I have the great privilege of talking with many of our customers about their experiences with technology and our service options. During many of those conversations I hear customers talk about how challenging adopting technology has been for them. In fact, I hear the same few phrases over and over again. “It takes so much time to get spooled up.” “We don’t have time to learn new technology.” “It’s such a hassle to send everyone through training with new releases.” And, I’d bet that many of you have also said something along those lines.

Many organizations hesitate to update or change technology, especially CAD technology, because it can dramatically impact time to market and project capacity. It simply isn’t realistic to stop or slow production to allow for your CAD users to become familiar with a new tool.

I’m not surprised that this is a common thread among organizations. Many of our customers have told me stories about weeks of downtime and months of a brutal tug of war between man, computer, and the worst enemy of all — change.

But don’t worry; I’ve got some good news. Our customers who have upgraded from versions of Pro/ENGINEER to the new and improved Creo Parametric are seeing a major difference when it comes to adoption. Simply put, it’s easy and fast. I’m not talking about just a few customers who have experienced this — it’s all of them.

Dan Gage, Mechanical Engineer at JR Automation, said, “The transition to Creo Parametric 2.0 was much easier than moving from Wildfire 3.0 to 5.0. The interface is incredibly user friendly, the modeling portion is a lot more intuitive, and the ribbon interface makes it simple to navigate. Everything is right at your fingertips.” JR Automation was able to ramp up and get moving 50% faster than any other CAD release before it.

Imagine what that could mean for your business. It certainly makes the idea of adopting a new technology much, much brighter. So, if you haven’t done so already, try out Creo to see what our customers have been bragging about.

The saying “nobody is perfect” also applies to companies because no companies are perfect. Many organizations struggle with issues like getting their processes documented and their data management under control. Sometimes it is the members of the team that manage to hold it all together and enable substantial growth. However, this approach typically is neither scalable nor sustainable.

At EAC, we have a service called the Product Development System Assessment (PDSA). In short, the assessment helps identify areas within an organization that could improve — whether it be processes, data management, communication, or organizational change. We have helped companies across the country identify areas of their organizations that may not be reaching their full potential and provide them with a personalized roadmap for improvement.

One such company, Thermos (yes, Thermos — the company that made your really cool Spiderman lunchbox as a kid), has worked with EAC to identify areas where their organization could improve. “Hot Matters. Cold Matters. It Matters,” Thermos’s corporate mantra, not only identifies with their well-known product, but also refers to their high standards of quality, safety, living green, and giving back.

Over the last decade, Thermos has experienced tremendous growth. But as VP of Marketing Julie Ryan said, “We’ve got a great team and what we’ve been doing for the last 10 years has been working. But what’s making it work is the people — not the process.”

EAC was able provide a roadmap that included implementation of a project management system. This would allow Thermos to begin building a foundation that will support and sustain growth. Because let’s face it — Hot Matters. Cold Matters. It Matters.

At EAC, we’ve developed a framework that looks at product development as a system. We call this framework the Product Development Operating System — the PDOS. (Shown above.) To understand how the PDOS framework functions, you must first understand the elements of a competitive system.

The first element of a competitive system is information. Competitive systems have both generalized and specific information. Generalized information covers the full suite of potential strategies and tactics — a playbook. Specialized information is general information that is selected to appropriately address the specific competition — the game plan.

The second element in a competitive system is preparation. Like any sport, practice tends to be a primary contributing factor in who wins the game. In the system sense, behaviors used in competition are rehearsed to develop deeper skills. As learning occurs during practice, ideas, strategies, and tactics are then added to the playbook.

Naturally, the competition itself is the final piece in a competitive system. All skills and knowledge developed through the first two parts of the system are then applied during the competition.

Looking at the framework, you notice that the three components of a competitive system comprise the rows of the PDOS framework. The columns represent the three tiers of the organization. Each tier of the organization has responsibilities that impact the systematic operation of Product Development.

The PDOS thrives on the flow of information. Knowledge is the value medium of product development and information is what flows through the system. A knowledge base that includes Product Development specific information technology tools like PLM systems, design tools, and simulation tools serves as the foundation supporting the other layers of the PDOS.

