No one wants to buy PLM…Part 8 of an infinite series

 

 

I am a PLM sales person…and the title of this blog entry may imply that I am whining about my job. While I am not immune to the occasional emotional episode / mild tantrum, the title of this blog entry has a purpose. I assure you that this purpose has nothing to do with my emotional state.

Companies that contact InFlow are generally not looking to buy a PLM solution. Rather, they are looking to solve complex issues in their organization. Often times, the connection between the issue and the definition of PLM is somewhat cloudy. Therefore, my goal in this series is to discuss some of these challenges that InFlow has addressed with PLM and some of the measurable success that our customers have achieved.

"In Search of a Prius That Runs on Cooking Oil..."

If you root around the CAD websites these days, everyone seems to be looking to add a check to the "green" box.  SolidWorks, for example, recently rolled out "Sustainability Express" in all licenses of SolidWorks. This video highlights some functionality of the SolidWorks Sustainability Suite.

As the child of a Beatnik (just a bit too old to be a hippy), I find it very satisfying to find companies that are trying to do the right thing for the environment.  I am proud to say that we recently took part in just such a project.

My customer produces complex equipment used to power our world.  They recently developed a product that was widely accepted by their customers as an essential component of the Smart Grid and, simply put, sold as soon as they could build them.  And therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub...

This company had sufficient floor space and enough business to triple their manufacturing capacity.  However, this piece of machinery is extremely complex and can only be built by a small number of qualified individuals.  Our customer needs to train its users without sacrificing the time of these valuable, qualified shop floor individuals. 

Recently, this company chose to implement 3DVia as a solution to this issue.  The solution will allow CAD data to be used as a starting point for interactive assembly instructions. These instructions will be delivered to shop floor with a Bill of Material (BOM) and data that describes each part.  Moreover, these instructions will be automatically updated when the BOM/geometry/description changes to alleviate confusion.

The expected outcome of this project is to build more than three times as many units, and increase revenue by 3x on the chosen product line.  If successful, the solution can be scaled up to include any product that they have designed in 3D CAD.

Ken Kesey once said "You're either on the bus or off the bus."  Working together, we are simply building a bigger, more pimped out version of the bus that will house more workers, create lower emissions and decrease our carbon foot print.  And what a long, strange trip it's going to be...

 

I am a PLM sales person…and the title of this blog entry may imply that I am whining about my job. While I am not immune to the occasional emotional episode / mild tantrum, the title of this blog entry has a purpose. I assure you that this purpose has nothing to do with my emotional state.

Companies that contact InFlow are generally not looking to buy a PLM solution. Rather, they are looking to solve complex issues in their organization. Often times, the connection between the issue and the definition of PLM is somewhat cloudy. Therefore, my goal in this series is to discuss some of these challenges that InFlow has addressed with PLM and some of the measurable success that our customers have achieved.

"In Search of a Prius That Runs on Cooking Oil..."

If you root around the CAD websites these days, everyone seems to be looking to add a check to the "green" box.  SolidWorks, for example, recently rolled out "Sustainability Express" in all licenses of SolidWorks. This video highlights some functionality of the SolidWorks Sustainability Suite.

As the child of a Beatnik (just a bit too old to be a hippy), I find it very satisfying to find companies that are trying to do the right thing for the environment.  I am proud to say that we recently took part in just such a project.

My customer produces complex equipment used to power our world.  They recently developed a product that was widely accepted by their customers as an essential component of the Smart Grid and, simply put, sold as soon as they could build them.  And therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub...

This company had sufficient floor space and enough business to triple their manufacturing capacity.  However, this piece of machinery is extremely complex and can only be built by a small number of qualified individuals.  Our customer needs to train its users without sacrificing the time of these valuable, qualified shop floor individuals. 

Recently, this company chose to implement 3DVia as a solution to this issue.  The solution will allow CAD data to be used as a starting point for interactive assembly instructions. These instructions will be delivered to shop floor with a Bill of Material (BOM) and data that describes each part.  Moreover, these instructions will be automatically updated when the BOM/geometry/description changes to alleviate confusion.

The expected outcome of this project is to build more than three times as many units, and increase revenue by 3x on the chosen product line.  If successful, the solution can be scaled up to include any product that they have designed in 3D CAD.

Ken Kesey once said "You're either on the bus or off the bus."  Working together, we are simply building a bigger, more pimped out version of the bus that will house more workers, create lower emissions and decrease our carbon foot print.  And what a long, strange trip it's going to be...

Simply put...this is really cool

Having sold CAD and PLM for a number of years, I have seen some cool products.  I have been on the shop floor where they built high tech weaponry, service trucks, and components so small that you had to look at them under a microscope.  It is tough to impress me.

