Tag Archives: paperless manufacturing

It’s All About Your Niche, Do You WANT to Leave There?

9 Apr

Back to reading my original blog muse, Oleg Shilovitsky.  In a recent blog (“Ugly vs. Cool”) he took PLM vendors to task re: their product user interface.  It got me thinking:

What do my previous company, CIMx Software, and my current company, Vinimaya, have in common?

Although there are many differences, and many other reasons for their success, both software companies are, in part, successful because of the failings of another industry’s functionality and user interface.

Ask any PLM vendor and they will say that they support manufacturing.  Truth be told, they have products designed and built for the design engineer and management of design projects.  The user interface is designed by engineers and for engineers.   The schemas and taxonomies of the PLM system do not support the workings of the manufacturing shop, and the user interface is way too complex for the casual user.  In the case of CIMx  Software, there have been numerous attempts by the engineering organizations at CIMx customers to ‘standard ize’ on the PLM environment for manufacturing and shop floor.  At one particulart customer, there were close to 1/2 dozen ‘pilots’ of the PLM system in manufacturing engineering.  They all failed to provide what CIMx had out of the box.

The same can be said for ERP ‘eProc’ applications and Vinimaya.  If ERP vendors provided simple federated search across all of their internal and external suppliers with a user interface like Google or Amazon, there would be no need for SmartSearch™.   That’s not the case.  eProc systems tend to have the same laborious click-heavy, multi-screen UI issues as most ERP and PLM functions.

Why is this so?  It boils down to two elements, legacy and domain expertise.

1) Legacy.  One of my favorite quotes about the software industry is “God created the universe in six days because he didn’t have an installed base”.  It is extremely difficult for established vendors in a particular space (ERP, PLM) to completely re-write their large monolithic systems.  They can certainly apply a web ‘veneer’ and update icons and other visual elements, but it’s the same old code underneath.

2) Domain Expertise.  I recall the amazement in the voice of a colleague in the MES space when he had to explain to their PLM partner the  concept of a work order.  You may know the technology behind and engineering bill of materials backwards and forwards, but that does not mean your expertise has any value down on the shop floor.

So, where do you want to live, Mr. ERP vendor?  Mr. PLM vendor?  The more you decide to venture outside of your area of core competence, the more you will have to be concerned about functionality and UI, and the less likely you will be able to compete with the likes of CIMx and Vinimaya.

- RTR

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Is Your Head In The Cloud(s)?

6 Mar

It’s great to see some level-headed discussion on ‘THE CLOUD’.

Oleg Shilovitsky blogged today about “PLM Competition 2010s and Anti-cloud PLM rap?”.  On the one hand, his blog speaks of AutoDesk’s entry into the Cloud PLM space with AutoDesk PLM 360, and the market dynamics that could change if this product gets legs in the marketplace.

He balances that with comments from a blog by Peter Schroer, President and Founder of Aras Corporation, entitled “The Cloud Won’t Cure What Ails You”.  Here’s a direct quote from Peter’s blog:

The cloud is not a magic elixir. It’s not going to re-engineer your business, optimize your strategy or help you lose 10 lbs (unless you’re carrying a server).  All the cloud is going to do is move your data or apps from down the hall or down the street, to someplace else that you probably won’t ever put your finger on. That’s it folks.

Thank you, Peter.  As I stated in my last blog,  there is no easy answer, no free lunch.  If your process is broken, or you have no process, putting it ‘in the cloud’ is not going to solve anything.

First, understand your current process,

Second, design the ‘should-be’ process,

Third, choose a best-in-class tool that can easily automate this desired process and will grow with you as your business changes,

THEN, determine whether it belongs on the cloud or not.

Learn more here

- RTR

 

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If It’s All About Process, Why Focus On Features?

22 Feb

The following was tweeted from the PLM Conference at the Westin in Munich this morning by Gabriel Gheorghiu:

“Marc Halpern (Gartner) some of the best #PLM implementations done without PLM software. Processes matter most #plm2012“

If this is true, and I believe it is, then why on God’s green earth do companies still go through the same drill, asking for a feature list, looking at features, providing RFIs/RFPs that talk about features (example: 314 features in an RFP that we answered last year).

