Ellipsis

Observations and Random Thoughts on PLM

Wow! Blowing the dust off the 'ol keyboard here. Been a while since my last post huh? That's what 59,000 airline miles in three months will do to you. So what have I been up to you ask? If you're following me on Twitter then you know I've been jet setting around the world talking to customers that are clamoring to get their hands on Autodesk PLM 360. Since our announcement last year at Autodesk University the team has been in constant contact with companies interested in learning more, implementing, and using the product.

So just want to put that into perspective real quick... Customers up and running with PLM 360 in weeks! Contrast that to what has been determined to be an accepted standard with implementing on premise PLM. It's such a stark contrast that our competitors are trying to dismiss it - You can't possibly be up and running that quickly because it takes longer than that to setup and deploy one of their servers. So the general reaction is since they can't do it that quickly, it's either simply not possible, Autodesk is making this stuff up, or the fun one... It's toy PLM.

Ask them. Can you deploy your version of PLM and have Requirements Management, Project Management, Quality, Compliance, Supply Chain processes up and running according to your specifications and deploy it to any location around the globe in a month? Just ask them. I'm interested in what they say, do they go on the offense and start to lay BS claims that we aren't a robust solution, or that we can't possibly know the PLM space because we supposedly just realized the value of PLM? I love how one of them said that Autodesk couldn't possibly have a reasonable discussion regarding PLM. Really? Is that why your customers are calling us looking to understand why if our product can do what yours can, "then why the hell am I paying so much?"  What I'm hearing is that they are spending more time in a juvenile attempt to dismiss our product than they have been promoting the value of theirs. Is it just me?

On Tuesday Carl Bass talked about how disruptive technology is often dismissed. That's the attempt here in my mind anyway, but what I think they are most concerned about isn't our technology...  It’s what our technology enables – a completely unique business model compared to other PLM solutions. By its nature, PLM 360 can be setup, and rolled out to hundreds of locations without additional effort, you simply log in. The technology allows us to bring this product to market at a cost that can’t be touched with their solutions. The technology facilitates business process consulting where customers see results of their efforts within months if not days. It's the entire business model that is made possible via the cloud. Our competitions' technology cannot support this type of business model, and if they aren’t concerned… they should be.

How specifically does the technology enable this business model – in short, instantly available, zero infrastructure costs, no additional modules to buy, insanely configurable, process oriented rather than data model oriented, natively mobile, etc. These are the things that are motivation enough for people with on premise PLM solutions or not to pick up the mouse and visit our website and purchase PLM 360. Within minutes they receive their login information and at first login they are immediately presented with a tutorial on how to start configuring their instance of PLM 360. Oh and did I mention that it’s $75 / user / month?

Let’s talk about a couple examples. SMI Group implemented task management, project management, estimated vs. actual cost, employee performance, and work allocation in one month’s time. ElectronVault was searching for something like this for over two years and after 6 weeks they have implemented Project Management, EBOM, MBOM, and starting on their APQP project. Six Weeks!!!

Here's another thing that we would all do well to think about. PLM is not PDM. If you have a PLM solution today and all you are doing with it is CAD management, Engineering Change Management, and some engineering BOM stuff... dude... I'm sorry. We can do that with Vault. It's awesome to me how the others are doing benchmarks of their PLM solution with customers against Autodesk Vault. It’s like comparing AutoCAD to a parametric 3D modeler – not apples to apples son. So in comparing Vault to PLM what you are saying is that you don't really do PLM...? Is that how I'm to read that? Oh, but it costs what? 3, 4, thousand...oh, no not thousand - hundred thousand....no, not that either - million!!!? Why?

Yeah. Why?

-Rob

Opinions Wanted: Vote for the 'Inventor of 2011' Award

There comes a time during each year when we cast the winners forth in search of a champion among champions.  All of our 'Inventors of the Month' are winners in our eyes; however, only one may call themself Inventor of the Year.  Take a minute to familiarize yourself with our nominees by visiting the summary of monthly winners. 

It's up to you, fellow Inventor-ians, to make your edict known by casting your vote upon the chosen few.  Click the image below to make yourself heard!

Autodesk 360 Nexus. Everything Has Changed.

I've never seen anything like it. Yes, the technology is hot but what I'm talking about is the reactions we are getting from customers to the much ballyhooed PLM solution, Autodesk 360 Nexus. The speculation around what we were going to do was kind of fun to watch in I think most people that were talking about what we had up our sleeve just figured that we would put Autodesk Vault in the cloud and have it do a few more things than it does today.

