On November 8th 2012, Siemens PLM Software (Siemens) announced the acquisition of LMS, a leading provider of testing and mechatronic simulation solutions, with approx. 1,200 employees worldwide serving over 5,000 manufacturing companies.

This acquisition will enable Siemens to provide its customers with the whole range of virtual design, simulation and physical performance testing applications. This will permit them to make critical decisions early on in the product development process, through simulating, testing and optimizing their products in a unified consistent data environment, prior to investing heavily in production.

Adding these testing and simulation functionalities to its own portfolio helps Siemens customers to further complete the circle from a (software-driven) virtual domain to the (hardware-driven) physical production domains.

This, by the way, is an effort which has its roots in the acquisition of UGS in 2007, when Siemens, coming from the hardware-driven physical production automation, invested in software-driven virtual product development and factory design.

Further acquisitions in the last few years intended to complete its industrial IT and software landscape included Active, Elan and IBS (in the field of manufacturing execution software) and also Vistagy (composite material product design) and innotec (process industry plant design and operations). This shows Siemens AG’s commitment to software and to PLM, as Siemens AG is planning cuts (e.g. the divestment of its solar business or the restructuring of its water technology) but is investing in PLM.

LMS’ testing and simulation business will be integrated as a new business segment in the existing Siemens PLM Software business unit structure, which was organized into segments a year ago in order to be prepared for additional investments.

Further announcements on the joint product roadmap have yet to be made while the company awaits regulatory approvals.

One open question at this stage is how Siemens is planning to manage LMS’ customers in the Dassault environment, whose share in LMS’ revenue is everything but small. This issue will require particular attention in the forthcoming integration and PAC expects Siemens to have no problem mastering this challenge well.

 Post by Stefanie Naujoks