Silicon Valley-based Hawk Ridge Systems, a provider of 3D design, manufacturing and 3D printing customer solutions, has partnered with Razorleaf, a consulting and systems integrator for Product Lifecycle Management, to strategically deliver high-quality services and support for Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE implementations.
The partnership will entail Razorleaf serving as an extension of the Hawk Ridge professional services team for customers using 3DEXPERIENCE ENOVIA, which provides a single, go-to source for comprehensive product information on any device. In addition, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform facilitates collaboration between teams onsite or in the cloud while optimizing workflow.
The team will provide consulting, implementation, managed services and help desk support. The partnership is strategic in that it will harness Razorleaf’s depth of experience in global engineering consulting for proprietary software products for business efficiency, PLM, design automation, integration, model-based strategies and test automation.
Razorleaf is active in many different PLM areas, with ENOVIA being the largest, and Hawk Ridge is an ENOVIA reseller—one of the largest in the nation, according to Derek Neiding, Vice President of Sales for Razorleaf.
Razorleaf works with global PLM implementations, digital innovation strategies for PLM integration and CAD data management to help transform businesses with product offerings and digital thread management across product life cycle and supply chain. The company recently announced the next generation of its CLOVER platform to help clients improve communication, enhance productivity and reduce operational costs.
“Hawk Ridge has had a lot of success in years past in some of the more PDM products, and they're looking for capabilities around PLM,” said Neiding. “They worked with the file management stuff and they're looking to get into more of the 3D experience.”
The partnership is about joining the Razorleaf consulting experience with the Hawk Ridge sales and support engine to provide a complete solution for customers. It would be everything that customers are already getting plus some more advanced and targeted consulting, Neiding explained.
"Standing up ENOVIA environments can be challenging for our customers using SOLIDWORKS data on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, so we are pleased that our clients will benefit from the deep expertise of Razorleaf's technical team," said Jon Toews, Director of Product Strategy, Hawk Ridge Systems. "We researched the 3DEXPERIENCE ecosystem for a partner that had proven success implementing the platform, and Razorleaf stood out as a leader. Their long-standing history working with Dassault Systèmes solutions, their data management capabilities in mixed product environments, and their OnPoint implementation methodology was something we wanted to extend to our customers.”
As both Razorleaf and Hawk Ridge have customers across many verticals, the partnership will impact multiple industries.
“We’re proud of our aerospace and defense experience, and we know that aerospace and defense tends to be on the cutting edge of all technology so, we hope that we can bring what we know about aerospace and defense and how they’re using PLM and engineering tools, and we can combine that with Hawk Ridge’s experience regardless of what space the customer happens to be in,” said Neiding.
Neiding added that the aerospace and defense sector tends to be at the cutting edge of research and development and that other industries will often follow suit and adopt the new technologies. “We can help those customers learn what aerospace and defense have already learned,” Neiding said.
Razorleaf has embarked on similar partnerships, and the recent one with Hawk Ridge will be the latest push to serve a growing customer base. The partnership will also enable Hawk Ridge to expand beyond smaller-scale PDM solutions toward medium and large-scale customers with a PLM approach. Additionally, from Razorleaf’s perspective, the partnership increases its footprint as Hawk Ridge is a major reseller.
"Partnering with Hawk Ridge Systems is a great fit for our organization," said Razorleaf CEO Eric Doubell. "During our partnership discussions, we discovered that we are aligned in the same markets and initiatives for PLM. Our goal is to help clients start using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to realize their technology investment and bring their products to market faster. Driving adoption of technology is what makes the difference in a successful implementation; the challenge is establishing the strategic technology roadmap for the implementation and then executing to that plan. We look forward to working with Hawk Ridge Systems as they help their customers achieve their PLM goals.”
Razorleaf recently extended PLM across all engineering, manufacturing and product operations through the next generation CLOVER platform. CLOVER is a family of products that enables integration, migration and exchange of product information across manufacturing organizations, partners and suppliers. The vendor-neutral platform connects siloed systems and shares information across any application database, cloud service or API.
The latest iteration of CLOVER is geared to extend business processes across internal systems and related organizations, creating a shareable, digital fabric of information that enhances the overall performance of Razorleaf’s PLM system. The platform provides a unique job-processing architecture for a more holistic approach for app building minimizing customization, PDM and reducing TCO.
"Connecting product data across an enterprise is complex," stated Tom Gill, PLM Enterprise Value & Integration Practice Manager, CIMdata. "Data can be as simple as a number or text string or as complex as a bill of material, change order, or technical data package. Furthermore, deciding where data transformation should occur—the sending system or the receiving system—can be technically and politically challenging.
The Clover platform includes four products. CollectIT extracts and packages PLM files and data for sharing product information across the company, partners and supplies. IntegrateIT exchanges files and data between PLM and other systems. MigrateIT facilitates the bulk transfer of files and data between PLM and other systems using rehearsals, mock services and advanced error handling. Finally, PassIT provides an interface between messaging platforms and PLM systems to allow complex data transformations, file rendition, product revision and other processes.
Gill described CLOVER as being like a Swiss army knife for engineers sharing data in complex systems environments, supporting unique product data requirements for solving challenging business problems.
According to Razorleaf, CLOVER can help digitize business processes with low risk and disruption by utilizing pre-built libraries and customizable jobs. The platform maximizes endpoint performance through process-based orchestration of data transfer using the iPaaS system REST APIs. In addition, it batch-loads files and data into PLM to ensure a successful migration to reduce system downtime and improve data integrity. CLOVER also provides product information, including TDPs, EIDPs and product specifications throughout the product lifecycle to improve collaboration and decision-making.
"This next generation of our CLOVER platform sets a new bar for integration, data management, and sharing accurate PLM data to support collaboration beyond the walls of a PLM system," says Doubell. "CLOVER delivers a set of tools that powerfully connect engineering, manufacturing and the supply chain to solve the most complex product development and management challenges. It allows our clients to truly integrate processes across disparate systems within and outside their organizations. This enables them to more efficiently and fully utilize their existing enterprise systems to maximize their results. Razorleaf continues to invest in enhancing and creating new capabilities to help our clients improve communication, enhance productivity and reduce operational costs.”