Chapter 19 Siemens PLM Software (Unigraphics)1 Author’s note: As discussed below, this organization has had a multitude of different names over the years. Many still refer to it simply as UGS and, although that name is no longer formally used, I have used it throughout this chapter. McDonnell Douglas Automation In order to understand how today’s Siemens PLM Software organization and the Unigraphics software evolved one has to go back to an organization in Saint Louis, Missouri called McAuto (McDonnell Automation Company), a subsidiary of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. The aircraft industry was one of the first users of computer systems for engineering design and analysis and McDonnell was very proactive in this endeavor starting in the late 1950s. Its first NC production part was manufactured in 1958 and computers were used to help layout aircraft the following year. In 1960 McDonnell decided to utilize this experience and enter the computer services business. Its McAuto subsidiary was established that year with 258 employees and $7 million in computer hardware. Fifteen years later, McAuto had become one of the largest computer services organizations in the world with over 3,500 employees and a computer infrastructure worth over $170 million. It continued to grow for the next decade, reaching over $1 billion in revenue and 14,000 employees by 1985. Its largest single customer during of this period was the military aircraft design group of its own parent company. A significant project during the 1960s and 1970s was the development of an in- house CAD/CAM system to support McDonnell engineering. Known as CADD (Computer Aided Design and Drafting), it was first implemented on an IBM 360/40 computer equipped with an IBM 2250 display terminal starting around 1966. In 1967, McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft merged to form McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC)2. By 1976, the software had gone through 15 revisions and was running on IBM 370/168 mainframes using IBM 3250 displays. Tektronix 4014 and the company’s own DGS (Distributed Graphics System) terminals were also utilized. The DGS consisted of either a Digital PDP 11/34 or PDP 11/70 computer interfaced to Evans & Sutherland Picture System II displays. Graphic manipulations such as pan and zoom were handled locally by the DGS while geometric construction was performed on the mainframe host computer. Remote DGS systems communicated with the host at a relatively slow 9600 bps. McDonnell Douglas at one time was using 80 DGS systems, 100 3250s and hundreds of 4014s. Over the years, there were some limited attempts to market CADD to the general public. MDC’s operating divisions were adamant that the software should not be sold to 1 UGS is one of the few companies in this industry that has an extensive history readily available. This data has been maintained on a web site, http://www.plmworld.org/museum, by John Baker, a long term employee of the company. Much of the early part of this chapter is based upon this material. 2 McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1996. 19-1 © 2008 David E. Weisberg any company that it perceived to be a direct competitor and as a consequence CADD, unlike Lockheed’s CADAM, never really got off the ground as a commercial product. Among the few commercial customers were Timex and Cessna Aircraft. The latter was sold the software since its aircraft did not compete with anything produced by MDC. One competitor that did use the software was Northrup, but only because it was a partner with MDC on the F-18 program. The fact that the company wanted $250,000 for CADD software probably didn’t help.3 Figure 19.1 Evans & Sutherland graphics System Running CADD A major portion of McAuto’s business consisted of providing commercial timesharing services, especially to engineering and manufacturing concerns. Typical of this activity was providing Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on a remote batch basis. McAuto was one of the first company’s to offer the use of remote graphics terminals to prepare FEA models for analysis and to view the results graphically. The typical terminal used for this type of service was the Tektronix 4014 and the software was an internally developed package called FASTDRAW. Clients could use FASTDRAW to build a model, submit it for analysis using programs such as ANSYS or MSC NASTRAN and then view the results. Eventually, this program was ported to Digital VAX computers and sold as an adjunct to Unigraphics. The president of McAuto in the early 1980s was Joe Quakenbush and John Clancy was the vice president in charge of the Unigraphics activity. In February 1983, Robert Fischer, the former president of National CSS, becomes president of McAuto replacing Quackenbush who retired due to health reasons. Clancy became vice president for Industry/Product Management. Unigraphics started with a company called United Computing United Computing was founded in 1963 by John Wright and several associates. Their first two-room office was above a hairdresser in Torrance, California. Within a few years the company moved a few miles away to Carson. The new facility had previously been a post office and occasionally people would come looking to buy stamps or mail a package. 