Having said that, this video blew me away, and I simply wanted to share it with our community.  It comes from the website of a company called SSI in Oregon, and the site contains plenty of additional cool content for engineering-minded people like us.  Consider it an early Hanukkah present.

Dassault Assures the Future of Enovia SmarTeam V5

Last week, Dassault announced that they have outsourced the development of Enovia SmarTeam to a group of PLM experts called artizone.  The new company is led by Alex Zeltcer, former CEO of the SmarTeam Brand at Dassault.  Essentially, Zeltcer has hired the majority of the former development team in Israel and will provide support and software updates for both current and new SmarTeam customers.

'What is with the name?' you may be asking.  I asked the same thing.  We have a lot in common..artizone, we are told, means a "zone for artisans."  If you were are not overly impressed with this explanation, join the club (this coming from a guy that works for "InFlow").  At least it doesn't end with "ia" (see Catia, Simulia, Enovia, Delmia, 3D Via, etc).

Having spoken to Dassault last week, I took away one key message:  artizone is a development shop.  They are there to continue development and to enhance the SmarTeam V5 platform.  We are told that nothing will change from a customer perspective...support will remain available through InFlow, and InFlow will provide support requests to an experienced team with whom we have worked for a number of years.

This announcement was extremely well received by our staff.  While we have heard great things about the Enovia V6 platform, the roadmap that will take our customers from V5 to V6 (which is based on the MatrixOne platform) is not yet released.  artizone will assure our current SmarTeam customers that the platform that they rely on to manage their product development data and processes is safe for the foreseeable future.

Do You Ship Products to the European Union?

 

Recently, we have had a number of customers inquire about solutions to help them comply with environmental regulations.  While many of these regulations have been in place for quite a few years, the enforcement of these regulations is becoming a reality.  Thus, companies have to prepare themselves in order to continue exporting their products, especially to the European Union.

This survey is simply intended to understand the value of such solutions in CATI's customer base. Please take a few minutes to let us know if compliance with these regulations is important to your business.

<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PpL8Lr3bCTBYb20TRvWADQ_3d_3d">Click Here to take survey</a>

Recently, we have had a number of customers inquire about solutions to help them comply with environmental regulations.  While many of these regulations have been in place for quite a few years, the enforcement of these regulations is becoming a reality.  Thus, companies have to prepare themselves in order to continue exporting their products, especially to the European Union.

This survey is simply intended to understand the value of such solutions in CATI's customer base. Please take a few minutes to let us know if compliance with these regulations is important to your business.

<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PpL8Lr3bCTBYb20TRvWADQ_3d_3d">Click Here to take survey</a>

Rename SQL server

There are those rare times when you have a need to rename your server that is running SLQ server on it.

You may now know that once you change your server name.. that connecting to the SQL portion won't work particulairly from remote clients.

I have found a couple of pretty simple SQL commands that can help assist in this.

From Query window.. I typically set it to "Master".. run the following commands.

 

To return current name - 

     SELECT @@SERVERNAME AS 'Server Name' 

To return the old name -

    SELECT sys.servers AS 'Server Name'

To do the actual renaming -

    sp_dropserver "INFLOW-AEPGUOJH"

    GO

    sp_addserver "INFLOW-R19-1", local

    GO

***Restart SQL services

For more information please check out

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143799(SQL.90).aspx

By Scott Evans - InFlow Technologies - www.inflow-tech.com

SW Custom Properties API

I thought I would share a few code snippets relating to the reading and saving of SW custom properties using the API.

This is not something you can easily do a macro "recording" of.. as it is handled through a pop up window so it is not really captured in the recorded macro.

'To set up the environment.. you need to connect to the Part object and get the configuration name.

Set swapp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")

Set Part = swapp.ActiveDoc

sConfigName = Part.GetActiveConfiguration.Name

'Leave the sConfigName variable blank if you was to set the properties just of the part and not config specific

 

‘To read custom property info

txtDocNumber.Text = Part.GetCustomInfoValue(sConfigName, "PW_Number")

txtDesc1.Text = Part.GetCustomInfoValue(sConfigName, "PW_Description1")

'Deleting Custom Properties

retval = Part.DeleteCustomInfo2(sConfigName, "PW_Number")

retval = Part.DeleteCustomInfo2(sConfigName, "PW_Description1")

'Adding custom properties and summary info

retval = Part.AddCustomInfo3(sConfigName, "PW_Number", swCustomInfoText, UCase(txtDocNumber.Text))

retval = Part.AddCustomInfo3(sConfigName, "PW_Description1", swCustomInfoText, UCase(txtDesc1.Text))

Part.SummaryInfo(swSumInfoTitle) = txtDocNumber.Text

 

 

 

You might need to add in some API constants as well..

