PLM, Google Knowledge Graph and Future Decision Support

Do you remember live without Google? It was only 15 years ago. You should agree, information was less available back that days. Fast forward – good news! Google made a change to its Web search system. ReadWrite Web article says – Now You Can Ask Google Search To Compare, Filter And Play. Another article from TheNextWeb – Google unveils search updates for mobile, new Page Rank algorithm, and Knowledge Graph comparisons.

You probably recall my post from last year – Why PLM need to learn about Google Knowledge Graph? That was the first publication about GKG and it wasn’t clear what use Google will give to Google Knowledge Graph. Now you can see some examples – type in your browser “wine vs beer” or “eiffel tower vs empire state building” and you can expect some meaningful results about objects.

I specially liked Eiffel vs. Empire state building example. It can give you a perspective of where data exploration and search can go. People are not interested in search results.

People are looking for meaningful information. In that context, GKG is the right way to go – it accumulates knowledge and can provide it in a consumable way.

So, how it related to PLM data you may ask? Here my hunch. People are not interested how to find assemblies and parts any more. The decision driven by data is getting more and more focus. The complexity of design decision is skyrocketing. Engineers are facing it every day. Engineers will need to get decision support. Try to type Vishay – DF10M-E3/45 vs. Vishay MB6S-E3/80. Don’t expect Google to help you. These are special types of rectifiers. Google doesn’t know what is Miniature Glass Passivated Single-Phase Bridge Rectifier. Maybe in few years? There are other systems that can produce better results like this (below). However, we still have long way to go.

What is my conclusion? I find it more difficult to locate correct product information in the environment with growing complexity. Engineers are looking how to make right decisions. In most of the cases, they are making these decisions based on their past experience rather than using right information. This is a place where we should expect some changes in the future. We just in the beginning. Product data should be collected, analyzed and presented in the way that helps engineers to make a right decision. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg