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PTC News

New Technologies Ushering in the Maker Movement

August 12, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

by Barb Schmitz, Senior Editor

Over the past several years, there’s been a confluence of new technologies that have given birth to a trend referred to as the “maker” movement, or the democratization of design. Members of this movement, the so-called “makers,” are people who can conceive, design and build products, with a healthy assist from advances in both software and hardware.

The act of “making”—the next generation of inventing and do-it-yourself—is creeping into everyday discourse, with the emerging maker movement. As maker communities spring up around the globe, a plethora of physical and virtual platforms to serve them have emerged—from platforms that inspire and teach, to those that provide access to tools and mentorship, to those that connect individuals with seed capital and potential customers.

What’s a maker?
So what exactly is a maker? It appears there are multiple definitions. Some define a maker as a person who enjoys tinkering with technology and wants to design something for fun or personal use, but not for profit. There are several consumer-level, low-cost design software tools and hardware aimed specifically at capturing the imaginations of these makers.

The second group of makers is made of those who perhaps start out as tinkerers or hobbyists, but conceive of an idea that they think is worthy of commercializing. This group might also include small groups of people—some who might work in design-related fields in their day jobs—that come together with the specific purpose of creating a new product for commercialization.

Once these promising new products cross the threshold into commercialization, the game changes and these makers require higher-end tools. Diego Tamburini, Manufacturing Industry Strategist at Autodesk, said, “The moment you start selling your product to the public, you have to be much more careful about what you design, you have to simulate it more, because you are immediately liable for your products. As a result, you need more professional-grade tools.”

Tools of the Trade
Let’s take a look at some of the key enabling technologies that are making it possible for this new generation of makers to take their ideas and turn them into real products, and what role these tools are playing in the democratization of design.

The Internet
There are many significant, life-altering trends being fueled by the Internet. Forums, social networks, email lists, and video publishing sites, such as YouTube, allow these “makers” to form communities and ask questions, collaborate, solicit feedback, and reach out to potential customers. E-commerce distribution services, such as Etsy, and crowdsourcing sites, such as Quirky, are all helping makers commercialize their creations.

Aros-smart-air-conditioner
Aros is a smart air conditioner that learns from your budget, location, schedule, and usage to automatically maintain the perfect temperature and maximize savings for your home.
garthen-leslie
Aros was invented by Garthen
Leslie and developed by crowdsourcing site Quirky’s online community and partners at GE.

Seed capital from crowdfunding sites, such as Kickstarter.com and Indiegogo.com, provide the needed economic resources to get projects off the ground. In addition to funding, these sites enable would-be inventors to assess the commercial viability of new products long before they reach the market. “For the makers, crowdfunding is especially important,” said Tamburini. “It not only helps people get funded but provides a very powerful marketing research tool because people are voting with their pledges, so if you get a Kickstarter campaign that is very successful, it’s basically telling you that if you develop this product, you’re going to sell it.”

The Cloud
In addition to the infinite computing and data storage resources offered by cloud computing, the cloud also gives software vendors a way to deliver professional-grade tools at much lower entry price points, putting these tools for the first time into the hands of non-professional users.

While hobbyists certainly aren’t going to be picking up simulation tools and conducting FEA analyses on their products anytime soon, it does open up the possibility for more casual users to experiment with design software.

Several CAD vendors are offering their CAD tools on a monthly subscription basis, ideal for small startups and individuals who might just need them on a short-term basis or those who want to try them out without committing to an annual license.

mojo-desktop-3d-printer
The Mojo low-cost desktop 3D printer prints professional-quality models in nine colors using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Technology

3D printing
While design software has enabled products to be conceived and designed in digital form for several decades, bringing those designs into the physical world has presented a serious roadblock for smaller startups and individuals. 3D printing has removed that barrier and enabled these makers to quickly create prototypes of their ideas so they can take that next step towards commercialization.

The costs of the printers and associated materials have dropped significantly in recent years, putting 3D printers within the grasp of nearly every home-based inventor today. Home Depot just recently announced that it would start selling MakerBots at some of its stores in July. Marketed for home use, these 3D printers can be used for fast, inexpensive production of replacement parts, prototypes, art projects, or many other items.

Tom Mueller, design engineer at PDX Effects by day and design hobbyist by night, foresees a future in which 3D home printers are commonplace. “The house of the future has a central computer, but also has a central 3D printer cataloged with all the 3D files that make up the home environment,” said Mueller.  “Along with these files, there will be a custom 3D file directory where the members of the house have added purchased or custom-made 3D files. 3D printing is the second most important innovation following the home computer introduction in the 80s. Today anybody, any age, can be an inventor.”

