IDC PLM Predictions 2010
Posted by admin in News, Vuuch Feature, Vuuch Release on January 22, 2010
Joe Barkai of IDC presented “Insights Predictions 2010: Manufacturing Product Lifecycle Management” today. Although we did not rate a slide Vuuch did rate a mention. One angle discussed was the impact social media will have on PLM and product development as a whole and within this Vuuch was mentioned as having an interesting angle/approach. What seems compelling from where I sit is Vuuch was mentioned in line with PTC Product Point and Team Center. The WEB cast replay can be found here http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=182280&s=1&k=15896A60283FDED8D9FFB56F87D17D17 for those that did not have the chance to catch it live.
We will release a new version shortly that implements some exciting new functionality. Think Facebook for parts! Say you are working on a design of a part that involves other people and you want a quick way to track all the issues, tasks, discussions and notes in a simple way that everyone can access and stay aware of what is going on (Lets also say you are frustrated doing this with excel files that seem to always be out of date and piles and piles of email). Well just right click on the file and say create WEB page and you are DONE. If you would like to check out what this looks like take a look at this page http://www.vuuch.me/collaboration/fileRepNW4/discussions/251. The Vuuch enabled part now has a page that represents everything that is going on with the part and all the people involved (If you have compliance or design history requirements then you will love this). Anything added to this page shows up within the part file (In the example above the part is a SolidWorks file and therefore everything seen on this page is synced withSolidWorks). One thing to note – you can do this WITHOUT checking the file in and out of some vault. So leave the file where it is right for you and connect and communicate in a flexible and socialable manner.
Mass Innovation Vote
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on December 21, 2009
Vuuch needs your vote. Vuuch has been selected to present at Mass Innovation Nights (http://massinnovationnights.com/), that is if we get enough votes. The four top slots get a chance to present and the all of the invites get a table at the next event. The event is held at the IBM Innovation center in Waltham MA. Please check out the event page and please give Vuuch your VOTE http://massinnovationnights.com/products/january-13-innovators-vote-here. We are trailing currently but with a little support from our community I know we will be in the top spot.
Vuuch in the news
Posted by admin in News, Social Media on December 15, 2009
Design Engineering just wrote a nice article on Vuuch. It seems a little odd to be blogging about something you cannot get online but this is what I am doing. The article is only in the print versions of the Nov/Dec magazine. The article talks about Vuuch being used in design which is a great use case, but the new Vuuch plug-ins has expanded the number of Vuuch use cases. Using the PowerPoint plug-in you can quickly create a WEB page that represents the presentation you are working on. You can think of this page as a Facebook page for the presentation. The same is true for CAD files. The idea is if you are working on a deliverable that requires a community of contributors then drag that file into Vuuch and create a page for the file. Vuuch creates a WEB page that acts as a private community site for the deliverable. Once the page is created the team has a place to connect, discuss and track the progress of the deliverable. We are also working on an Outlook plug-in which will allow you to manage your deliverables where you already spend most of your day, Outlook.
The next time you are doing some WEB research you will want to use the Vuuch for your browser plug-in. Say you are searching for a new motor for that design you are working on. Well as you find WEB content that might solve your design problem, Vuuch the WEB pages and now your team can discuss these options within the context of the project you are working on.
Because I haven’t
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on December 1, 2009
I have not posted in oh so long. Well I was reading this and found it funny so I decided to reblog it. I figured if I can retweet then it is ok to reblog…
I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
There is great need for a sarcasm font.
Did we ever learn how to fold a fitted sheet?
Was learning cursive really necessary?
Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
Bad decisions make good stories.
You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.
I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this – ever.
I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?
I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.
Vuuch V1 Pre-Release
Posted by admin in News, Vuuch Release on October 1, 2009
Vuuch V1 has reached pre-release. Go to www.vuuch.com to get new Vuuch add-ins and release notes. We have signed up a few more teams but are willing to take more. Contact us about using Vuuch in production.
