As we recently announced, ACE 2014 will take place April 29th through May 1st at the Chicago O'Hare Marriott in Chicago, Illinois USA.

ACE is the place where Aras users from around the world come together to meet, share stories and best practices, network, and collaborate on new concepts and solutions.

We invite you to share your story with the Aras Community at ACE 2014.

How? You can be a presenter, participate in a roundtable session and/or show off your solution during the solution showcase.

Don’t be intimidated by the word presenter. Your presentation can be as simple as sharing your selection process, talking about how you implemented Aras, sharing your lessons learned, migration from legacy systems, the automation of complicated processes, custom integrations and more. There really is no limit.

If you'd like to share your story at ACE, let Terri Delfino know: tdelfino@aras.com.

As always, ACE 2014 is FREE TO ATTEND but registration is required. 
Early registration is available at www.aras.com/ACE2014.

Lear, a global automotive supplier, had two main goals when developing their change management system. First, they wanted it to be intuitive for the engineers. And second, they wanted the process to be fully automated. To achieve these goals, their change management system is fully configured and driven by relationships. Every part is connected to a program and every part is connected to a plant. This enables the system to be fully automated and only notify the affected programs and plants about the change.

Watch the video to learn more about their change management system.

Aras Change Manage Management is designed to be easy to customize to the unique needs of your business. Watch this on-demand webcast to learn how you can create a customized change management system that works for your company.

  Customizing Enterprise Change Management

How do you ensure success with PLM? We've put together a complete guide of best practices for PLM implementation but to get you started, here are a few tips:

• Use an iterative approach. Start with a well-defined problem and implement the solution in manageable phases that comprise the complete project.
• Gather requirements at a high level. Plan near tern phases in detail and longer term phases more loosely as they will likely change in scope over time.
• Involve users early and often. Users drive requirements, develop use cases, validate prototypes and more.
• Don't underestimate the value of training. Train your team early in the process so they are familiar with Aras.
• Test. Test. And test again. Create visual and behavioral prototypes to test and validate with users.

Learn more get the complete Guide to PLM Implementation.

The Collaborate & Contribute Awards recognize individuals and companies for their outstanding contributions to the Aras Community.

Nominations can be made for any open contribution that improves or enhances the Aras Corporate Community.

Examples include:

• Developing an innovative new solution
• Building enhancements to an existing solution
• Creating an add-on, integration or special-purpose client
• Contributing a language pack
• Participating in the Aras Community, such as active forum members who collaborate and assist others

Now's your chance to nominate your fellow Community Members, or yourself, for the 2014 Collaborate & Contribute Awards. How? Send me an email, bcordima@aras.com, and tell me who you’d like to nominate, for what contribution and why.

Awards will be presented at ACE 2014 in Chicago, April 29th-May 1st. Register now to reserve your spot!

If you're starting a new PLM initiative or replacing an old one, thinking about moving from PDM to PLM, or growing your existing Aras PLM implementation, ACE is the place for you.

You will learn best practice strategies from Aras Users such as Boeing Insitu. At a previous ACE, Boeing Insitu shared their experience working with Aras as well as what challenges drove the business to adapt PLM.

After struggling with big box PLM software, Boeing Insitu decided to make the switch to Aras. And since Aras is easily customizable to fit any company’s needs - even when those needs change rapidly - the results were immediate!

Watch the video to review their goals, solution, and of course – the success.

As always, ACE 2014 is FREE TO ATTEND but registration is required.

Register now at www.aras.com/ACE2014.

Today, we're all dealing with complex global challenges. Whether its international competition, geographically dispersed product teams or outsourced suppliers, even local companies have to think globally these days. And that's why ACE conferences are all about gaining insight, sharing strategies and learning from each other's experience.

Learning how other companies are dealing with similar situations, sharing your perspective and having the opportunity to work together to develop solutions is great way to foster innovation.

Basic Research shared their experience at an ACE event, as they realized other PLM software providers have canned solutions that don't allow companies to customize, grow and be different without continually incurring additional costs. Watch the short video and then register for ACE 2014.

ACE 2014, the largest annual meeting of Aras Community Members, is happening April 29-May 1 in Chicago. If you're an Aras user and would like to share your rollout story, or any other aspect of your global PLM story, let us know. And a special shout out to all Open Users: we want to hear your Aras stories too!