What do features matter?  It’s ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS.  It doesn’t matter how shiny it is, whether or not it’s on the cloud, what technology platform it runs on.  Here’s all that matters:

Do you have a reliable, efficient process?

Does this software make that process better?

’nuff said

- RTR

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Standardization – What’s YOUR job Mr. Software Vendor?

21 Feb

There is a discussion going on over at LinkedIn  about whether or not a single MES system can be used across multiple plants.  The topic of standardization is a hot one.   Individual plants (and individuals) believe that they are ‘different’, that one size does not fit all.  We all believe that we are unique, that no one does exactly what we do.  In the case of manufacturing, there is some truth to that.  Efforts to ‘standardize’ manufacturing have the tendency to stifle creativity.  They also tend toward creeping bureaucracy.

Uniqueness is not always a good thing.  As someone once told me “Do it once, it might be a mistake, do it twice it’s a habit, three times it’s a tradition”.    There are a lot of traditions out there in manufacturing that would lend themselves to retirement.  If the rationale for a process is “But we’ve always done it this way”, then maybe you have to dig a bit deeper.

So what is the software vendor’s job in all of this?  Standardization?  Uniqueness?

In a timeless blog from 2009, David Meerman Scott provided the “Top Gobbledygook phrases used in 2008 and how to avoid them”.  Our friend ‘Unique’ checks in at #3 on the list of most overused phrases in B2B press releases, right after #2 “Pleased To” and #1 “Innovate”….

… but we have all bases covered with #14 Flexible and #18 Scalability!

So, now that we are all pleased to uniquely innovate, what are we really saying here?

The point of my title is that how a software product is designed and implemented goes a long way in balancing the business need for standardization in the face of  the users desire for ”uniqueness’.  Hey, if it was easy, ANYONE could do it!

The key for software vendors is standardization that fosters uniqueness.  What does that mean?  If you’re too unique, you may miss your target.  If you’re approach is ‘forced’ standardization, you aren’t allowing your customers to use their uniqueness to their advantage.

Being unique is a good thing, otherwise we wouldn’t make such a big deal about it in our B2B press releases!  A BETTER thing is to foster the uniqueness that the end-user requires in a structured framework that the business requires.  Give them what they want, make it simple, hide the rules and complexity.  Now THAT’S innovation!  (Sorry, couldn’t resist…)

more here…

- RTR

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They’re Doing It Without You!

14 Feb

I owe this inspiration to SAP’s Paul Boris.

There is a long-running dialog on the LinkedIn Manufacturing Execution Systems Group, started by Luigi De Bernardini , entitled “Does any ERP need an MES?”  It’s been up for about two weeks.

BTW: Paul’s answer was

“That question is really like asking do you really need a heart AND lungs ?”

… but that’s not the the inspiration.  The inspiration came from his opening paragraph, which was both humorous and insightful, and I told Paul I would steal it:

“I believe everyone who manufactures anything has an MES – it might be a specific Manufacturing Execution System, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets or even Many Employees Scurrying around (sorry) – but they have something.”

After laughing out loud, I realized this really brought home something that is key to all software vendors selling in the Manufacturing Space.

Nobody is sitting around waiting for your application, Sparky!

They have stuff to make.  They have to order material, build stuff, cut chips, deal with the day-to-day issues that manufacturers face.  They are lean.  They have no time.  Covey Quandrant 2 activities?  Not so much.

When they finally DO have time to look at your shiny new application, be careful to look at their body language, facial expressions.  What are they telling you, once you are actually paying attention to them?

“… it looks impressive, but how long will my shop be down in order to make this work?  I don’t have ANY time,  so where am I going to find implementation time?  PLEASE don’t tell me I have to ‘re-do’ my old work in your system.”

Why do these shiny new applications fail to generate excitement in the plant manager’s heart?  Because they don’t take into account that the work is being done now without them.

You have two choices:

1) Build a compelling case for why the shop should be disrupted for months (if you can)

2) Build an application that can be implemented without disrupting production

Learn more about option 2  here

- RTR

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Thoughts on Customer Loyalty

7 Feb

My older brother John once work on a mega-project while he was with the consulting/training wing of Digital Equipment Corp up in Merrimack, NH.  The customer, who shall remain nameless, was, in a word, difficult.  At one point, in an internal meeting at DEC, the exasperated Project Manager said,”Can we fire the customer?”

