General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Adopts Siemens Xcelerator

Siemens Digital Industries Software has announced that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has adopted the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services as the platform of choice for its digital transformation.

GA-ASI designs and manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles and radar systems for the U.S. defense industry and commercial applications worldwide. It has adopted the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio to reduce costs, build a more collaborative, open and adaptable environment to meet its goal of accelerating product development and achieving design maturity more quickly, according to the company.

The integration within Siemens Xcelerator between Siemens’ Teamcenter software and NX software for product engineering provides the digital thread and process capability, with Simcenter software bringing advanced simulation capabilities, Siemens reports. In the design of composite aerostructures alone, GA-ASI anticipates up to 30% productivity gains with the adoption of Siemens’ capabilities, add the companies.

“When we ran trials, I received feedback that the software was very intuitive and easy to learn. This will enable our team to get up to speed and rapidly utilize the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio to achieve our aggressive digital transformation and productivity improvement goals,” says Dee Wilson, vice president of Engineering for GA-ASI. 

The company’s adoption of Siemens’ Mendix low-code platform has provided a rapid app development environment to assist with meeting acceleration of delivery timescales. The easy-to-learn platform will allow GA-ASI to create hybrid cloud deployable native mobile and multi-experience apps to meet its modernization goals.

“General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. is joining a large and growing number of innovators and pioneers in the aerospace and defense industry that are gaining competitive advantage by adopting the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio,” says Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “Our digital twin technology is second to none and Siemens has established itself as the de facto trusted supplier to some of the world’s most advanced product development and manufacturing organizations.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.