T-Wheeler-by-Tommy-Mueller
This fully rendered model of the T-Wheeler Sportbike was created by design engineer and hobbyist Tom Mueller using Solidworks software. The model can be found in GrabCAD’s free project library.

Open-source hardware
Open-source hardware is electronic or computer hardware built from design information that could be copyrighted or licensed but has instead been made available for public use at no charge. This could include documentation, schematic diagrams, parts lists, and entire project libraries. No longer considered cheating, this information enables people to reuse other’s work as a basis for a new product.

Autodesk’s Tamburini believes that the new mentality brought on by the availability of open-source hardware will foster more creative design. “This new mentality and the ability to use open-source hardware enables a lot of innovation because it’s freeing people from having to develop the same thing over and over and over again,” said Tamburini.

GrabCAD is one of the early pioneers of the Open Engineering movement. The GrabCAD community helps users accelerate design by tapping into the knowledge and resources of the site’s enormous library of free CAD models. One of the GrabCAD community members, Tom Mueller, creates CAD models using Solidworks software, and many of his designs, including the T-Wheel Sportbike, are included in the company’s project library.

“The maker movement has a strong software flavor to it, using online platforms to generate ideas or find help in a way that professionals have historically been reluctant to do,” says Rob Stevens, vice president of Marketing and Business Development at GrabCAD. “The success of these efforts is making companies realize that they need to look at these more ‘open’ platforms, and that there are ways to be ‘open’ without giving up all your intellectual property.”

More flexible design tools
Traditional CAD software that employs a parametric approach to design offers a powerfully automated way to design products, but requires significant expertise to be proficient. New breeds of design software that use a direct modeling approach offer a more intuitive and flexible way to design products. SpaceClaim was the first to introduce direct modeling technology but other vendors, such as Siemens PLM Software and PTC, are now offering direct modelers.

To meet the needs of the expanding pool of designers, PTC has retooled its product portfolio, breaking it up into different apps, based on the level of expertise and task at hand. “PTC Creo offers users a variety of ways to capture their new design ideas,” said Brian Thompson, vice president of PTC Creo Product Management, “whether you prefer hand sketching, building organic, freeform 3D shapes, designing in 2D, or building new designs using direct modeling tools.”

PTC-creosuite
PTC’s Creo suite of apps enable designers to use multiple ways to model designs, from hand sketching, building organic, freeform 3D shapes, designing in 2D, or building new designs using direct modeling tools.

Autodesk is making its Fusion 360 software free for non-commercial use, with the goal of attracting the hobbyist who might eventually become a professional user. The software, available for a monthly subscription price to all other users, also uses direct modeling so it’s flexible and easier to learn and use.

Factory in the Cloud
Also referred to as fabrication services or manufacturing as a service (MaaS), this important enabling technology is still in its infancy but is one to watch in the future because it will provide a much-needed link between design and manufacturing for the maker community.

Just as online sites, such as Shapeways.com, enable people to send their designs to be 3D printed, these services will provide designers with a link to more traditional fabrication services. These services tap a network of reputable manufacturing centers that they have worked with in the past and vetted, sort of an Angie’s List for manufacturing.

“For the entrepreneur or the maker population, they don’t have the knowledge to deal with manufacturing, sourcing, inventory management, supply chain, and all that stuff,” said Tamburini. “It’s overwhelming for them. They just have an idea and they want to be able to mass produce it.”

Looking into the future
With startups and individuals now better able to compete with larger, more traditional manufacturers, thanks to all of these new technologies, the manufacturing game is going to be played by new rules. “The incumbents—or the traditional manufacturers—are going to be impacted,” says Tamburini. “Innovation is no longer an option for them with all these new players popping up left and right. They have to innovate. It’s no longer an option.”

Mueller believes that technologies, such as 3D printing, and open engineering resources, such as GrabCAD, are going to continue to inspire more people to design. “I’m 38 years old and each year that I use 3D, I become more of a visionary, and this is a direct result of the 3D printing advantage,” said Mueller. “The maker community can now actualize ideas using resources like GrabCAD or by learning the skills necessary to 3D model themselves. The traditional means of fabrication using several pieces of machinery and personnel is phasing out as 3D printing quickly gains momentum.”

These new technologies are also evening out the playing field for new companies and startups to compete with larger, more established companies. Groups of very smart people are forming small startups that are appearing out of nowhere and creating truly disruptive products. It is no longer a requirement to be a big established company to find success in the market, as economies of scale have been forever disrupted.