The preparation layer is where the “important” work happens. This is a sanctuary for continuous improvement. This layer is a core part of the Japanese system. In Stephen Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he talks about the division of the urgent work and the important work. He notes avoid letting the urgent work overwhelm the important work because, if that happens, the important work never gets done.

The preparation layer is what is missing from the western approach to product development. We have made an orphan out of feedback, which is the learning element that is critical to continuous improvement.

In Product Development, the competition layer represents the “urgent” part of our charter, the execution of product development or projects.  Process thinking organizations see the upper right hand box as “Product Development”.  Organizations that shift to a Systems Thinking perspective of Product Development put themselves in a stronger competitive position.

Small and medium sized businesses may appear smaller and more nimble than their large corporate counterparts, but they have the same need to manage engineering, inventory and process changes. Their need for this change management is just on a smaller scale. SMBs should have access to the same high-tech solutions for Product Data Management (PDM), only scaled to meet the needs appropriate for their size.

PTC Windchill: for PDM Essentials

Engineering projects both large and small require up-to-date product versions. Design, production and quality control teams all require quick access to the correct and most current product information. And access to this change management process must also be controlled to prevent unauthorized changes.

Windchill PDM Essentials is an easy to deploy system that meets these goals. You do not need to spend countless hours configuring the software to meet your individual needs. Configuration and installation wizards allow for fast, easy setup with less cost to the company.

CAD with Creo

CAD data management is essential for effective product improvement. Teams need the ability to work together to share their ideas. CAD models are stored in a central location with revision control features. With the included ability to use a 3-D viewer and markup utilities, those without the CAD capability installed can still work with the same stored model designs and provide their input.

Small and medium businesses can especially benefit from the ability to reuse and re-engineer existing designs. This is how a smaller business can leverage its prior work and find ways to grow. Control over different design versions allows small teams to be nimble and avoid design mistakes that could lead to increased costs and lost time. This is why Windchill PDM comes with PTC Creo View Lite and it works with a variety of other CAD systems, including AutoCAD.

Office Documents and More

This same change management can also be applied to regular office documents with a check in and a check out function. Check out locking prevents other users from modifying documents while the work is in process with a different team. Check in releases the document to other approved users. The history of when changes were made, and who made the changes, is stored to track the most current versions and ensure the changes were authorized.

Database searching is simplified to reduce the time needed to locate designs and documents. The interface allows you to search with multiple terms, from product numbers to created-by dates and names.

Keeping it all Moving at the Right Pace

Data publishing can also be scheduled to allow for viewing and access of documents at exactly the right time. This is how product lifecycle functions control when teams have access to data. It ensures that parts for manufacturing are not ordered before the final design is approved. Keeping everything on the right schedule is key and this level of lifecycle control ensures that all the people in your organization (regardless of size) are kept in the loop and product development flows smoothly and quickly.

These are the ways that PTC Windchill with PDM Essentials gives small to medium businesses the data and change management solutions that meets their current needs with the ability to add solutions as the company grows. From EAC’s perspective, we see PDM Essentials as an excellent base foundation that can be modified to meet your unique business needs – large or small. Please contact us so that we can tailor a solution that fits your business and your budget.

In the last 6 or so months, I have had the honor and privilege of interviewing some of our customers. At EAC, we are dedicated to continuous improvement and one way we gain perspective of where we stand is by capturing voice of customer metrics and case studies. It not only validates how we operate, but it also gives us an opportunity to share our customer’s successes with other companies that might be facing similar challenges. These customers are real, industry leaders who are PTC software users and cheerleaders for EAC. I hope you can relate to our customer’s stories and enjoy reading how they worked through their business challenges and objectives with the help of EAC and PTC.

For today’s voice of customer bit, I’d like to highlight FSG Design (Pennsylvania). They produce innovative solutions for a variety of industries, including: robotics, military, automotive, and medical.  Because of the strict tolerances within these industries, FSG’s projects require a CAD tool that is powerful, adaptive, and has the capability to create pristine surfaces.