Why? It's what we've come to expect from software solutions aimed at Product Lifecycle Management. Take a PDM tool and make it do more than just manage CAD files. Same interface, same client setup, same annual release, same this, same that, except it would be in the cloud. N.O.P.E. Not at all what we did and the result was like I was saying before, the customer reaction is unlike anything I have ever seen.

Let's be honest here, I've been peddling Inventor now for 12 years and we've had an uphill climb, and to the competitors credit they have done a decent job trying the play the "we've been around longer than they have" card, therefore ours must be better. But let me ask you a straight up question - is there anyone in this space that has been more innovative with new technology than Autodesk lately? Think about it for a minute.

Inventor Fusion brings direct manipulation capabilities for unrivaled ease of use, provides direct modeling for rapid design changes without limitations, and unites direct and parametric workflows within a single digital model created in Autodesk Inventor.

How about Project Falcon a wind tunnel simulation software designed to be used early in the conceptual design phase? It has seamless integration with Autodesk Alias software. It allows for interactive investigation of the aerodynamic performance of designs at any stage.

Or Project Scout a cloud based Autodesk Simulation Mechanical/Multiphysics. It's compatible with Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics 2012 and Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2012 software enabling you to get you simulation results faster via the power of the cloud, man!

Then there is AutoCAD WS, Inventor Publisher, Factory Design Suite, CFD, Form Editor, and more but hopefully by now you get my point. Autodesk is doing what it does best make great technology, make it affordable, and make it easy to use. That's exactly what we are doing with PLM.

During his announcement at Autodesk University Autodesk CEO Carl Bass said that while his now infamous Anti-PLM rap got a lot of attention, he still stands by what he said and that we (Autodesk) were not going to do PLM until we could do it right. But what is "right"? Allow me to detail... First and foremost I want to re-emphasise that it was never the idea of PLM that we felt was off, it was the way in which software solutions aimed at achieving the benefits of PLM were deployed, implemented, and configured to match the customers requirements.

During our research we heard over and over again common "non-starters" if you will for adoption of PLM tools. In no particular order they were:

• Non-Software Costs - the infastructure to support an enterprise rollout of PLM. Servers, storage, backups, updates, patches, deployments of all the above.

• Software Costs & Maintenance - no additional color required here...
• Time to ROI - 3-6 months of server, client, configuration, installation and deployments before most processes are up and running
• Process Change - this one is a HUGE issue with most companies and it has little to do with the technology, and more to do with personell. You've heard me rant about this in the past with my People, Process, Technology post.
• Systems Integration - when you have custom code connecting with custom code you need a custom solution to tie the two together, no? That's C³ or $³... However you want to look at it.

So, interesting stuff... Not nearly as interesting as the next tid-bit. Of those that we questioned that "had" PLM here's what they were doing with it:

1. CAD Management
2. Change Management
3. Engineering BOM

Since this is my blog... ehem, ehem. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! You spent how much on "PLM" to do what we can do with Autodsk Vault!!? "Well, Rob we spent hundreds of thousands (code: millions...) of dollars on our PLM implementation, and yes right now we are only checking in and out files at this point, some day we will implement the rest of it - it just takes a long time and even more money and yes, we could do what we are doing today with Vault but we would have had to spend a lot less money to do so therefore it couldn't be as good...." OMG my head is bleeding!

I don't understand it. Because we don't charge as much for our solutions they must not be as good...? Have you ever seen Vegas Vacation? Remember when the dealer, rather than spending all that time to take Clark's money at the blackjack table, offered to take Clark out back to... we'll just say beat him up - then take his money all the same? If you've seen that movie you are laughing, if not yes I'm as nuts as you are thinking right now.

So, back to the topic at hand - Autodesk 360 Nexus. Between Carl's anti-PLM rap, customer feedback, a load of research and development, and a broader adoption to the cloud we had plenty of motivation to "do it right." Here's what's going to happen next, I play a video because that's what I do. Then throughout the next couple of months you are going to hear from myself as well as my team on what we doing with our early adopters of Autodesk 360 Nexus.

A team you say....? Yep. Believe it or not, Autodesk management thought it was a good idea to let me build a global team of PLM experts that will be responsible for requirements gathering, compliance alignment, awareness, and overall kick assedness in the countries / regions in which they will reside. Look PLM is a big ol bear to get your hands around and how am I going to know what compliance requirements differ between the US and Germany without somebody on the ground workign those requirements into the product, right?

So, like I said you'll be hearing from those guys in the upcoming months. I've got two guys in the US, one in the UK, and one in Germany. I'm going to be growing the team in the future so if you know of anyone... [grin] Ok, roll film!

 

Want to be part of our early adopter program? Email me and the team at [email protected]. Let us know what type of processes you might be looking to manage with Nexus and what technologies you are using today to manage them and we would be glad to plug you into the program. The sooner the better though, the list is getting long...

Cheers,
-Rob 

 

New Autodesk OTJ with Federal Equipment Company

So class... What did you do this summer? As you may recall from my Twitter feed, I was out with Bob Williams and the Autodesk SIM Squad filming an OTJ with Federal Equipment Company. It was hot as all get out let me tell you but the work they do there is even hotter.

Federal Equipment Company was awarded the Advanced Weapons Elevator contract for the Department of Defense. Advanced Weapons Elevator? Imagine around 12,000 lbs of munition moving up and down an elevator that has no cables... Yes, I would call that advanced. 

What we found out during our visit I thought was quite remarkable. They had a fully approved design of the bones of the product if you will and were ready to go to production. Now to get fully approved for this design you had to pass a litany of test including a blast test. Yes, take your prototype and blow it up. Not cheap. So here they were - fully approved design that they wanted to improve. Did they build another one, delay production so that it could go through the same physical tests as the prototype? No. (Insert sound of record scratching here).

No, they used Autodesk Simulation to show the analysis results and compared the analysis results with the validated behavior of the physical prototype. Step 1 done - analysis results validated by physical test. They then simulated the new design - an aluminum extrusion instead of a weldment and the simulation results yielded improved performance. In showing both cases, they were able to get the improved design approved, saving over $200,000 in testing alone. M. O. N. E. Y. Hells Bells that's so money! Amazing story on the value of technology when used to solve a problem. Check out the episode, some really intersting stuff here: 

     

Now let me get up on this soap box for a minute. There we are, this is comfy... The following rant is rated R. You've been warned...

So much of this industry is wrapped around features, I swear my head is going to explode the next time somebody asks me about a center point rectangle for Inventor. This is why its so hard for companies to get funding for REAL improvements inside of engineering. I've said it a thousand times - its easy for the manufacturing guys to get funding for a new machining center, but for engineering to get funding for design tools its not as easy and here's why: Boss - Why do you want funding for a new engineering tool? Response: "Because this one does a center point, lofted, blended, surface, flat pattern rendering." Did you hear that? That was the sound of my head exploding.

Wrong! The proper response is something like this tool will allow me to analyze dozens of design alternatives to find not just "A" better design solution, but the best one of dozens of solutions ultimately saving thousands of dollars on physical prototypes. I don't care if you buy our stuff or not - that's the right approach to engineering improvement guys. Nobody that writes a check gives a damn about features! They want results, tangible returns on the investment and Federal Equipment Company is an excellent example of what is possible when you utilize the tools for the right reasons. They chose our tools taking into account the whole picture. Design tools that are easy to use, data management tools that are deeply integrated into the product, and analysis tools that solve the problems digitally before they start cutting steel.

Now, let me walk this back a bit because I know some of you that read my blog are twitching. When any of these solutions lack the required feature sets... yes, that creates a problem. How do I measure it? By the end results. I've met plenty of people that both love and loathe their respective CAD tool that's on the market. It's been my experience that when people loathe the product they are using, they are trying to make it work like the one they prefer. I promise you if you try to run Inventor the same way you ran Works, Pro, or any of the others - you aren't going to like the experience and vice versa.

That's some heavy dope there Marine. (points if you can guess the movie that's from, it's one of my favorite of all time) I'm out of breath... [grin] Stepping off the soap box now...

Watch the show, let me know if you'd be interested in either myself or the SIM Squad to come out for a visit, maybe bring a camera crew along and share your experience.

 

At what point does data become knowledge?

Interesting question. At what point does data become knowledge? Think for a minute about the number of ways that you gather data, the different formats, systems, log-ins, networks, emails, phone calls, meetings, etc... How many of you have a password protected spreadsheet for all your passwords? And for those of us social media junkies, how many of you are on Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, LinkedIn, Flicker, YouTube, Google+, Ning, and I'm sure I missed one or twelve.