The future calls for companies to design new products and services with the help of the people who will ultimately benefit from them. “If you’re a traditional manufacturer, you have to learn how to play with teams outside of your walls,” said Tamburini. “You have to consider crowdsourcing, involving customers, and involving certain players that might seem transient.”

One of the biggest winners in this new era of democratized design will be the consumer who will benefit from more choices and greater personalization. “For consumers, it’s a win-win. There’s going to be more choices and more personalization because it’s more cost-effective for smaller entrepreneurs to address the long tail of demand,” said Tamburini. “And, consumers can invest and support the products they want by directly supporting the projects in crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo.”

Reprint info >>

Autodesk
www.autodesk.com

GrabCAD
www.grabcad.com

PTC
www.ptc.com

Siemens PLM Software
www.siemens.com

Shapeways
www.shapeways.com

Stratasys
www.stratasys.com

Quirky
www.quirky.com

Kickstarter
www.kickstarter.com

Indiegogo
www.indiegogo.com

Filed Under: Autodesk News, CAD Industry News, Company News, News, PTC News, Siemens PLM & Events

ETRAGE Announces PTC Windchill-SharePoint Integration App

June 18, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

ETRAGE, a systems integration and design process automation company, announced at PTC Live Global that it’s releasing Windchill EasySearch app for PTC Windchill PDMLink for CAD files and documents.

A little background on ETRAGE: The company has been building solutions for PTC customers that help automate viewable file creation and management, integrate PTC Windchill with ERP, MRP, CRM & SharePoint systems and clean and migrate data for PTC Windchill.

ETRAGE PTC Windchill EasySearch provides a fast and optimized way of delivering the desired design data to customers, suppliers, purchasers, speeding the information flow through engineering, manufacturing and service.
ETRAGE PTC Windchill EasySearch provides a fast and optimized way of delivering the desired design data to customers, suppliers, purchasers, speeding the information flow through engineering, manufacturing and service.

Windchill EasySearch application for PTC Windchill PDMLink for CAD files and documents

• Offers a customizable Windchill search mechanism providing various options by: name, number, context, and object type, from a text file list. These search fields can be easily enabled or disabled on the User Interface by a company administrator.

• Through search results, users can list the files, gain access to the representation files, secondary content files such as PDF, DXF, STEP or IGES, open files in Creo, open files in CreoView, download files to a Workspace and use other Windchill operations.

• Windchill EasySearch allows fast and simple access to representation files and secondary content files from a standard Windchill search result page or object list in the Windchill folder through the Action Menu or a right mouse button click.

ETRAGE SmartPDF

• Provides users with the ability to get the note text as an annotation each time a user hovers their mouse over the note symbol in the PDF.

• The solution also provides the functionality of selecting section view call-out symbols and automatically changes the view of the drawing to the sheet and location of the related section view.

• SmartPDF is an add-on to the ETRAGE Plot Service for PTC Windchill, which improves your viewing experience of the created PDF by adding Annotations and Zone References.

WXML Universal Integrator for PTC Windchill

• WXML automatically exports Bills-of-Material (BOM) metadata and viewable files from PTC Windchill PDMLink in structured XML and PDF format files to a Windows folder for transfer to the ERP application. The BOMs and PDFs are then read into ERP. WXML also automatically reads structured XML files from a Windows folder in which ERP provides requests for data extraction from Windchill. Besides BOM and PDFs, WXML also supports Change Requests transfers between Windchill and ERP.

• WXML is targeted at those companies that look for an easy to deploy, out-of-the-box solution to integrate Windchill with ERP. Typically, companies already have in house ERP IT resources to export and import data to and from the ERP application. ETRAGE provides an affordable option to companies to integrate their ERP systems with Windchill.

• ETRAGE’s Universal Windchill Integrator provides, real-time updates of BOMs and change requests into ERP, streamlines data flow between the engineering, manufacturing and purchasing departments, eliminates manual data entry or processes of large sets of data and insures that manufacturing and purchasing has access to the most up-to-date engineering data and drawings inside the ERP system.

ETRAGE Drawing Notes Search application for PTC Creo Parametric and PTC Windchill PDMLink

• The Drawing Notes Search application provides companies with a simple, yet powerful method for managing notes that are on PTC Creo drawings and stored in Windchill PDMLink.

• The Application provides an automatic method for capturing notes from Creo drawings and storing them in a database. Once in the database, notes content can be accessed with a Web-based interface by searching and selecting on a drawing name or number, note character string or drawing parameter or attribute. Notes can be sorted, filtered and reviewed. Drawings can be opened for editing from links in the application. Note lists can be exported to Excel or CSV formats.

