I’m attending COFES 2017 these days in Scottsdale, AZ. If you’re interested in engineering software – CAD, CAE, CAM, PDM, PLM, EDA, this is a place to come and spend time discussing variety of topics. Financial reports, business trends, future technologies, customer stories. COFES is a great place to learn. COFES 2017 program is here. Below some of my notes, I wanted to share.
Cambashi’s Peter Thorn presented a market view of engineering software and forecast. The chart below is excluding EDA tools.
Business Advantages research presented survey and results of the research related to cloud CAD and related cloud engineering software. The following slides can give you an idea. Onshape is #2 is an impressive result for Jon Hirschtick’s team and an indication of the growth Onshape made for the last few years.
Better collaboration, low cost and easy access to data are top 3 perceived key benefits. But cloud is still misunderstood significantly by many people. And 33% respondent mentioned “none” in their answer. This is reminder to all vendors to be more clear about values and differentiations.
COFES Keynote #1 title was simple – “Complexity”.Dr. Melanie Mitchell (https://twitter.com/MelMitchell1) introduced us to organized complexity, systems w a moderate num of variables that interact nonlinearly. The topic is fascinating and I will follow up it in my future articles after reading books and online materials. Few slides, examples and books you might be interested to follow up.
Jm Brown, President of Tech-Clarity research introduced us to #COFOPLM (KoFoPulum). It was a great blend of humor and serious conversation about future of PLM trajectories. The outcome is a bit messy as you can see on the picture below (including magical red digital twin dog).
COFES is 18 years old. It long enough time to make a change. Brad Holtz announced COFES Institute. Brad Holtz introduced the news and new non-profit organization structure yesterday. You can read more about it in the following press release.
According to Brad Holtz, president and CEO of Cyon Research Corporation, Cyon Research has donated COFES to the COFES Institute so that the Institute may serve the COFES community for the next generation. “I have been looking for a way to ensure the future success of COFES as I transition into activities that are taking my focus beyond the sole scope of COFES. “With the formation of the COFES Institute, that search is over,” explained Holtz. “I have great confidence in the Board of Directors of the Institute, and I will continue to provide assistance and guidance to the Board of Directors. They, with the support of the COFES Advisory Board, will be able to serve the COFES community much better than I would be able to. Please join me in supporting this transition.”
What is my conclusion? COFES is one of the best places in CAD industry to meet and connect with industry leaders. COFES always inspired and helped me think outside the box. COFES created a one-of-a-kind event which has created its own history, culture, and community driven by Brad Holtz and the COFES team. If you developing engineering software, it is a place to come (at least once) to connect with the community and learn. You will be surprised by the value. Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
Want to learn more about PLM? Check out my new PLM Book website.
Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of openBoM developing cloud based bill of materials and inventory management tool for manufacturing companies, hardware startups and supply chain. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.
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