I bet you could draw a direct analogy of the number of social media sites to the number of business systems most of you use today to access data. And it not like the data is collected because you have some sort of hoarder connection to it - we need it to make informed decisions, identify trends, fix problems, focus on what's selling...

Anyway, just a quick post today not really an overly insightful post, just something I was thinking about and hopefully fodder for a discussion. So what do you think - When does data become knowledge?

No hoarders were harmed during the creation of this post...
-Rob 

P.S. Had to add this from Twitter:

My response: 

 

The Keith Richards Grin

I picked up Keith Richards' new book recently while killing time in an airport.  One thing that stuck out is a passage about how Keith always has a grin on his face…like he knows something you don't.

I think that from now until AU I will perpetually have that same look on my face!

In my last post “What's Business Critical to You?” I commented on our Everything Changes website.  It clearly got a few of you talking about what we are working on.  Most of the speculation I’ve seen from others thus far is interesting – and in some cases humorous – although that’s only because I know some things you don’t.   

Now here is where my job (if I want to keep it) gets difficult.  I could lay down some blanket statement about "it's so much more or different than that", but don’t the companies in this industry do that all the time?   Besides, I could say how different things really will be, but haven’t we all been conditioned to expect the letdown?  I see it all the time…Same problem, same solution, with a different look, a new marketing spin, or hyping nothing more than a new name as if it’s a revolutionary shift in thinking.   Am I right?

A recent announcement from one of our peers in our Manufacturing market, while entertaining with its intro, was met with some level of excitement, but as expected ended with the inevitable let down. They claimed to have solved the 3D interoperability problem... between their *own* products. Great. As if customers are going to get overly excited about the CAD industry solving its own problems. Yeah!  Your own products work better... together... each word escaping your mind with the slowing pace of yet another let down.

Now I'm not going to say that Autodesk hasn't done the same at times. Hell, it's my job to be the loudest, most vocal pitchman in the industry, right?  And I'd like to think we've had some good times along the way. I mean who can forget my Allen Iverson video intro, or my Pulp Fiction tribute...?

This is exactly why I say my job is currently a little difficult.

A)    I’m bound by confidentiality not to say what we’re up to, and

B)    I can’t just say that what it is we’re up to will change everything without sounding like I and all the others have before. 

So, I won't even go there.

All I can really tell you is that after AU you will likely view Autodesk differently.  This isn’t about just providing customers with boxes of software, or pushing data files to some legacy toolset, but redeployed in some re-branded cloud.  That would certainly result in the kind of let down the others have conditioned you to expect.  This is about our commitment to providing customers with innovative, ground breaking solutions, designed to improve the way they work.  This is about delivering on promises others have made – but have failed to deliver.

Everything Changes 11.29.11. 

-Rob

 

What's Business Critical to You?

Last year at Autodesk University during the Manufacturing Keynote I talked a lot about the ways in which people view design and the design process. I used an example of a staircase and how an architect looks at an element of design through a different lens than that of a mechanical engineer who views it differently than say a machinist, fabricator and so on. This was really the motivation behind my web series On the Job with Autodesk. I wanted to share with you our technology at work and the impact it is having on our customers. Time and time again what I found is that Digital Prototyping is opening up an increased need for re-use and access to even more design related information, and the speed in which people can access that information is critical.

Kind of a shift really in what I tend to talk about - mainly creating a Digital Prototype with Inventor, I know... But let me think this one through for a second. I also talked at AU about how the evolution of technology is pretty repeatable. A technology evolves from impossible, to impractical, to expected, then becomes the status quo. I don't think 3D modeling is quite at the status quo state but it is certainly well into the expected. And as more and more customers move to information rich 3D models, connecting all of the information related to design is the burgeoning expectation of many customers.

So, back to the original question, what is business critical to you? The modeling or drafting tool you use I would argue is critical to your business. It's a tool that you use to capture and communicate design, and if you are in the business of making money and that revenue is in the form of a manufactured product... you get my point. So it's really cool to see is the benefits of Digital Prototyping that are beginning to show themselves more in areas outside of engineering that when I prompt our customers to reflect on the value of the data during my visits, you immediately get the sense of the critical nature of the information and how it is re-purposed throughout the organization.