For more information on ETAGE, click here.

Barb Schmitz

Filed Under: News, PLM/PDM, PTC News, PTC/CoCreate Blogs Tagged With: data management, file management, Windchill

ETRAGE Demonstrates a Better Way to Share Files with SubContractors

June 10, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

ETRAGE LLC, a systems integration software company, will be presenting a solution that will make it easier for companies to provide access to 2D and 3D design files for their subcontractors at this year’s PTC’s Live Global Conference in Boston, June 15-17.

The presentation will describe the process of how ETRAGE customer COM DEV Ltd. now provides immediate access for its sub-contractors to 2D PDF and 3D STEP and ACIS files of design drawings and models. Options investigated include an on-demand call to the COM DEV FTP site, a customized FTP portal and the final solution of using Windchill directly through the ETRAGE Plot Service for PTC Windchill-PSW.

ENTRGE will present how to provide immediate access for sub-contractors to 2D PDF and 3D STEP and ACIS files of design drawings and models at this year's PTC Live Global Conference.
ENTRGE will present how to provide immediate access to its sub-contractors to 2D PDF and 3D STEP and ACIS files of design drawings and models at this year’s PTC Live Global Conference.

Eugene Stewart, senior Windchill administrator at COM DEV, explains how the solution was implemented. “Now vendors and customers are allowed into the COM DEV Windchill system for direct access to our latest designs. The On-Demand operating mode of PSW allows them to pull the files in a number of common formats to suit their many needs. In addition, COM DEV realizes a 40-day annual savings of a designers’ time.”

Bojan Rapaic, founder and president of ETRAGE LLC comments, “COM DEV is one of many of our clients seeing this type of a return on investment. Teams are required to be much more efficient today and ‘teams’ extend to sub-contractors. We see significant benefit to providing subcontractors with direct access to approved files.”

In addition, ETRAGE will have demonstrations of the PTC Windchill – ERP integration solutions, SharePoint Integration product, ETRAGE Bulk Loader, ETRAGE Quality Server, ETRAGE Smart PDF, ETRAGE Drawing Notes Search, ETRAGE Model Clean-up Utilities and ETRAGE Viewer.

If you’re in Boston for the PTC event, be sure and stop by the ENTRAGE booth (#506) to get a hands-on demo and to discuss your company’s specific needs.

Barb Schmitz

Filed Under: News, PLM/PDM, PTC News, PTC/CoCreate Blogs Tagged With: cad, file sharing, Windchill

Behavioral Changes Needed to Switch from History-based to Direct Modeling

February 21, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

Participants in yesterday’s “The Pros and Cons of History-based and Direct Modeling Paradigms” webinar heard from three leading experts on the strengths and weaknesses of both modeling approaches as well as where each modeling approach shines throughout the product development process. We learned that both tools are useful though some are better suited for particular applications as well as for use in specific phases of the product development process.

CAD-Webinar-image

While I won’t even attempt to summarize the hour+ webinar, one of the questions during the Q&A at the end revealed some interesting insights on behavioral changes needed by users to effectively switch from the more traditional history-based 3D modeling techniques to direct modeling. Here are some of the responses to this question from our panelists:

Chad Jackson, principal analyst for Lifecycle Insights

“The one change in behavior that has to happen is with history-based approaches, people have to be so careful in how they build up their model so that it can be reused that it can take longer than really required. Or you have people who don’t care and build these really unstable models. Direct modeling tools can make for lazier modeling, and I mean that in a good way. You don’t get paid to build the perfect feature-based 3D model, you get paid to create a great design, document it and pass it on. In that regard, direct modeling can support that approach.”

Dan Staples, vice president, Solid Edge Product Development, Siemens PLM Software

“I think that you need to be open. We often see is that people are either successful or fail at adopting direct modeling tools based on the openness of their mind. If they are so tied into history-based modeling that they can’t open their mind, they are typically not successful. Whereas those that say, ‘This looks interesting. I’m going to try it and going to fail–at least for the first week because it’s so different—-but I’m going to persist.’ You also have to be willing to change your thought process, which is uncomfortable.

For example, when you create a sketch and its extruded and the faces are all there, you really don’t need the sketch anymore but it’s hard to let go of it. It’s kind of like when you first learn to ice skate, you don’t want to let go. Sooner or later, you can let go, because you don’t need the sketch to make changes.”

Brian Thompson, vice president of Creo Product Management, PTC.