Here's 5 Good Reasons to Share Your Story:

1. Get inspired; Sharing your story can spark new ideas
2. Pump up your company; you're an innovator - flaunt it!
3. Ignite others to join you; you get more done faster, when you engage others
4. Show off your skills and innovation
5. Be the next Aras Open User Rock Star, a trend set by Kevin Friske in 2010

Even if you're hesitant to jump right in and share your story, we encourage you to come to ACE 2014. The conference offers a great opportunity to meet other users, hear what people are doing, see the latest solutions, and find out what Aras is working on for the future.

Here's the best part - ACE 2014 is FREE to attend! There's no registration fee, we provide a ton of food, and if you need a room we've negotiated a great rate for you.

To register for ACE 2014 go to www.aras.com/ACE2014

If you're interested in sharing your story either at ACE, through a blog post, an interview, etc. get in touch with me at bcordima@aras.com.

Rapid prototyping. It's fast. It's productive. And it offers some benefits you've probably never thought about, according to this recent article from Roger Martin in Harvard Business Review.

While the design benefits of rapid prototyping are well known, Martin points to the "unintended" benefit that forms between designer and client.

"...one of the biggest challenges facing designers is that they struggle to get their clients to adopt their design ideas. They hit a 'prove-it' wall: their clients ask for evidence that the design will succeed.

Here is where rapid prototyping comes in. During each iterative test… the process generates little bits of data that the client can see and gain confidence from. The client will see the reaction of the users become ever more positive as their feedback is incorporated into the next iteration and the next and the next and the next. The client can’t help becoming more confident in the design as the users become more pleased."

We see the same challenges with PLM, which is why we take an agile, iterative approach to PLM implementation.

Instead of spending months developing detailed functional specifications and years in implementation, we start with a well-defined problem and implement the solution in manageable phases. With each phase scoped to be completed in 60 —120 days, we put real solutions in the hands of users sooner, generate momentum among the project team, and demonstrate tangible business results to stakeholders and executives on an ongoing basis.

Throughout the Aras implementation process users are involved early and often, reviewing and validating requirements, use cases and prototypes. This not only makes the final solution more intuitive and easier to use, it also builds user buy in. When the solution is deployed, end users are already familiar with it so the transition is easier, user adoption is higher and ROI – such as faster innovation for your business - comes sooner.

As Martin points out, "the process provides both forward-looking designers with guidance in creating new ideas and their clients with proof of concept." We couldn't agree more.

Learn more about best practices for PLM implementation in this how-to guide from Aras

With ACE 2014 right around the corner, we want to give you a glimpse of what you will see in Chicago. If you've been to ACE in the past, you know it is different than most conferences; it's designed to bring Aras users together and encourage sharing of lessons learned, insights on best practice and help everyone be more successful. After all, we're all facing similar challenges and there's a lot we can learn from each other.

Xerox shared their experience at a previous ACE, discussing how they used Aras to model their global engineering change process and immediately saw added business value from the improvements. Check out the video then register for ACE 2014! The conference is free to attend and the knowledge you'll gain is invaluable.

Learn how Open User, MiTek implemented Aras to achieve ISO certification. The key to their success? It's all in the planning.

Watch the video to see how MiTek did it, then sign up for ACE 2014 and let the Aras Community show you what else you can do with Aras!

The Solution Showcase at ACE offers the prefect stage for Community Members of all kinds to show off their innovative solutions in a 5 minute live demo.

Check out the business intelligence solution Don Stephen, Crucis Technology, shared last year.

And learn how Nidec Motor Corporation developed web services for quick and easy document retrieval.

This year's Showcase line-up is looking good. Make sure you don't miss it. Sign up for ACE 2014 to see the most advanced, creative and groundbreaking solutions from your peers.

Collin Fagan, Project Engineer at CNH Reman, went to ACE to learn as much about Aras as he could. He talked with Aras users and saw their solutions in action. Faced with the opportunity to really dig deep into the experiences of other Aras enthusiasts, Collin kept asking questions.

Through his three day adventure, he discovered Aras was not only the right fit for CNH Reman, but the only fit that could truly allow them to continue to utilize their in house developed best practices for remanufacturing. CNH Reman has been an Aras Subscriber ever since.

