Summer time is usually good for vacation. I’m taking this week off with family traveling from Boston to Quebec and Montreal. I’m sharing with readers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ some of the road pictures. Take a look on few occasional shots I made on my way from Boston to Quebec with a short stop in Maine.
Road To Canada via Maine, Rt. 201
Evening view from Vieux-Quebec
Vieux-Quebec evening
Now let’s move to traditional monthly PLM Think Tank Top 5 for July.
Blog post about future of Autodesk PLM was top ranked in July. People want to have a better way to manage their data and processes. According to Autodesk, most of PLM implementations today are about data management. Existing PLM vendors are doing mostly data management. Autodesk is doing an excellent job in data management using Autodesk Vault. So, the goal to fix processes and workflow sounds like a reasonable one. Autodesk is getting a huge advantage to research all available PLM implementations. The second-mover opportunity is on the Autodesk side. However, Autodesk will have to come with something radically different to prove their approach is better. Last, but not least – processes are tightly connected to the data in organizations. Autodesk will have to implement an efficient access to product and company data from the cloud to successfully deploy their new cloud-based process management software. Here is a challenge and a potential danger in process-oriented cloud strategy.
PDM, Part Numbers and the Future of Identification
The discussion about Part Numbering and Identification was hot. I found Numbering topics are always drive a lot of discussion. There is no silver bullet that can solve the problem of Part Numbers and data identification in manufacturing companies tomorrow. Data related problems cannot be solved overnight. At the same time, application of new technologies that were developed on the web for the last 10-15 years can provide a step by step plan to solve the current “data disaster”.
My Experience with Dassault V6 PLM Cloud on Amazon
Dassault innovation on the cloud drives a lot of interest. I’ve shared my experiments mostly with n!Fuze App. Dassault Systems is definitely pioneering in the development of PLM applications on the cloud. They are probably the first mindshare PLM vendors potentially making cloud available for a mainstream. The idea is cool – you subscribe, pay money or make a trial subscription and… magic happens. The overall impression I’ve got – it is something new. There are lots of small missing pieces, which are probably normal in the first release. In my view, time is now the most critical aspect for Dassault engineers – the idea is cool, but the details are what important in Web 2.0 environment.
The Future of CAD without files?
The topic of future of file-less CAD systems is important, in my view. I think innovation will come in this space soon. I think the computing and information paradigms are shifting from file-oriented to data (and web) oriented. The initial signs are here. The speed of this movement is questionable. Manufacturing is slow changing environment and engineers are very reluctant to changes.
PDM vs. PLM: Implementation Gaps
The topic made by Fisher/Unitec blog raised main questions and active discussion. I can clearly see the gap between an organizational need to have a robust and scalable system to support product development (let’s call it PLM to be consistent with industry terminology) and maturing of PLM and PDM implementation. For me, bottom up approach makes more sense. People are trying to stay away from complexity these days. The next generation of PDM/PLM will need to take it as an axiom for a future success.
Best, Oleg
