Will MS Surface Become a Zune?

This week, Microsoft (MS) announced their latest foray into the hardware space. The MS Surface is their latest attempt to win over the scores of users already loyal to their OS, and potentially many new adherents. The Surface is a cross between an iPad and a laptop. It might be just the thing for users on the go, as a second device, or for those who only need a browser and a few apps.

Initially, when I heard about the Surface, several months ago, I was very excited. I thought that this device might even be the best of both worlds: an iPad with a great keyboard that can be used in many business situations, and a laptop replacement while on the road. It appears to be built well, and there is a commitment from MS to really make it work. The early reviews have been mostly great, and I was feeling good.

But, then I looked at my bookshelf. There I spied my Zune; the music device from MS that I bought many years ago. This device was their answer to the iPod. Initially it looked like it would work well, and have a chance to take over some of the market that Apple had created with their wildly successful iPod and iTunes. However, the success that MS envisioned with this hardware never developed, and today it can be used as a coaster, a door stop, and a paper weight.

In the past MS has not shown the ability to make hardware successful. It makes me wonder if the Surface will join my Zune on the bookshelf as a lovely door stop. The Zune was announced with much fanfare, and many people thought it would be successful; it was not. I am not sure all the reasons why, but it just never lived up to expectations.

So, will the Surface join the Zune on my shelf? Not if I don't buy one...

What do you think?

Cheers,

Jim

Is Your Business Ready for PLM?

Ready, set go! The race to implement PLM has started. Many people will approach PLM implementations like a sprint, when in reality it's a marathon. Successfully implementing any technology in your business is challenging, but PLM is especially tricky. That's because PLM is a strategic decision, not just software; and PLM never ends! There are also many people that must be involved to achieve PLM success.

What can you do to make sure your business is ready to get the most out of PLM? Here are some key areas that you can evaluate to see if you are ready for PLM success:

1) Executive Support - If you do not get support from a high level executive sponsor for PLM, you won't make if very far. PLM is a strategic activity with an enterprise vision, and it means that it must be supported from the very top of your organization.

2) Organizational Support - There will be many organizations that need to be part of the overall PLM implementation. If you do not have support from key people in all of your organizations, you will struggle to successfully implement PLM.

3) User Support - Do you have a good plan to involve your users in the PLM selection process, and a good Cultural Change Management Plan to continue interactions with users after the initial implementation?

4) IT Support - Like it or not, PLM technology will involve a large amount of commitment from your IT organization. If they are not on board, or if they just look at PLM as another piece of software to install, you really won't get very far with your PLM implementation.

5) Education - Are all of the people involved with PLM properly educated? If you educate right from the beginning, you will get much better success with your PLM implementation. All of the above people need PLM education so that there is no confusion about what PLM is, and how it can benefit your business.

There are obviously more aspects of PLM to consider, but these are some of the key items you must evaluate BEFORE you dash off on your PLM race.

What areas of PLM are you working on today?

Cheers,

Jim

Is PLM Just a Bunch of Old Guys?

The recent CIMdata PLM Roadmap saw great attendance, and great speakers. One of the topics brought up by several speakers was the lack of young people at this conference. I don't think this is any different from most PLM conferences around the world. If you look at who attends these conferences, it is mostly 40+ years old guys. I can speak from experience, since I am one of those old guys.

Many of the new technologies that will impact PLM in the future, like mobility, cloud, social, and others have NOT been embraced by the "old" guys at these conferences. When asked for a show of hands of how many people would be tweeting at the conference, about 6 people raised their hands. Overall, there were only 18 people that tweeted at the conference; there were 300+ attendees!

The question I have to ask is: "how can we get more young people involved in PLM?" If you looked at most PLM conferences, you would get the idea that only old guys are interested in this technology. This is far from the truth, especially when you consider how much technology is used by younger people today. But, how can we get their inputs into what we are doing with PLM?

I don't know that answer, but I think it is VERY important that we figure out how to engage with our younger engineers and PLM technology users to help us understand how new technologies can provide the PLM environment of the future.

What do you think?

Jim

CIMdata PLM Roadmap Hits the Mark Again!

The CIMdata PLM Roadmap 2012 concluded this week in Plymouth, Michigan. If you missed it, you missed a sold out PLM event that provided detailed discussions about Systems Engineering, Model Based Design, Simulation, and more!

The conference started with an excellent talk from Jon Hirschtick, the father of Solidworks, about the future of the CAD market. He told the engaged audience that CAD was only about half done, and that there was still many opportunities in this space. The afternoon had sessions about PLM implementation, using analysis in your PLM activities, how to interact with vendors and systems integrators.

The best part of the conference was the hallway conversations, the lunch time discussions, and the new information shared among industry peers. There was a vendor area called Eye On Technology where many PLM vendors provided information about their excellent solutions.

There was great food, great people, and a good time had by all. The CIMdata website has more information on future conferences, and information about how you can get education and information about PLM.