“If you’re at a company that has traditionally built its products using a history-based approach, it’s useful to think about adopting direct modeling from the standpoint of a couple of key use cases, certain types of parts that you’ve had trouble with the history-based models. Build the motivation around a business case that you have the opportunity to improve, whether it’s concept design, detailed design, simplication for simulation. So go about learning that new tool with the motivation to be diligent to stick with it. Tell your management that we have the opportunity to improve our efficiencies in concept design, or designing certain parts, or simplifying models for simulation. Learn the tool with the motivation to improve those processes.”

You can watch the entire “The Pros and Cons or History-based and Direct Modeling Paradigms” webinar here.

Barb Schmitz

Filed Under: News, PTC News, Siemens PLM & Events Tagged With: 3D modeling, PTC, Siemens, Solid Edge

PTC Acquires Platform Developer ThingWorx

January 2, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

Coming in right under the wire in 2013 was the announcement that PTC had acquired ThingWorx, a tech developer of an application platform designed to rapidly build Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications. Your first question might be “what’s ThingWorx?” The Chester County, PA-based company develops what it calls the “1st Application Platform for the Connected World,” one that combines the key functionality of Web 2.0, social media and Connected Intelligence, and applies to any process that involves “things.”

The infographic below shows how the ThingWorx platform works.

The ThingWorx platform enables the quick development of M2M and Internet of Things apps.
The ThingWorx platform enables the quick development of M2M and Internet of Things apps.

The goal of the platform is to reduce the time, cost and risk required to build M2M and Internet of Things (IoT) apps. The platform is comprised of ThingWorx Composer, a modeling environment; a drag-and-drop Mashup Builder for creating apps, real-time dashboards, collaborative workspaces and mobile interfaces without coding; an event-driven execution engine;  3D storage; collaboration capabilities; and connectivity to devices via third-party device clouds, direct network connections, Open APIs and AlwaysOn using the ThingWorx Edge Microserver.

Why it’s important

This acquisition signals that companies, including CAD companies, are paying attention to recent trends, one of which is the continued growth of the Internet of Things apps. A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute says that the Internet of Things has the potential to unleash as much as $6.2 trillion in new economic value by 2025. Increasingly smart and connected products can generate value in several key ways, as streams of real-time operational data are captured, analyzed and shared to increase a company’s understanding of its products’ performance, use and reliability. In other words, the technology will provide companies with a wealth of information to feed back into their respective product pipelines.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the biggest tech trends predicted for 2014.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the biggest tech trends predicted for 2014.

Predicted to be one of the top technology trends by nearly every analyst  in 2014, the technology behind IoT is quickly advancing and becoming more important to many industries as embedded sensors and actuators in machines and other physical objects are growing in number. For manufacturing, this means personnel will now be able to monitor the flow of products through a factory production line or troubleshoot problems remotely, increasing efficiencies and decreasing downtime. It also means that managers can manage assets and optimize productivity performance in real time from anywhere.

We’ll all have to wait and see what PTC has in store for the ThingWorx platform and how it will fit into the company’s current portfolio of service lifecycle management and extended product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. We keep an eye out on how things progress and will you posted here on 3D CAD World.

Barb Schmitz

Filed Under: CAD Blogs, Company News, News, PTC News Tagged With: Internet of Things

Mathcad for free

January 8, 2013 By Evan Yares 5 Comments

Mathcad, from PTC, is one of my favorite computer math systems. It’s one of those “just right” programs for engineers: It’s far better for doing engineering calculations than Excel, but is a lot easier to learn and use than Matlab. Here’s a splashy video that shows what can be done with Mathcad:

PTC has just  released a version of the software, called Mathcad Express, that is free. Free, as in “free beer.” Free, as in “the software license never expires.”

There is a catch, as you might imagine: Some of the functionality in the full version (which is called Mathcad Prime) isn’t included in Mathcad Express.

Cubic Polynomial Intersection Solve Block

The important question is this: Has PTC included enough capability in Mathcad Express to make it worth getting excited about?

It’s a harder question to answer than you might expect. Here are the major differences between Express and Prime:

Mathcad1

Mathcad2

Mathcad3

Mathcad4

In my testing of Mathcad Express, I found that its capabilities are sufficient to make it a practical alternative to Excel for most straightforward math problems. But I really miss some of Mathcad Prime’s most valuable features, including symbolic solving, the block solver, and advanced plots.

Mathcad Express never lets you forget that PTC wants you to upgrade to Mathcad Prime. The “upgrade” button is always there, front and center, as are menus and icons for the non-included features, with tooltips encouraging you to upgrade. Mathcad Express worksheets also include an advertising watermark, pointing to www.mathcad.com.

