In terna tional news

Autodesk announces Autodesk University 1996

Autodesk has announced Autodesk University 1996, the second of the company’s successful, two-day seminar and workshop event. Taking place on 5-6 June 1996 at the National Motor- cycle Museum, Birmingham, the event is expected to attract over 500 atten- dees from all walks of industry and commerce.

‘Autodesk University provided an invaluable overview of the potential uses of CAD within the AEC market- place,’ said Mike Manisty, head of IT at Wimpey Construction Ltd. ‘The

Wimpey Construction, which is currently reviewing the use of CAD across all sectors of its business, recog- nized that education was likely to be as important as the technology itself. As part of its CAD application review process, a group of ten managers from across the company attended the first Autodesk University.

review team have since looked in more depth at both 3D modelling and CAD management systems. When it comes to justifying IT investment in a tough marketplace, every little counts. We are very grateful to the support provided by Autodesk - through the university event - in helping us achieve a balanced approach to the CAD component of our IT strategy.’

Autodesk University is being held in conjunction with the Autodesk User Group who will be organizing meetings and seminars throughout the two days. The user group committee, as well as

The 1996 Autodesk University will comprise some 48 seminars and 24 hands-on training workshops daily, with each day devoted to different industry issues. The first day will focus on the AEC market, and the second on engineering and manufacturing. The seminars and workshops will be given by a variety of different speakers comprising users, industry experts, users groups and staff from Autodesk itself.

organizer of local and special interest groups, will be on hand during the event to meet and talk to attendees, and encourage them to attend the regular meetings held throughout the country.

There will also be an exhibition of complementary hardware and add-on products to Autodesk software. Each day will close with Autodesk’s tradi- tional ‘beer bust,’ where attendees can enjoy beer and pizza and a chance to meet with other attendees and Autodesk staff informally.

Autodesk University costs f295 a day, or &395 for two days. A discount rate of &230 a day, or f310 for both days, is available on receipt of registra- tion and payment before 1 April 1996. Details of the event programme will be available from mid-October. To book a place or for further details contact Tracy Collins or Cathy McLeod at EMAP. Tel: 0171 208 5008. Fax: 0171 388 2578.

IBM introduces the next generation of its Product- Manager PDM system

IBM has introduced the next ProductManager Director Series, the next generation release of its Product Data Management (PDM) solution. The ProductManager Director Series (ProductManager Version 3) delivers a completely new and intuitive graphical user interface, extensive tailoring capa- bilities for users, and a powerful, customization tool kit for extending the product. ProductManager enables manufacturers to streamline the design and manufacturing process and reduce both design costs and cycle time. It acts as a data vault, provides a single source of product information, and offers users fast and easy access to the most current data, wherever the data resides.

ProductManager is an enterprise- wide, scalable and integrated PDM system. It is a powerful client/server application that runs on IBM’s RISC System/6000* and other UNIX** servers, and supports a wide range of client platforms. Its use of object- oriented technology delivers pre- packaged yet flexible functionality that is easily adapted to a company’s busi-

ness processes. IBM’s ProductManager feature set was developed jointly with major manufacturing companies worldwide.

ProductManager Version 3 high- lights include:

l Gruphicol user in terjke. ProductManager’s new task- oriented graphical user interface now resembles a tabbed notebook. This metaphor offers fast and intu- itive access to complex data. Distribution lists are now repre- sented graphically, giving users an easy way to build or track review and approval cycles. A new graphi- cal Bill of Materials uses an indented outline layout which is simple to navigate and interpret.

0 Tailoring and custornixuion. Users can now personalize their ProductManager desktop to auto- matically see the data they want and need. Version 3 also features a rich library of graphical user inter- face controls and scripting capabil- ities that allow developers and systems administrators to construct their own user interfaces with little or no programming. Terminology can be customized, and exposed APls allow customers to extend the

product, add new logic, and modify the database layout.

l Increusrd prrfbrmmce und jksibil- itv. ProductManager’s client/server architecture has been dramatically expanded. An enhanced client implementation reduces the server size requirement and workload, offering improved performance. With this release, IBM announces new client support for Microsoft Windows NT**, native support for IBM’s OS/2*, and upcoming support for Apple Macintosh**.

ProductManager currently is designed to run on a wide range of UNIX servers, including IBM’slRS/6000*, HP-DX 9000** Series server or SUN Solaris SPARC** systems. Currently. client support is provided for all three server platforms, and also for IBM- compatible PC’S running native Microsoft Windows**.

ProductManager Version 3 will be generally available on 29 December 1995. The first public demonstration in Europe of ProductManager Version 3 will be at the CIMDATA conference to be held at Noodwijk, Netherlands on 24-28 October 1995. For more infor- mation on ProductManager, call 01705 492949.

150 years of wealth creation

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers has announced outline plans for a year-long programme of initia-

tives in 1997 to celebrate its foundation 150 years earlier. With a theme of ‘Looking to the Future in Celebrating the Past’, each of the activities is designed to illustrate the relevance of engineering to modem society. Highlights of the year include:

l A sesquicentenary concert will be held at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham, less than 2 kilometres (and 150 years on) from the site of the founding of the world’s oldest mechanical engineering society - The Institution of Mechanical

230 Materials & Design Volume 16 Number 4 1995