Collin invites you to watch his video on the ACE experience to learn more about why you too should attend ACE 2014.

But Collin's ACE experience doesn't end there. At ACE 2014 Collin will take the stage and share with you his experience implementing Aras PLM. Register for ACE today!

If you're on the fence about attending ACE 2014, here are 5 reasons to sign up today!

1. 75+ Aras staff, partners and solution providers available for you to network with, pick their brains & get their input
2. Over 40 different sessions, ranging from user implementation stories, technical deep dives, round table discussions, introductory sessions, panels and more
3. 14 scheduled networking breaks – so you know there's ample time to talk with the people you want to collaborate most with
4. 98% of attendees said they achieved their objectives at last year’s ACE
5. $0 to attend. There's no conference fee at ACE, plus we provide breakfast, lunch and hearty appetizers in the evening

So what are you waiting for? Register today to reserve your spot.

If your ENOVIA PDM / PLM system isn't measuring up, you've got 2 options: rip & replace or keep what works and build on top.

Register for the live webcast to find out how Carestream Health, a $2.5 billion dollar company with R&D and manufacturing facilities around the world, addressed this challenge and get real-world advice for your legacy PLM migration / integration from xLM Solutions.

Carestream Health had a 10 year old highly customized change management system on the ENOVIA platform that was limited in scope and functionality, and not cost-effective to upgrade. Find out:

• Why Carestream chose Aras as their new closed-loop solution
• The advantages they've gained with Aras
• How they've reduced changes and cycle times
• And what they learned along the way

How do you get from legacy ENOVIA to modern Aras PLM? Aras partner xLM Solutions provides a how-to guide for getting there. In this webcast we'll explore:

• Your Migration Options – Complete, Partial or Integration
• Data Migration & Mapping
• How to Develop a Cut Over Plan
• Features & Benefits of the xLM Migration Tool
• Challenges & Solutions

Register for the webcast on April 9th at 11AM ET.

ACE 2014 is just around the corner and we have 2.5 chock-full days planned for you! Take a look at the agenda and then register to reserve your spot. As always, registration is free but space is limited.

General Electric (GE) Aviation will share best practices for supply chain management bill of materials management in complex product development environments.

MAN Diesel & Turbo will present on leveraging the Aras platform to go beyond traditional PDM to manage complex engine configurations and variants over a 30 year lifecycle across the extended enterprise to support manufacturing licensees, shipyards and vessel owner operators.

Attendees will learn how Kinnerton Confectionary has leveraged the Aras PLM platform to gain a single source of accurate product information across the enterprise while streamlining product development, releasing more new products faster, and improving royalty management, strategic decision making and profitability.

Sandia National Laboratories will share best practices for integrating the Aras PLM solution suite with Microsoft SharePoint to automate the release of documentation, procedures and work instructions on the manufacturing shop floor, ensuring the use of timely, accurate information at all times.

All of those presentation and so much more!

So what are you waiting for? Register Today.

How do you ensure that your PLM implementation will be a success? Here are 5 proven tactics:

• Use an iterative approach. Start with a well-defined problem and implement in manageable phases that comprise the complete project and show results on an ongoing basis.
• Gather requirements at a high level. Plan near tern phases in detail and longer term phases more loosely, as they will likely change in scope over time.
• Involve users early and often. Your users will drive requirements, develop use cases, validate prototypes and more. Get them invested early and the reap the rewards at rollout.
• Don't underestimate the value of training. Train your team early in the process so they are familiar with Aras.
• Test. Test. And test again. Create visual and behavioral prototypes to test and validate with users.

Want to know more? Watch the video to see what our users have to say about their implementation experience with Aras then download our implementation guide.

Learn more get the complete Guide to PLM Implementation.

In less than 6 months, Dedicated Computing, a developer of high tech computing solutions, implemented 16 business processes on the Aras platform, including Engineering Project Management, Pre-Production Order Management, CAPA, Customer Escalation, Qualified Supplier, New Part Creation, Change Notices and more.

As Dedicated said, "It's been a very effective road of consolidation of our tools and mapping of our business processes to the Aras platform which has resulted in numerous gains to both our efficiency and productivity."