Vuuch V1 Release – Vuuch Wants You!
Vuuch V1 is ALMOST ready!!!
The Vuuch beta program provided great confirmation of the Vuuch concept and feedback on what we needed to add to Vuuch. Through out the beta program we have been successful at getting a number of teams to start using the beta in production. Since SolidWorks World and the Vuuch beta release we have been working closely with people from all over the world and from teams developing all kinds of products. The result is Vuuch V1 – see the release notes.
Our current plan is to have a pre-release this week and production release next week. Success is on the move. Our goal for Vuuch V1 is to increase the number of teams using Vuuch in production. After broadcasting the release notes to registered users we have already doubled the number of teams that are signed up to use Vuuch in production. V1 is ready for prime-time. Take a look at the release notes, checkout the pre-release and connect with us about getting your team up and running with Vuuch. If you are not already a user register for a Vuuch account.
Vuuch wants you!!! Contact us at contact@vuuch.com to sign your team up to use Vuuch in production. Production users will define the features for V2. Vuuch is looking for a few good teams. Get ahead of the curve and take full advantage of the first and only People Centric PLM solution in the market.
Vuuch is HOT.
The feedback on Vuuch continues to pour in… Vuuch can be called Hot, Spicy and even a bit Feisty. Not much has changed in the PLM market over the years. Well that is until Vuuch hit the market with People Centric PLM. Randall Newton views Vuuch in a recent article and calls the Vuuch a bit Feisty! Check out his article at www.cadcamnet.com.
Vuuch CEO Chris Williams says “Design is a highly interactive process of discovery and trade-offs made through discussion and Vuuch makes design discussions more effective by embedding your discussions within your design data and relating them to your team, design deliverables and parts”.
CAD Veteran Takes to the Cloud
Over the last days, weeks and months there has been much speculation about the cloud and PLM. Just last week we saw the first CAD Cloud Service from Autodesk. While it may just be an experiment for now it is here to stay and the cloud will shadow all our lives. The big question – can old dogs learn new tricks? Well one CAD veteran, John McEleney, has decided that rather than teach an old dog a new trick he should just head off into the cloud on a new dog.
I’m sure that this is not the last we have heard of www.cloudswitch.com and it will be interesting to keep an eye on the service they release. Here is a link to the press release http://www.cloudswitch.com/cloud-computing-system/.
If you are not a believer in the cloud then you should reflect a bit on your own life to see if you are already there… Take out that old fashion and out dated design tool called a napkin and jot down the cloud services you are already using. I bet this list might surprise you:
- For me I backup 100GB of data at my home using www.Amazon.com and www.jungledisk.com
- I host my photos at chriswilliams.smugmug.com (the best photo sharing site)
- Sometimes I post on www.flickr.com (the worst)
- Vuuch has a channel on www.youtube.com
- OH you just can’t forget www.online_banking.com and do you have any idea how your ATM communicates?
- The hot one on the block www.twitter.com (@Vuuch)
- www.yammer.com (just an experiment for me)
- Three WordPress blogs, blog.vuuch.com and a two I never seem to write in…
- A survey solution from www.surveymonkey.com
- Leads and contact management using www.salesforce.com which is integrated into Vuuch
- Some very cool editing tools for images and audio from www.aviary.com/
- www.linkedin.com
- www.classmates.com
- www.facebook.com
- My blackberry mail service
- Videos from www.vudu.com
- And so many accounts for mundane stuff I just cannot remember them.
And if you still think it is not going to happen then speak to your kids. Just the other day my 11 year old asked me to get him that WEB site used for editing documents – what he was asking for is MS WORD! To him WORD is just another WEB site… Google docs will certainly display MS (Which by the way is now what our middle school uses).
OH and I forgot one other cloud service I use every day, my www.vuuch.me account!!!
Do Opposites Attract in Business Process?
