OpenLM for manufacturing

Your production line runs on engineering software. Do you know who's actually using it?

See who’s using your Autodesk, Bentley, PTC, and ANSYS licenses — and how much sits idle — in real time.
Book a demo

15–25%

avg. first-year engineering software spend reduction

28%

reduction Autoneum achieved on license costs

$1.7M/hr

avg. cost of unplanned manufacturing downtime (2025)

14.6%

projected CAGR, automotive software market, to 2032

📄 Get the industry brief

ROI benchmarks, multi-site deployment guidance, and platform detail for manufacturing engineering operations.

Trusted by leading innovators

tata-tech
san-antonio
dynetics
motorola
nasa
cognizant
ausenco
lt
klj
emerson
caf
eagle
autoneum
depuy
veoneer
damen
czech
urschel
lieb
array
sagemcom

The problem

Engineering software spend is a black box

Discrete manufacturers run some of the most expensive software in the enterprise — and few can say with confidence who’s actually using it.

Launch delays from license bottlenecks

A blocked CAD or simulation seat during a new product push pushes into tooling, procurement, and the schedule behind it.

Unplanned downtime already averages $1.7M/hour

Fragmented visibility across plants

Most multi-site manufacturers run license servers independently, plant by plant. Mergers make it worse.

Stoneridge: no central record of licenses owned, or where

License squatting and idle capacity

Engineers who hold a license without using it inflate demand without adding real usage — and block others.

Urschel Laboratories: $25K recovered once this was visible

Renewals negotiated blind

Most teams walk into a renewal with last year’s invoice, not usage data — a weak position with vendors.

MKS Instruments avoided a 28% seat expansion with usage data

How OpenLM solves it

Four capabilities, one dashboard

Real-time license intelligence

  • Tracks every checkout, session, idle interval
  • Auto-harvests idle seats after a set threshold
  • 100+ license managers in one dashboard

Multi-site visibility

  • One view across every plant and business unit
  • Heatmaps: demand vs. entitlement over time
  • Rebalance pools after an acquisition

Denial & utilization analytics

  • See which tools trigger denials, and when
  • Quantify delay cost against your schedule
  • Catch squatting before a new purchase

Built for your stack

Feature-level monitoring, not just "is it running"

The manufacturing software you already run

CAD

Autodesk, Bentley, Creo, NX, CATIA, SolidWorks

CAM

Mastercam, ESPRIT

Simulation

ANSYS

PLM

Windchill, ENOVIA/DSLS

Technical computing

MATLAB

License managers

FLEXlm, Sentinel RMS, LM-X, RLM, DSLS, +100

Proof

Manufacturers already doing this

Helped optimize software license usage.

Learn More >>

Provided visibility and control over software licenses.

Learn More >>

Provided visibility and control over their software licenses.

Learn More >>

Slash Licensing Costs, and Gain Transparency

Learn More >>

Impact by role

What changes across your organization

Team
Without OpenLM
With OpenLM
IT / SAM
Manual exports and reactive complaints
Real-time visibility and proactive alerts
Project / BIM managers
Wait for seats mid-deadline
Near-zero wait via auto-harvesting
Finance
Software cost estimated, not tracked
Accurate cost allocation and billing
Executive
License spend is a black box
Utilization becomes a tracked KPI

Trusted by manufacturers worldwide

tata-tech
san-antonio
dynetics
motorola
nasa
cognizant
ausenco
lt
klj
emerson
caf
eagle
autoneum
depuy
veoneer
damen
czech
urschel
lieb
array
sagemcom

Common questions

What is software license management for manufacturing?
Tracking and optimizing engineering software usage — CAD, CAM, CAE, PLM — across a manufacturer’s plants and teams, so spend matches actual demand.
OpenLM customers average 15–25% lower spend in year one. Autoneum documented 28%.
100+ natively, including FLEXlm/FlexNet, Sentinel RMS, LM-X, RLM, and DSLS.
It consolidates visibility across the combined organization, so you rebalance existing licenses with heatmap data instead of duplicating purchases.
Yes — one dashboard, every plant and license server, regardless of location.

Your next engineering software renewal is already on the calendar.

See which licenses your plants use, which sit idle, and where the next unnecessary purchase is about to happen.
Get the industry brief