See you later,

Jim

Why You Should Attend CIMdata PLM Roadmap 2012

In the late 1940's, the St. John's Provincial Seminary was opened on a choice piece of land just outside of Plymouth Michigan. In 1955 the remarkable chapel was dedicated with little fanfare; this was a religious place, and not given to extravagant celebrations. The seminary continued to serve the Catholic Church of Detroit for some 40 years; but sadly, in 1988 the doors closed.

Today, after an $11 million restoration, this iconic seminary has been reborn as the St. John's Golf and Conference Center. They not only have 118 luxury guest rooms, and a new ballroom, but they boast many more amenities:

• Stately Romanesque architecture, beautifully renovated to reflect its heritage
• Twenty two distinct meeting rooms, ideal for corporate breakout session or smaller meetings
• A breathtaking two-story glass Atrium which provides a truly unique setting for cocktails, hors d oeuvres and music for up to 600 guests
• Twenty-two distinct meeting rooms, ideal for corporate breakout session or smaller meetings
• A challenging 27-hole championship golf course (great course - I played it last year)!
• The Grande Gallroom with seating for up to 450 guests
• And More!

Learn more about this fantastic property

Not only is this a fantastic venue, but the line-up of speakers at PLM Roadmap 2012 is one of the best I have ever seen at any conference in many years. Go here to register and see the amazing line-up! Or, you can watch and share this excellent video about the conference.

As for me, I plan to be on the golf course at around 8:00 AM on Monday, October 1. Please come and join me to make things interesting.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Social Media: "The Reports of my Death are Greatly Exaggerated!"

Lately I have been reading a lot of blogs/articles/stories about the demise of social media, and how it's unnecessary in many places, especially PLM. Of course, I do not agree. Articles such as, "Facebook, Twitter? Can The Decline of Social Media Come Fast Enough?" or this one: "Does Social Media Belong in CAD Applications?" continue to appear. I am sure we will see these types of stories every week; they shock people and get them to take notice. Here's the same type of story from 2009: The Death of Social Media. 

One thing that bothers me about these stories is that many of the people who write them are not really users of social media. Some of them dabble, or have stepped away, or they don't even use it at all. Then, from afar, they believe they can predict how it can and should be used, if at all. I doubt any of them ever had Klout scores over 30, or that they even know what a Klout score is.

Before predicting that social media is bad, or useless, or dead, you should use it. I have noticed that many of the problems that were mentioned in 2009 are much less troublesome today, and more and more people are seeing the benefits of social media when combined with PLM.

PLM vendors are starting to provide integrated social tools that allow users to integrate their tasks with the larger enterprise. There is great benefit when Engineering projects can be shared with other parts of the business, such as service, manufacturing, procurement, shop floor, etc; this is what Collaborative Engineering was all about, many years ago. Today we can actually collaborate in a controlled way that provides great value to the business by using Social Media principles and tools.

I am looking forward to all of the great technology that will be developed around PLM, and especially those that make use of social media.

What do you think?

What the Mars Rover Landing Can Teach us About PLM

Like many others, I watched with awe and amazement as the Mars rover, named Curiosity, landed safely on the planet Mars. When I watched the computer generated animation of how they would be lowering this large vehicle onto the surface of the Red Planet, I thought to myself "that will never work". But, it seems to have worked just fine. I am proud of what has been accomplished by the team that made this happen.

What is so startling to me about the whole thing is that they ran into very few problems on this very intricate landing. To quote the New York Times:

"The landing ran into fewer problems than any of the hundreds of simulations they had run over the last two years.

"It was cleaner than any of our tests," said Al Chen, a JPL engineer and member of the mission's landing team, shaking his head with amazement. "It was a blast."

The landing was suppose to be very tricky, and filled with challenges. This is how it was described in one blog just hours before the actual landing:

"Following “seven minutes of terror” beginning at 1:31 a.m. EST early Monday morning -- a reference to the nerve-racking landing NASA has planned, which involves Curiosity’s screaming race to the surface and a dangle off a rocket-powered sky crane..."

You can see a video of the landing here. I am amazed every time I watch this video. But, the landing went off without a hitch. I didn't understand all the jumping around by those brainiacs at JPL, but now I do: they were so happy to have pulled off a very challenging feat of space-landing magic; so many things could have gone wrong, but they didn't.

Do you ever look at your PLM implementation activities, and classify them as "seven minutes of terror"? For some, the selection and roll-out of PLM solutions can cause even the strongest person to shrink from the task. One of the important things the we can learn from the Mars rover is the importance of testing BEFORE we roll out our PLM solutions.

That is why CIMdata always recommends a pilot project environment to test your PLM solutions BEFORE they are ever rolled out to the masses. This allows you to install software, test integrations, perform and test data migration, do user acceptance testing, and a host of other activities. Installing software for the first time on Friday, and rolling it out to the users on Monday NEVER works.

The Mars rover didn't land on Mars by accident. It took years of trial, testing, and "hundreds of simulations" to make sure it would be successful on this very important and complex endeavor. Should you take any less care with your roll-out of PLM solutions?

What do you think? Do your PLM implementations get the up-front attention they deserve?

-Jim