In our own business, our customer base runs the gamut.   We have companies that have not upgraded our software for years, and are quite happy, thank you very much, to be running their Oracle 8 implementation well past the Oracle ‘end-of-support’ date.  Others want to know, in detail, what are our plans for Oracle 12g, Windows8 and IE9.

In our history, we have become widely known as a company that provides exemplary service, even when the customer is many releases back.  Certainly, we can’t do everything for the laggers, any more than we can jump to the latest and greatest at a moments notice for the bleeding edge crowd.

At some point in time, pushing an old product forward into newer technology becomes a losing battle.  At some point in time, every vendor needs to get on to the next big thing.   What do you do about your exisitng customer base, the folks that ‘got you there’?  I believe every vendor has faced this dilemma.  We have, and are comfortable with our support of existing product and growth into new technologies.  However….

Here’s a hypothetical situation:

You have an installed customer base that has used your product for many years.  You have continued to enhance that product, but are moving to a new technology base and a new offering.

They have reaped the rewards of your software many times over (if they weren’t seeing value, they would have dumped you long ago).   Their ROI may have been achieved in 18 months, they have used your product for 5-10 years.  Like an old car, you don’t “owe them” anything…

At this point in time, what value do THEY provide YOU compared to YOUR annual investment in THEM?  Is their instance of your software so old that you find yourself handling an inordinate number of support calls?  Do you have to keep relatively obsolete hardware and software inventory to support them?

Should you fire those customers?

I welcome your comments….

- RTR

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3D PDF – Nice to Have or Need to Have?

3 Feb

I ran across this post on the LinkedIn 3Dpdf group site.  Jesper Libak, the author is asking a valid question, what is the market for 3D PDF files?

I believe that he has already found the market, presenting 3D information to departments/customers that are evaluating design proposals.  While Dave Opsahl commented on this much more eloquently than I will.  I will still soldier on and offer my opinion from the manufacturing perspective.

A good friend of mine was one of the first people I knew that purchased an iPhone.  He was so excited, he just had to show me the coin flip app.  I showed the proper amount of enthusiasm, but I couldn’t help but think, “Really?  Flip a coin?”

I think the question is not nice to have vs. need to have as much as:

“Does it have a value proposition?”

A customer of ours came up with the idea of presenting their complex product to the shop floor as a rendered 3D CAD image.   They envisioned that there would eventually be no need to have manufacturing engineers creating complex work instructions, they could just supplied 3D models directly from the CAD system, and the shop people could ‘interrogate’ the model.  Their excitement was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response…  Why?  Two reasons:

1) The actual product “doesn’t look like that”

2) We don’t want to take the time to learn/operate a computer to spin, pan, zoom, measure.  We are paid to make parts.

In other words, they didn’t see value.

The answer they settled on was digital photographs in PowerPoint work instructions.   The actual instructions were clear, concise and the operators didn’t have to do any additional (non-value added) work to use them.

Now, would I use 3D PDF to demonstrate work instruction display in CIMx Interax?  I have and I will.  Why?  Because it’s really cool, it’s the kind of advanced technology that people want to see.  I felt the same way about streaming video of machine setups and assembly procedures on the shop floor.  It excites people!  It excites ME! 

However…  In the cold light of day, most companies won’t be able to justify the added cost and complexity.  What they care about is, the efficiency, cost and quality of the manufacturing process.  The spinning 3D image sells, but for the most part, it isn’t used outside of the engineering building.  Maybe someday, not today.

- RTR

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Commenting On The Adventures Of Process Man

31 Jan

I read a HIGHLY entertaining blog today from Stephen Porter (Zero Wait-State PLM) “Forgotten Hero-Process Man“

In this blog, Stephen describes how Batman had a distinct disadvantage to other ‘super friends’ as he had no super powers, only gadgets.  He morphs that conversation into the ‘forgotten’ superhero “Process Man” who is vital to the success of any project implementation. 

