Siemens’ Bob Haubrock, Mike Hicks, and the Challenging Road to a Major PLM and CAD Breakthrough

About the ORDER that paved the way for for SIEMENS PLM within the South Korean large-scale industry.
It is no coincidence that South Korea has emerged as a world player in industrial production. The shipbuilding industry is just one manifestation of this. The automotive sector, with Hyundai KIA Motors, is another, as are Samsung and LG on the consumer electronics side. There are several examples, but it all boils down to the fact that South Koreans are hard-working, striving people with high ambitions. They usually work at least the statutory 52-hour workweek and have a deep loyalty to their employer, which means, among other things, that knowledge and competence remain in the company over time.
Anyone who wants to sell PLM solutions should be aware of these culturally conditioned factors. To build trust in this culture, extraordinary efforts are essential. Ask Siemens Digital Industries Software's "CAD maestro", Bob Haubrock (pictured), he knows. In 2021, he was one of Siemens' "heavyweights" behind the big breakthrough order where the world's fifth largest automaker, Hyundai KIA Motors, decided to phase out Dassault's CATIA V5 in favor of Siemens' flagship NX CAD and PLM/PDM based on the Teamcenter platform (TC).
PLM&ERP News' Verdi Ogewell met him in Stockholm when he was on his way home from South Korea after spending about two months on a hard office floor at the customer's and sleeping on just a mattress directly on the floor, to show off NX and TC's greatness and solve everything the South Koreans encountered that needed to be solved.
It's also worth noting that one can lead to the other. South Korean mega-industries are closely tied to each other, largely due to the structure of large family-owned conglomerates called "chaebols," such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG. These powerful groups operate across multiple sectors like electronics, telecommunications, automobiles, and shipbuilding, creating significant vertical and horizontal integration and a high degree of interconnectedness. In this case, it was about the ties between the vehicle manufacturer Hyundai KIA Motors and the large South Korean shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai. The latter became interested in the design intelligence Siemens could demonstrate. Just over six months later, in June 2022, this resulted in a joint venture: Siemens and HD Hyundai decided to develop a new CAD software specifically tailored to ship design, built on NX CAD, helping the group's shipyards accelerate digital transformation. Here, too, TC played an important role in the approach. Today, this could also lead back to the American shipbuilding market and to other parts of the world.
In short, the path to success in the PLM and CAD industry is not always a comfortable straight line. But those who are prepared to invest, have sharp PLM technology in their portfolio, and follow the race all the way to the finish can win the world for their cause.
So, what is the current state of Siemens' digital tools on the shipyard side?