I read Jim Brown’s Can Siemens Make More Fun with HD-PLM? Jim is writing about the future of PLM experience. I made me think about User Experience (or User Interface) efficiency for engineers and potentially other users in the organization.
3D Navigation Trend
I think, comprehensive 3D Navigation is definitely a trend that PLM vendors developed for the last couple of years. The two most significant products for me that created this trend are DS 3DLive and Siemens HD3D (or HD PLM – still need to figure out the difference). Take a look on the following two video fragments.
Dassault Systems 3DLive
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0-Y3yzNQZQ]
Siemens PLM HD3D
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99YohI1cSFE&]
User Experience and Efficiency
Both 3D Live and HD3D user interfaces made me think about engineer’s work efficiency. One of the most significant value propositions of such user experience is the ability to bring contextual information linked to the graphical (or 3D, if you will) representation of product. I believe, the main driver behind this user experience is the need to improve the engineer’s efficiency when they work in a complex design environment.
What is my conclusion? I think, PLM vendors are trying to innovate in the space of user experience and to improve efficiency of engineering work with such a type of environments. In the end, it is all about how to keep an engineer’s focus in a single UI and bring all relevant information in the context of this user interface. The underlying work is impressive. I didn’t find the answer to the question how such type of software is going to be implemented on a customer site. Both 3DLive and HD3D provide some access to the information outside of design space. To make hand-wiring behind these UIs will be not a simple task, in my view. Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
