range of CAPE applications and by the early to mid-1990s was addressing detailed process engineering activities. After the acquisition of the Aesop company that had developed the SiMPLE++ flow simulation software...