Watch the video to gain a better understanding of Dedicated Computing's PLM Journey, see what end users from across the company have to say about Aras, and find out what's next for the innovative company who said, "We're just scratching the surface of what we can do with Aras."

Then, register for ACE 2014 to hear from more Aras Users.

Get the slides - Dedicated Computing's Journey Implementing Aras: Need, Plan, Implement, Success!

Carestream Health, a leading medical device company, replaced their outdated and highly customized implementation of Dassault's ENOVIA MatrixOne and a whole collection of other legacy systems with Aras PLM. This migration gave Carestream Health the advanced PLM platform they needed to drive global product development and improve supply chain collaboration.

David Sherburne of Carestream Health said, "We wanted a single enterprise PLM backbone for engineering, quality and regulatory compliance, tightly integrated with SAP. When compared to other PLM suppliers, Aras offered a solution unique to the industry. Our legacy platform (i.e. ENOVIA MatrixOne) was built a long time ago and we knew we didn’t have the functionality required for the future."

Find out how Carestream Health migrated from ENOVIA to Aras in the upcoming webcast on April 14th at 11AM. Register for the Migrate to Modernize: ENOVIA to Aras Webcast.

Learn more about Carestream Health's PLM Journey in the short video below.

Today, we're all dealing with complex global challenges. Whether its international competition, geographically dispersed product teams or outsourced suppliers, even local companies have to think globally these days. And that's why ACE conferences are all about gaining insight, sharing strategies and learning from each other's experience.

Learning how other companies are dealing with similar situations, sharing your perspective and having the opportunity to work together to develop solutions is great way to foster innovation. And who couldn't use a little more innovation?

Basic Research shared their experience at a recent ACE event, as they realized other PLM software providers have canned solutions that don't allow companies to customize, grow and be different without continually incurring additional costs. Watch the short video and then register for ACE 2014.

It's that time of year again - when you get vote for your favorite Aras Community Solutions and most valuable Community Members.

Cast your vote and help us recognize some of the most proactive members of our Community and the contributions they've made over the years. Then join us for the award ceremony at ACE 2014 in Chicago.

Vote now through April 18th

Select your choices based on:

- Significance
- Popularity
- Impact

> Review the nominees then vote for your favorites

2014 Collaborate & Contribute Award Nominees:

• Honda of America - Material usage sheet
• Aitech - Express ECO process looping option
• Sandia National Laboratories - Smart file extension handling for file check-ins
• MAN Diesel & Turbo - HTML5 client beta feedback and enhancements
• Carestream Health - Electronic component engineering solution use cases and prototype definition
• Young & Franklin - Item released view for effectivity in main grid
• Nissan - Apache 2.0 reverse proxy support
• Dongfeng Motor Parts - Express DCO version management
• GE Aviation - CA SiteMinder security timeout and administration
• Orio/Saab - Dynamic updates to technical publications
• Elysium - 64-bit HOOPS converter integration with MultiCAD Gateway
• The Woodbridge Group - Product costing and pricing solution
• Minerva - New form layout for advanced search on PolyItem
• Carnaud Metalbox Engineering - PDF conversion of complex Creo file structures
• Sikorsky - PLM to ERP data federation test harness
• Esterline Aerospace & Defense - Mass part configuration release process simplification
• Spartan Motors - BOM configuration loading simplified for deep hierarchy structures
• Lear Corporation - Impact Matrix add instance and substitute markup functionality
• Tohatsu - Double-byte database collation performance enhancement
• Hitachi, Ltd. / Power Systems Company - Japanese enterprise search with recommendation engine
• GETRAG - Item versioning with single item instance from user desktop
• Maxion Wheels - Form and grid browser rendering improvements
• SRCTech - Classification driven Lifecycle promotion
• Laird Technologies - Classification-based Lifecycle extension for programatic execution
• Hitachi Metals - Relationship grid sorting across results pages
• Pentair - Permission-based classification dialog display
• EURO-PRO - Check-in Manager extension for preliminary CAD documents without CAD models
• GE Aviation - New ERP integration platform foundation
• Soplar SA - Multi-Item ECO lock and unlock during workflow
• PCC Structurals - Internet Explorer 64-bit support