I can understand the calculus that led PTC to include so much aggressive upgrade promotion in Mathcad Express. But I think they missed something: For a freeware program to be successful, it needs social/viral promotion. It needs to be compelling enough that people like me (and the folks who read this article) want to take the time and energy to tell other people about it. It’d be a lot easier for me to be enthusiastic about Mathcad Express if it didn’t scream so loudly that its primary purpose is to get people to buy Mathcad Prime.

ptc.com/product/Mathcad

 

 

 

Filed Under: Evan Yares, Featured, News, PTC News Tagged With: PTC

A Real World Design Challenge for high school students

October 25, 2012 By Evan Yares Leave a Comment

How do you get high school students interested in science, technology, engineering and math? Why not give them a real world design challenge to solve?

In the 2013 Real World Design Challenge, students are asked to tackle a couple of serious engineering design problems. And, thanks to the generosity of a couple of engineering software industry companies, they’ll have real world tools to do the work: PTC Creo Elements/Pro, Mathcad, and Windchill, and Mentor FloEFD concurrent CFD.

The press release below tells you more, but here’s the important part: You can register a team, or sign up as a mentor.

PTC Sponsors 2013 Real World Design Challenge®

High School Students to Design Unmanned Aircraft System to Locate Lost Children and an Ultra Fuel-Efficient Commercial Truck to Protect Fuel and Energy Reserves

 NEEDHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) today joined more than 70 partners on Capitol Hill to kick off the 2012-2013 Real World Design Challenge and announce the themes for this year’s challenges: Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Next Generation Truck Design. Today’s event was hosted by Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and the students from last year’s national champion teams, the Kansas Tornadoes from Baldwin City, KS and Team Xavier from Middletown, CT.

Students that participate in the 2012-2013 Aviation Challenge will work to design an unmanned aircraft system that can locate lost children. Additionally, the students will need to submit a business plan that makes the system financially viable for 50 rescue missions. Students who participate in the Surface Challenge will be tasked with designing a next-generation truck with highly-enhanced fuel efficiency in order to protect fuel and energy reserves in the United States.

The Real World Design Challenge is a national design competition with more than 7,800 high school students run by a public-private partnership with the goal of inspiring interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and careers. PTC and its partners, including Cessna Aircraft Company and the Federal Aviation Administration, are focused on transforming and enhancing STEM education in the American educational system by providing science, engineering and learning resources that allow students and teachers to address actual challenges confronting the nation’s most important industries.

“The Real World Design Challenge offers students the chance to experience the pride and passion of designing something that could be used in a commercial environment for the benefit of others,” said John Stuart, senior vice president education, PTC. “PTC is proud to be working with our partners to get students across the country interested in careers in engineering.”

The winning teams from the participating states will be notified in February 2013 and will receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete at the National Challenge Event in April 2013.

“Being the coach for the Baldwin High Tornadoes in the Real World Design Challenge competition has been the high point of my educational career,” said Pam Davis, Coach of the Kansas Tornadoes. “The chance to use engineering software and the opportunity to work with professional mentors has helped my students secure scholarships as well as get accepted into our nation’s best engineering schools.”

PTC provides technology that transforms how customers create and service products, including PTC Creo® CAD product design software, PTC Windchill® PLM software and PTC Mathcad® engineering calculation software, to teams participating in the Real World Design Challenge. PTC also provides connections and access to mentors from its partner organizations across America who are participants in the competition or program management for the competition.

For additional information contact Anthony Coppola at acoppola@ptc.com. To register a team or to sign up as a mentor go to the Real World Design Challenge website www.realworlddesignchallenge.org. The deadline for teams to register for the Real World Design Challenge is November 18, 2012. The solution submissions are due February 6, 2013.

Additional Resources:

  • PTC’s Academic Program (web site)
  • PTC and Real World Design Challenge (web site)
  • PTC’s Community Relations Programs (web site)
  • PTC and FIRST (web site)

About PTC
PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) enables manufacturers to achieve sustained product and service advantage. The company’s technology solutions transform the way products are created and serviced across the entire product lifecycle – from conception and design to sourcing and service. Founded in 1985, PTC employs over 6,000 professionals serving more than 27,000 businesses in rapidly-evolving, globally distributed manufacturing industries worldwide. Get more information at www.ptc.com.

 

Filed Under: Evan Yares, News, PTC News Tagged With: Mentor, PTC

WEBINAR: What’s New in Creo Parametric 2.0? Up to Double Your Design Productivity compared to Pro/ENGINEER

July 19, 2012 By lbrown 7 Comments

callaway final 02bThe latest version of PTC’s Creo family of design software is here! Come see what’s new inside Creo Parametric 2.0 and how you can double your design productivity! In this webcast, we introduce, demonstrate, compare, and contrast all the major new Creo Parametric capabilities against Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0.