3 Lavick, Jerry J., Siggraph ’76 Proceedings, Pg. 279 19-2 © 2008 David E. Weisberg United Computing’s first product, introduced in 1969, was UNIAPT, a minicomputer based version of APT (Automatic Programmed Tool) as described in Chapter 3. APT was a part programming language used to compute tool paths that were subsequently post processed and punched onto a paper tape. The paper tape was then read into an NC machine tools where the program controlled the movement of the machine cutter, producing the part that was described using the APT language. Figure 19.2 John Wright, Founder of United Computing UNIAPT was one of the first NC programming systems sold directly to end users. Previously, most companies created their NC programs using time-sharing services provided by large providers such as McAuto and UCC (University Computing Corporation). The UNIAPT software followed basic APT principals fairly closely. APT commands were entered via a keyboard and there was no graphic feedback as we know it today. The system did have the ability to plot results, however. Moderately complex surfaces could be machined using an optional module called USURF. Figure 19.3 DEC PDP-8 based UNIAPT System United Computing was one of the first companies to license the ADAM software from Pat Hanratty’s Manufacturing and Consulting Services (See Chapter 15). Supposedly this was a worldwide exclusive license except for Japan. Since Hanratty had 19-3 © 2008 David E. Weisberg his own way of defining “exclusive” it is not clear what restrictions the contract had on either party. Although the initial version of ADAM had been developed by MCS to run on the REDCOR RC-70 minicomputer with a Computek terminal, the code was intended to be machine independent. United Computing fairly quickly ported the software to a General Automation SPC-16 minicomputer and a Tektronix display. They also added a menu-driven user interface. The software, UNI-GRAPHICS, was introduced in October 1973 at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers CAD/CAM II show at the Hilton Hotel in Detroit. These shows were the forerunners of what eventually became AUTOFACT. The software provided basic two-dimensional modeling and drafting capabilities. The company promoted this new software as a graphical front-end to UNIAPT. United had just six programmers working on the development of UNI-GRAPHICS at the time. The typical configuration in addition to the SPC-16 minicomputer included either a Tektronix 4010 or 4014 terminal, an alphanumeric display for commands and messages, a 32-button program function keyboard, a tablet and stylus and a Tektronix 4631 hardcopy unit. Cursor control on the Tektronix terminal was typically with a pair of thumbwheel switches or joystick if the tablet was not used. A multi-user version of the software was introduced in August 1974 on the General Automation SPC-16/65 and the package was renamed Unigraphics without the hyphen. United sold its first Unigraphics system to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in September 1974 but the system’s installation was delayed until early 1975 while the company added support for Vector General graphics terminals and Xynetics flat-bed plotters. The first industrial installation was at an Alcoa facility in Lafayette, Indiana followed soon thereafter by another system at the U.S. Army depot in Corpus Christi, Texas. In February 1975, the Unigraphics hardware was upgraded to the General Automation 1830 system and the graphic workstation was given the “Model 319” nomenclature. A typical configuration is shown in Figure 19.4. Figure 19.4 Unigraphics Model 319 Terminal In September 1975, United Computing introduced its first integrated NC product, Graphic Machining. Although MCS’ ADAM system had NC modules, they were 19-4 © 2008 David E. Weisberg problem plagued and United decided to develop its own software rather than try to fix the ADAM code. Eventually, this NC experience would become one of the company’s technological backbones. McDonnell Douglas acquired United Computing in April 1976. The company stayed in Carson and was operated as a McAuto subsidiary. Unigraphics Under McAuto Starting in 1976, McDonnell Douglas and the subsequent owners of Unigraphics continued to enhance this core software product and the vast suite of applications built on top of it. One of the first major enhancements was the addition of a user programming language, GRIP (GRaphics Interactive Programming language). Although the basic code for this capability was included in the ADAM software United licensed from MCS, it required considerable software effort to make it work effectively.