Automotive electronic component supplier Hella KGaA Hueck & Co (www.hella.com) has extended its deployment of Teamcenter product lifecycle management software from UGS Corp. (www.ugs.com) to all members of the Hella value chain, including customers and suppliers. The software enables users to view and analyze 3D product geometry quickly and easily.

"The visualization solution in Teamcenter significantly improves the dissemination of our 3D product data beyond department borders and enhances the working relationship with our customers and suppliers," said Norbert Stijohann, an executive at Hella responsible for information management in the firm’s automotive lighting business. "All authorized users in our value chain will now be able to view any aspect of our latest product design without the need for an expensive and complicated CAD system,” he said. “We are anticipating greater visibility to our product data and, as such, better decisions made earlier -- such as before expensive tooling errors can occur."