That's where the business critical nature of Autodesk Vault really shows itself. When it comes to getting people access to the latest revision of design information, the digital release process, and managing change; they are connecting the design data with even more of the associated information relevant to the engineering and manufacturing processes. 

So what's the big shift then? What's the biggest difference that I'm seeing? Back to the looking at the design information through different lenses analogy... Access to even more of the information. That's what I'm seeing as one of the biggest differences and one that is becoming more and more critical to our customers business. Our customers need the right level of access to the right piece of information, right [insert favorite word of emphasis] now. Think about it, how do most of you get your news - Twitter feed, email alert? Now, how to you find out who's holding up approval on the latest ECR..? Remember this post from earlier in the year Why is Waste Acceptable?

See if this example sounds reasonable: Is this 3D model that I'm viewing a prototype or the production model that has been properly inspected to meet compliance requirements? Have the inspection processes been updated or changed in accordance with the latest standards? How many of those parts do we have on the shelf that went through the "old" inspection, and who do we have on staff that is even qualified to certify those parts before they ship? 

Example one of potentially endless examples of how all of the associated information related to design is business critical. So, let me ask you guys if you can share a few examples like the one above and the tool(s), workflows, conference calls, production meetings, and number of interns you use to address that type of need. 

Now, in classic teaser form we've launched a new website for you to take a look at. Yes, this is how we roll... [grin] Last year at AU we rolled out some of our latest and greatest technology and this year we are blowing the roof off the joint. On 11.29.11 Everything Changes. 

Why am I so short...? So, who's going to AU?
-Rob

Rob's Back from Sabbatical

Remember the "I Love You" virus? Yep I was the guy that opened that bad boy during my first month on the job at an Autodesk reseller. Heck of a way to introduce yourself to the company, but I was after all encouraged to open it by a more senior person standing behind me so it couldn't have been all my fault, right? Nevertheless a stupid new guy move. I feel that way today - after 6 weeks off I made a stupid new guy assumption, grabbed onto it and ran with an idea like I stole it... Turned out to be the wrong assumption. Only one person caught onto it before I went too far off in the wrong direction, but wow... rookie mistake by a veteran player.

Anyway... How's everyone doing? Economy is crappy but manufacturing seems to be up so that's good news I suppose. I had a mountain of email to delete err, I mean read [grin], but other than that this turned out to be a nice ease myself back into the working pool day so far. I went to lunch with my boss and he said that in the 3 years we've known each other he's never seen me so chill. Apparently I'm normally wound pretty tight but I guess that what 6 weeks off will do to a guy. 

So what did I do this summer you ask? Nothing. And it was glorious. Its crazy though because at about week three I was ready to get back to work, then yesterday at the end of sabbatical I decided that if I didn't work another day in my life I'd be ok with that. Turns out I have kids to feed and bills to pay so there goes that idea. I figured I'd put up a few pictures from the trip to share before I go off the deep end talking about product design, process management, PDM, and how we have and are working on some wicked awesome technology that will (in my opinion) change the industry as you know it... let's have a little last day of summer sharing shall we?

Here's the rig. All set to head out to Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

This was taken somewhere between Idaho and Glacier. I loved that you could drive for miles and not find a single powerline.

 

When my kids are asked "didn't your parents teach you not to play with fire?" I hope they respond with "a good poking stick is important to keeping a fire going".

If I eat another hamburger or hot dog the rest of the year it will be too soon.

Glacier National Park walking from our campsite to the visitors center. I highly recommend Glacier, hands down the best part of our trip.

I'll cut it off there because I think this picture really sums up my last 6 weeks. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by awesomeness and my kids who are equally as awesome, drinking a beer or two and fishing. Perfect.

Back to work I suppose...
Rob 

Showcase your Hammock

Let's Take a look at how another Product Design Suite Product can easily create stunning visualizations in minutes.

Watch this short video with audio to see how...

 

Here is the Hammock Showcase file to try.

Download Hammock 

-Mike

 

What's Rob doing on Sabbatical Part 2

After long debates, most of Rob's followers have pretty much ruled out rock climbing.

Rob spent a lot of time this year on his world travels so many suggestions came in...

This is what a large majority of people think Rob is doing...

 

Since we are talking about suites, stay tuned to see how some really cool technology that comes with suites can generate images like the previous one with very little effort.

-Mike