We have a long-time customer that has used our legacy product for over 15 years.  A number of years ago, they acted as an internal reference for another site.  The manager of this site asked “What would you do differently if you put CIMx in today?”.  Our customer answered [paraphrasing],

“I wouldn’t have treated it as a replacement for our old system.  That mindset really limited our use of their technology.”

I remember at the time thinking how profound a statement this was.  We had always prided ourselves in being customer centric.  In fact, our slogan when we started CIMx in 1996 was “customer driven solutions”.  Is just doing what the customer asks enough? 

By the way, this same customer, after funding an enhancement to our product that we had cautioned against, said in frustration:

“How could you let us talk you into that?”

Sounds like a job for….  PROCESS MAN!!!

Over time, we learned that the most important part of the ‘sale’ is the assessment.  It’s not about the tools, it’s about the process.  As I learned in Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage training. 

“Millions of twist drills are sold every year, but people are buying the ability to make holes.”

So let’s hear it for Process Man!  Process Man truly is the unsung hero. If you don’t understand the current and future process, you are missing the benefit of the technology you are investing in.

Companies that choose to merely automate their current process are doomed to make crap faster.

- RTR

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Comments on Expensive Documentation and Cheap Textbooks

23 Jan
Oleg Shilovitsky has started an interesting blog topic on his ’Beyond PLM’ site .  The topic is how Apple and the iPad are changing the dynamics in the publishing industry, and how this might affect the PLM market.

This is a fascinating topic.  We were speaking to a small company that makes custom, complex wire harnesses in both the Medical Device and Aerospace industries.  Their shop floor vision is that, rather than punching a time clock, their shop work force would ‘check out’ an iPad from a rack, and proceed to the work area.  Using CIMx Interax, they would have a ‘work order website’ that they could access that would provide them all required and reference information that they desire.

That’s half of the paperless manufacturing equation; there is so much in the area of documentation that is relevant to the shop floor that is already in electronic format.  The key is making it readily available. 

The other half of paperless manufacturing is data collection and procedural control.  Again, the key is simplicity and flexibility.  Allow enough freedom to get the  job done, with enough control to be sure it’s done right.

We’ve actually been doing this in one form or another since 1997.  We’ve just been waiting for the hardware to catch up.

- RTR

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Reality-Based Software

23 Jan

The ongoing discussion started by Jim Brown (Tech Clarity) re: “A Maturity Model for Product Data Accessibility?” at the PLM CAD CAM Network group in LinkedIn continues to be thoughtful and insightful.  Jim responded recently with this quote regarding ‘sloppy data’

For the record, I wasn’t suggested that individuals should be sloppy – the pursuit of accuracy and order are important.  But instead saying that we live in environments that tend towards chaos no matter how hard we try, and we need to keep doing the job that customers pay for (designing and producing great products) in that reality.

YES!!!!

It is so common in our industry to assume we know best.  I hear software people talking about “educating the customer”.  Not so fast, Sparky.  I maintain we have MUCH more to learn FROM our customers and prospects than we can ever teach them.  Do we have something to offer?   You bet….  but don’t prescribe before you diagnose.

In the paperless manufacturing space, this “know it all” behavior is rampant.  We can improve your bottom line, provide new efficiencies that you never thought possible, make your key traceability and quality data accessible electronically.

All you have to do is… change everything!  Those MS word work instructions?  Sorry, you have to re-enter them in OUR environment, so they’ll be ‘useful’.  No, we don’t have a converter, but cut and paste should work for those 10,000 docs, right?  Those ERP routings?  Everyone knows that the ERP routings are incomplete, we’ll just take over that task as well.   Oh, by the way?  for this to work MOST efficiently, we need to own the BOM as well..

Is it any wonder that most companies (especially in the small to medium business space) look at paperless manufacturing with a sense of dread?  If they had the time to turn their organization upside down, they wouldn’t need the help!  At the end of the day, they need to produce product.  Everything else STARTS in 2nd place.  I imagine re-keying in existing information is well down the list.

The approach that needs to be taken by software vendors is what I am referring to in the blog title: 

Reality-based Software.   

Paraphrasing Jim Brown, software vendors need to do the job that customers pay for in the customer’s reality not the vendor’s reality.  Learn more here…

-RTR

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