    

        Public Enum swCustomInfoType_e

        swCustomInfoUnknown = 0

        swCustomInfoText = 30   '  VT_LPSTR

        swCustomInfoDate = 64   '  VT_FILETIME

        swCustomInfoNumber = 3  '  VT_I4

        swCustomInfoYesOrNo = 11        '  VT_BOOL

        End Enum

 

Hope this gets you started.

 By Scott Evans - InFlow Technologies - www.inflow-tech.com

 

No one wants to buy PLM…Part 7 of an infinite series

 

I am a PLM sales person…and the title of this blog entry may imply that I am whining about my job. While I am not immune to the occasional emotional episode / mild tantrum, the title of this blog entry has a purpose. I assure you that this purpose has nothing to do with my emotional state.

Companies that contact InFlow are generally not looking to buy a PLM solution. Rather, they are looking to solve complex issues in their organization. Often times, the connection between the issue and the definition of PLM is somewhat cloudy. Therefore, my goal in this series is to discuss some of these challenges that InFlow has addressed with PLM and some of the measurable success that our customers have achieved.

"Can we attribute this to Yogi Berra and call it a day?"

I read an article last year that discussed the application of lean principles to the product development process.  In the article, the author called for rigorous standardization in order to create strategic flexibility.

If any of you have ever seen me present PLM solutions to your company, you may have heard me remark that I am not a smart man.  Reading the author’s statement further confirmed this sentiment.

As I read the sentence, then wrote it on a scratch pad seven times like an engaged 20-something with a new married last name, reality became very clear:  I needed to speak to an engineer.  His first response, a tribute to the former Yankee catcher:  “If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer.”

On a serious note, my smarter cohort set me straight:  The author was referring to the creation of strict design standards in order to predictably alter existing designs and the process by which these designs are priced, ordered, and manufactured.

If you are a CAD guy, you may believe that you can accomplish this with configurations, such as those created in SolidWorks.  If you are on the operations side of the business, you may believe that a Knowledge-Based Engineering solution linked to your ERP and PLM systems may provide this capability.  If you are in a position of power to buy one of these solutions, please contact me at eric.gold@cati.com.

 

One of our customers recently implemented an interesting combination of solutions:  The customer chose a key aspect of their design which is a part of every project but varies in every instance.  For the sake of anonymity, let’s say the customer manufacturers hydraulic cylinders and they are constantly re-designing brackets.

Up until recently, the customer found itself re-designing brackets for every new project.  The engineer would then have to search their ERP system for brackets that they had previously built that were close to the newly designed bracket, then alter the design or create manufacturing instructions for the new design.

With the implementation of DriveWorks’ design automation solution, the engineering leader has created a series of master brackets and has written the rules for all feasible configurations for new brackets.  By offering these designs through a simple-to-use interface, a non-CAD user can specify design standards and allow DriveWorks to access SolidWorks to create all associated models and drawings.  The benefit:  Out customer has cut bracket design time by 70% and reduced overall product development cycles by 5%.

The moral of this story is that that the answer isn’t always clear…more employees, more hours, more sales people, it doesn’t always translate in to more efficiency.  Sometimes, it takes a creative, fresh approach to solve complex issues and improve on operational efficiencies.  As Yogi so graciously one said: “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Social networking sites connecting vendors and customers

"It seems that you can't turn a corner these days without hearing something about social media or Web 2.0. Recently, vendors and channel partners alike have been catching on to this trend, with large vendors such as Cisco and Oracle implementing social networking sites to communicate with their channel partners."

 

"Social media is changing the way vendors communicate with partners and the way partners communicate with customers. Partners have always been innovative in finding new ways to communicate with customers, according to Jim Moffat, a U.K.-based sales channels consultant to IT and telecom vendors. Social media is just the next step"

"Social networking also provides more opportunities for reaching small business partners and customers in a way that is more scalable than traditional information flow methods, according to Mark Sochan, CEO of Partnerpedia, a social networking portal for channel partners."

What are your thoughts?  Does this offer you advantages in working with your VARs?

 

For full article... see

http://searchnetworkingchannel.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid100_gci1361308,00.html

 

Best Regards,

 

Eric H. Gold

 

Check out this great review of the Objet Alaris30 3D Printer!

Anthony Lockwood of Desktop Engineering reviewed the Alaris30 and here's what he had to say: http://www.deskeng.com/articles/aaamkx.htm

Cultural Change - How some people view change

Just some fun stuff... Enjoy!