Category

PLM

May 31
Decalcomanie (Rene Magritte, 1996)

IoT is PLM

By Internet of Things (IoT), PLM One Comment

Is IoT The New PLM?

At the recent LiveWorx technology conference, PTC’s CEO Jim Heppelmann stated “IoT is PLM.” An observation some of us, and, I believe, Mr. Heppelmann himself, have made before. This notion is more profound than some may realize.

Despite the capital ‘L’ of PLM, many product companies do not actually exercise product lifecycle management. Many PLM software systems are reduced to PDM and engineering change management.  In his comments to industry analysts, Mr. Heppelmann observed: “Nobody, not even PTC, is doing product lifecycle management. You build a car, the car leaved the factory and you never hear about it again.”

Connected products offer visibility and insight that most organizations never had before. Read More

Oct 04
Narcissus (Carravagio, C. 1597-99)

Innovation and the Inherent Bias of Technology

By Innovation, Internet of Things (IoT), IT Strategy, Manufacturing 2 Comments

The Imherent Bias of Technology

“Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral” declared Melvin Kranzberg.

Indeed, not only is technology un-neutral, it has an intrinsic bias. In the process of defining and implementing software to perform certain tasks and solve particular problems, the designers make many assumptions and decisions—most of which are irreversible—about the intended tasks, workflows, work environment, and user profiles. Unintentionally, the marketers and designers of software tools introduce a bias.

Douglas Allchin maintains that in itself this inherent bias does not pose a problem, but it does dictate how the technology is being used, and who can and cannot use it. Consequently, the innate bias influences the ability of the organization to realize the full value of the technology.

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Aug 15
If You Build It They Will come

If You Build It (Using Machine Learning) Will They Come?

By Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Design Reuse, PLM One Comment

Autodesk Claims Machine Learning Technology Will Transform 3D Engineering

Autodesk announced recently the availability of a shape-based search capability in A360. A blog article titled How Machine Learning Will Transform 3D Engineering describes the new capability, called Design Graph, as a “Google search-like functionality for the world of 3D models.”

Google search functionality is probably the wrong metaphor for 3D search. Web search is fundamentally text based, whereas searching for a part or a design requires a combination of textual and geometric terms and attributes, and sufficiently deep domain semantics. In fact, the blog article makes the very same argument later, describing Design Graph’s purpose to “identify and understand designs based on their inherent characteristics—their shape and structure—rather than by any labeling (tags) or metadata” (i.e. not Google-like).
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Aug 11
London City Farmhouse

PLM Redefined: PLM-ALM Integration

By PLM No Comments

In the first article in this three-part series, Why Do Software Bugs Continue to Plague Products?, I described how the proliferation of complex control software in most modern industrial, commercial and personal products are challenging product companies, and the expectation that engineering issues and quality snags will not only persist, but, in fact, are likely to increase.

A follow up article, Agile vs. Corporate Culture, discusses Agile software development methodologies and explains the organizational processes and cultural barriers that impede the adoption and reduce the efficacy of Agile practices.
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