CEO & Principle Frank Glogowski has found that using Creo Parametric 2.0 along side the Interactive Surface Design Extension (ISDX) has increased his overall productivity by a whopping 25%. Glogowski also said that ISDX meets 98% of the surfacing needs for his organization.

Glogowski has also used other tools like ICEM-Surf, which is for highly complex surface modeling geared toward the automotive industry. My favorite quote from the interview came from his experience. “There is a direct connection with the ICEM-Surf data and ISDX data and I am able to work bi-directional which is really nice. Once one surface is set in, I can take care of all engineering with Creo and the ISDX Module.”

In the grand scale of company size, FSG Design is considered a Small Business. It is worth pointing out that world-class tools are not out of reach for smaller companies. FSG was looking for a way to adopt and upgrade to great software while keeping the budget in check.

If you’ve got comments about how ISDX is working for you, or have questions, get the conversation started below.

The process of capturing, documenting, and agreeing on requirements for product change or development takes on an entirely different scope for companies engaged in Engineered to Order (ETO) businesses. While these requirements are generated internally for Make to Stock (MTS), Assemble to Order (ATO) and Configure to Order (CTO) product lines the ETO business relies on external sources. While everyone is familiar with the formal Request for Quote (RFQ) process, very few engagements will adhere to this. More likely, is a process of starts and stops requiring many man-weeks, months and years. The ability to efficiently; quote, process, develop and ultimately deliver an ETO solution is dependent on the enterprise’s ability to capture just enough information at the project’s inception to describe the product criteria, but not overly constrain the design team. Many a post-mortem analysis has revealed very small or non-existent margins from “specials”. By attending to the requirements at the project’s inception and ensuring that those requirements are of sufficient depth and breadth to quote and create specifications, scope creep can be prevented and margins preserved.

A requirement is a capability which the product or project needs to incorporate. For standard products, these are developed over time by internal teams during the ideation phase of product development.  The design and associated intellectual property are then developed as the project moves from ideation to fulfillment.  While this may describe the development of Intellectual Property (IP) for an ETO business, a different front-end is followed for ETO solution delivery.  As soon as the opportunity is identified by the sales team data (requirements) capture begins.  At an advanced maturity state, this data will be entered into the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application with the correct associativity and visibility to the downstream (application engineering, procurement, etc) functions.  More often than not the customer contact data and a subset of the original notes will be entered. Another set of data is now stored in notebooks from phone calls and meetings. As more people become involved during the wooing and quoting phase more set of notes are created and NOT captured or associated formally to the opportunity.  Eventually, a quote is generated for the solution and delivered to the potential customer.  It is at this point where the troubles can really begin.  As the quote is iterated the data behind the iterations and the associated cost implications do not have as stringent review as the originals. When the project is finally won the margin has usually been eroded significantly from the original intent even before development starts.  During the quote iterations, technical oversight of the requirements is minimal.  This causes the potential solution being quoted to deviate from a variant of a previous design to the requirement to develop entirely new designs.  The effect is that the time estimates for the original design are now terribly inaccurate and the project won have been underbid.  If aware, most companies will choose to “eat” some of this as development time.  The problem is that most companies are not aware of this and schedule resources around original project estimates instead of the last iteration of the quote.  Now the pressure on the development team is substantial, to meet the new product deliverables at the same time allotted for the original quote.

To combat this, rules and guidelines governing the boundaries for the solution need to be put in place. These guidelines can be as simple as size and complexity constraints or for often quoted, complex designs, configurators can be employed to accurately capture application data.  At the very minimum templates for customer data need to be developed and used to accurately capture the customer’s data. The templates need to be established with clear boundaries so that the correct oversight is employed as the quote is developed.   As important, is maintaining the data as the quote is iterated.  All data needs to be readily available to the enterprise for use during all phases of the project as well as reference material for similar projects.  Associating the original customer data to the quote and any subsequent design files will enable the organization to comprehend the effects changes will have on the overall project.  This data associativity and transparency will help to maintain the intended margin and ensure the project stays on track.