If you’re an existing Pro/ENGINEER or Creo 1.0 user, see for yourself all these new capabilities, including the new modern user experience, streamlined workflows, new surfacing capabilities called Freestyle, improved sketching, working with large assemblies, sheet metal design and much more available in Creo Parametric.

In this webinar you will learn:

    • Creo 2.0’s new functionalities and benefits
    • Head-to head comparisons of Pro/Engineer, Wildfire 5.0 and Creo Parametric
    • Question and answer session with Creo product expert, Todd Kraft



Filed Under: 3D CAD Package Tips, Company News, Creo, Featured, PTC News Tagged With: PTC

PTC: The importance of design agility

June 22, 2012 By Evan Yares Leave a Comment

Here’s an interesting term: Design agility.

PTC defines it, generally, as “the power to make late-stage design changes quickly and easily .”

They define it more specifically as “the ability to rapidly recognize features and patterns in imported models, enabling seamless modifications; design intelligence for dumb models.”

You might expect that more specific definition from PTC, being that they have software that fits it rather exactly.

Still, I have to give PTC credit: This is a company that was willing to reinvent (and rebrand) its main product line, specifically to enable design agility. Their Creo Parametric software supports a rather interesting form of direct editing (they call it flexible modeling.) It’s quite a good tool when you need to  make late-stage design changes.

PTC just sent me an interesting infographic that reports the results of a study they did on design agility. It’s kind of big, so here is a little image of it. If you click on it, you can download a PDF version that’s actually possible to read.

PTC Creo Design Agility

 

Here’s my summary of the infographic:

  • Projects usually have a lot of unexpected changes, often in late stages.
  • It’s difficult to use CAD models from other systems, or created by other people.

How do you get “design agility?” PTC is happy to tell you their answer, at www.ptc.com/go/agility. As for my answer: It’s complicated. I will tell you what I think a good first step would be:

Use tools that can take advantage of the knowledge and data that you have.

If that’s too obscure, let me put it in the context of CAD:

  • It’s important that your CAD software is able to open and edit the data you have, no matter the source of that data. If you’re fortunate enough to be in a situation where everyone associated with a project is using exactly the same suite of software, of the same version, then you probably don’t need to sweat this too much. But for those of us who live in the real world—where people use a lot of different tools, and interoperability is still a challenge—it can be a big deal.
  • It’s important that you are able to meaningfully edit the CAD data you have, even if you don’t know how it was constructed. To put a finer point on it: what you know is what it looks like, and what you want it to look like; what you often don’t know is how it is structured (e.g., the hidden relationships built into the feature tree.) It’s important that you CAD software allow you to edit the that data, without you needing to take the time to discover and make sense out of its structure.

 

Filed Under: Evan Yares, Featured, Pro/Engineer, PTC News Tagged With: Creo, Design Agility, Direct Editing, Flexible Modeling, PTC

How Whirlpool uses PTC CAD and PLM technology

June 7, 2012 By Evan Yares 4 Comments

Whirlpool Corp's Maytag Maxima seriesHome appliances aren’t what they used to be. Consider, for example, washers and dryers. At this week’s PlanetPTC conference, Fred Bellio, CIO of Whirlpool’s Global Product Organization, and Jeff Burk, Director of Whirlpool’s Constellation Program Management Office, described some of the complexities of his company’s Maytag Maxima line of washers and dryers. Washers and dryers from 50 years ago (when my mother was doing the family’s laundry) were mostly mechanical, with an electric drive motor, a timer, and a few switches, solenoids and relays. The Maxima line are about one-third mechanical, one-third electrical/electronic, and one-third software.

Who would have guessed that a clothes washer could have a million lines of software source code, and use WI-fi for remote diagnostics (and even electrical load shedding?)

Whirlpool is the world’s #1 major appliance company, with $19 billion in revenue, and around 70,000 employees. Its products are developed globally, and sold in over 170 countries. While it may not face the same challenges as large automotive or aerospace companies, that doesn’t mean that it’s got things easy when it comes to product development.

Whirlpool’s PLM strategy

To continue to be competitive in the appliance business, Whirlpool needs to implement a top-notch product development process. The Whirlpool program chartered to deliver that process is code named Constellation.

Constellation’s goals are to:

  • Leverage Whirlpool’s global footprint and scale,
  • Enable end‐to‐end lean product development,
  • Enhance collaboration across functions, geographies, & supply chain, and,
  • Provide a real time single source of product information.

