Chuck, that story sounds all too familiar. Theory vs practice, abstract vs concrete. It's apparently easy for some people who are not on the user end of things to not believe in actual experience of actual users. What's funny is, we are all end-users, and we are all consumers, so one might think that would be obvious.
I would think that time and value also play a big part. People have very crammed schedules, so the time it takes service to weigh in, and the time it takes design to listen to a new audience are likely large factors. To carve out that time, the value of the communication would have to be clear.
In order for PLM to work properly, you must address 3 items: 1) technology issues that prevent access to the right information at the right time; 2) processes that prevent information from being shared properly, and 3) people that buy into the whole process. If any one of these are lacking, PLM will not work as intended.
Many companies think new technology will magiacally fix their broken processes, and that people will somehow adopt it. It jest don't work that-a way. We are seeing more and more capabilities like those from PTC making it easy to connect Service, but the other aspects must be addressed before we see measurable results on the bottom line! IMHO
There's a great story about the cultural issues that prevent feedback from the field from reaching design: A few years ago, I talked with a consultant who tried to to tell an automaker that their car's doors were leaking when it rained. Customers also tried to tell the automaker the same thing. The automaker wouldn't listen, though, because all of their measurements told them they were making perfect doors. In their culture, a door was perfect if the measurements said so, not if the someone claimed their doors were leaking. Turned out their doors really were leaking.
Rob, I think it's multiple issues. Certainly corporate culture is one of them. But communications and the ease or lack of it, has got to be another. This should help solve that part, which may, in turn, help change the culture.
I agree, Ann, it's been a long time coming. It will be interesting to see of PLM software helps facilitate this communication. I've always thought it was a company's cultural issues that prevented feedback from the field to reach design. Perhaps PLM tools can help change that culture.
It's good to see that service is getting included in the PLM loop. All you have to do to see the importance of this is to read the Design News Made by Monkeys stories. If the service function were included in the design PLM process, a good number of design flaws could be fixed quickly instead of continuing for years.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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