Cloud, cloud, cloud... Also in engineering?

For 20 years I have been dealing with the topic of "Product Data Management with SAP", whereby direct integration with the market-leading CAD systems plays a decisive role.

Today, these direct integrations are used by our engineering customers to manage terabytes of CAD data in SAP. This data is made available via intelligent content and cache server architectures - internationally.

In addition, neutral formats are created for purchasing and production, material masters are generated and parts lists are output. In short, the classic SAP ERP environment is now the "single source of truth".

In the course of the new "Cloud ERP" in the form of S/4 Hana, the question arises: How does the workflow, which has been developed over decades and has been highly optimized for mass data down to the last detail, work?

Two scenarios

1. on-premise CAD to cloud ERP: Existing engineering systems are being integrated into the cloud ERP world via a new type of CAD interface. Here, it is important for us software providers to develop suitable solutions that also gain the acceptance of the engineers using them in the constant battle against latency times and bandwidths.

2. cloud CAD to cloud ERP: cloud-based CAD applications running in the browser are increasingly becoming a viable alternative to local CAD software environments.

The reason is relatively simple: modern cloud CAD fulfills traditional engineering requirements and also provides solutions for the new challenges faced by designers in the age of Industry 4.0. That is the general opinion and it is also my conviction.

Advantages

The new cloud-based generation of CAD systems can do fascinating things like merging and industries. Functionalities that we are familiar with from software development and that enable truly collaborative real-time engineering.

For example: A designer drills a hole through a panel and his colleague working on the other side of the world sees it just a few milliseconds later in his browser-based CAD system.

Even if some experts are of the opinion that the solutions already available are still missing important features, the basic functionality of today's Cloud CAD is already very close to the market leaders of conventional systems - with the difference that the speed of innovation is significantly higher with Cloud CAD.

I also see advantages in terms of costs, as there is no need for expensive hardware with sometimes gigantic GPUs. This is also usually assigned to an employee and is only in use for a fraction of the day. At the same time, administration costs are also reduced.

But how to integrate?

Integrating cloud CAD into cloud ERP is also best done using cloud integration technology. In the SAP environment, this is of course the SAP Cloud Platform. We at Cideon support and use it for such integration scenarios.

Together with SAP, we offer our users stable and strategic solutions: Cloud Cloud or On-premise Cloud. We have already developed an initial solution and made it available via the SAP App Center in order to demonstrate market readiness with the first customers in the course of co-innovation.

I'm excited to see where the journey will take us. The "departure date" is near and we are already checked in. This applies to all scenarios and all "game types" - so let's go.