Whirlpool PLMThe Constellation program provides Whirlpool with a year-by road-map for implementing PLM technology. This year there are projects related to CAD, core PLM, design quality, cost management, product & portfolio management, service, strategic sourcing, and product quality. It’s not a trivial amount of work. (You can look at Whirpool’s PlanetPTC presentation on Constellation here.)

Ultimately, the benefits Whirlpool hopes to gain include:

  • Shorter product development cycles,
  • More consumer relevant innovation,
  • More product variants from fewer platforms, and,
  • Best cost and best quality position.

Whirlpool and PTC

Whirlpool has been a long-term PTC customer, first using Pro/E in 1986, and standardizing on it in 1990. The company entered into a strategic relationship with PTC in 2010, and currently uses a wide variety of PTC products, including ProE/Creo, Windchill ProjectLink, Windchill PDMLink, WQS, MathCAD, Integrity, PPMLink, Arbortext, Isodraw, and Product View.

My sense is that Whirlpool is a very good example of an ideal PTC customer. Their particular combination of needs are a great match for PTC’s technology. (That may be because PTC pays attention to their customers’ needs when planning their technologies.) Two PTC technologies of special note for Whirlpool are likely to be application lifecycle management (ALM), and service lifecycle management (SLM.)  I’ll be writing more about those two technologies in the near future.

While you could make an argument that Whirlpool could be as well-served by any number of other CAD programs (including SolidWorks, Inventor, and Solid Edge) as they are by ProE/Creo, I think there’s an equally strong (or  stronger) counter-argument. Creo 2.0 includes some capabilities of great value to a company such as Whirlpool. The thing that comes to my mind first is integrated parametric, direct, and organic subdivision surface shape modeling. But the hot ticket is the new Creo 2.0 Options Modeler, which, when coupled with Windchill, is the no-brainer choice for building multiple product variants on a single platform.

Even good examples have flaws

Listening to Jeff Burk describe Whirlpool’s Constellation strategy at the PlanetPTC conference, it occurred to me that the company does seem to have a solid grasp on where it’s going with PLM. I’d expect this: Bellio was the PLM Practice Director at Mercury Marine’s PLM Services group (a company that Siemens PLM highlighted at their recent customer conference.) He also worked in PLM strategy and deployment at Bombardier—and aerospace is where the rubber meets the road for PLM (to strain a metaphor.) Burk has 25 years at Whirlpool, and knows what makes the company tick.

Still, I was curious: Whirlpool has been using Pro/E for 26 years. Do they have the CAD portion of their PLM strategy down? I asked Bellio and Burk about three product design-centric best practices that are generally thought to make a big difference in time to market, cost, and quality: systems engineering, model-based development (e.g., no drawings), and up-front CAE.

Bellio and Burk agreed that each of these are of real value, and that Whirlpool is very interested in them. But, Whirlpool isn’t doing any of them yet.

Why? Start with model-based development: (MBD): It’s simply difficult to change from a drawing-centric to a model-centric culture. Even if good software tools for doing 3D GD&T are available (and they are available for ProE/Creo, both from PTC, and from third-parties such as Sigmetrix), engineers are comfortable with drawings, and aren’t inclined to change, if they can help it. The only industries in which there is widespread adoption of MBD are aerospace and, to a lesser degree, automotive. (This will change over time: MBD is a hot industry trend.)

Similarly, implementing systems engineering and up-front CAE require cultural and process changes that are not natural for CAD users (and particularly ProE users) who’ve invested a lot of time and effort in learning how to do it the way they’re doing it now. You can’t just “install” these practices in a product development process, and expect everyone to jump into using them.

This stuff takes time, and commitment

Looking at Whirlpool’s example, I wonder: do any of PTC’s customers take “full advantage” of all (or even most) of the technology that PTC has to offer? I suspect the answer is “no.”

As a start, PTC offers a lot of technology. A lot of it overlaps with technology offered by competitive companies—and many customers use a mix of tools from a number of suppliers.

Yet, beyond issues of scale, the process of implementing PLM in a company, whether small or large, takes time and commitment, no matter which technology suppliers you use.   There is no magic bullet that will make the process easy.  My sense is that the folks at PTC are focused on doing what they can to make the process easier.  While I still think PTC has a long way to go in making their technology more accessible for non-experts, I’ve seen enough progress that I’m encouraged.

Filed Under: Creo, Evan Yares, Featured, News, Pro/Engineer, PTC News Tagged With: Creo, PLM, Pro/E, PTC, Whirlpool, Windchill

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