Posted by admin in PLM, Uncategorized on September 3, 2009
I was reading a comment made by Alan Taracuk about ERP versus PLM relative to business process (PLMTWINE post). And it got me thinking about opposites and how they do or do not attract when it comes to business procedures.
We have all heard the saying that “opposites attract”. In science we know this to be true and by looking at people we know we see this is true in life. But is this really true when it comes to business process? Does a person who loves process and procedure also make a great designer? Does the industrial designer that knows the right shape and color make the best release manager? And what about the Design process, does it really have much in common with the Release or Manufacturing?
A few weeks back I introduced the notion that there is a new market space called “People Centric PLM” and from the comments and follow on blog posts I would say there was a high level of agreement with this position. So can a highly unstructured and collaborative process of Design mix well and be attractive to the highly structured and process oriented stages of Release and Manufacture? While this might work in the dating world I wonder how this will work with respect to software applications… Lets first look at something simple – what solution owns the BOM (Bill of Material)? And while thinking about the BOM lets also evaluate when there is a viable BOM. For example while in the Design phase is there a true BOM or BOM like things used to just manage the project? In my experience the Design BOM is more about project management and never really gets transferred anywhere and in many cases is maintained in Excel (more like a parts list). But when you get to the Release stage the BOM is something of substance and after being defined in the PLM tool it is transferred to ERP. This being true it is easy to imagine many people never bother with the BOM in PLM and just enter it directly into the ERP system. So maybe “opposites attract” is true due to there being a symbiotic relationship and those that are alike end in a turf war.
I don’t know what do you guys think?
ERP Will Dominate PLM, Or Will It?
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on September 2, 2009
ERP is the largest single solution deployed within our target customers. This is true if you look at the monies spent by the customer or the number of transactions the system performs on any given day or the number of people that touch the solution within the customer. Some would say the one thing ERP has not touched is Engineering or the Product Development process… In MHO I would say this is wishful thinking. Certainly the average engineer or designer uses ERP through out the development process. They get their part number from the ERP, they check the cost of parts in ERP and they might determine where used for a component they are looking to add to their new design or inventory levels for this component. And certainly they would use ERP to create a purchase order for that prototype they need. So with all this Engineering based use of ERP, why did PLM tools ever get a chance and does the ERP vendor have a master plan for Enterprise domination?
For me PLM was PDM growing up and expanding on the basic feature of CAD file management which is certainly something better left to the CAD vendors than the ERP vendor. In the early days of PLM I would bet ERP vendors almost didn’t know these CAD files existed or at least didn’t care because the official release was being done in ERP and no one really cared about these files or what happened prior since the ERP system ended up owning the product definition. I expect what got the attention of the ERP vendors is the fact that customers started to release products in another tool, PLM. Soon after this ERP vendors had “marketing” around the fact they could be the PLM provider. Certainly this makes sense for release management because right after you release your new product with your PLM tool you transfer this information to your ERP solution (PLM vendors even have integration solutions for connecting ERP and PLM, but ERP do not push the reverse)! The real struggle/hurdle for the ERP system is CAD file management – how to manage all those complex and inter-related CAD files… I would bet that the ERP vendor has no real interest in CAD file management nor do they see this as a threat. But I am sure that the ERP vendor sees the PLM vendors as a threat every time the PLM vendors gain success with customers around product management features or when PLM captures and manages data about the product.
So we can be assured that as PLM tools do more than CAD based PDM, ERP vendors will fund “Domination” plans that ultimately remove the need to have a separate PLM tool!
In a previous post People or Process Another Chicken and Egg I simplified the product development process into Design, Release and Manufacture and in another post People Centric PLM – A New PLM Age Is BornI defined a new market segment which I call People Centric PLM. My morning coffee thoughts, that is once I got thinking about work versus last weeks vacation to South Africa:
- Is there some evil master mind in the bowls of the ERP vendors lair plotting to even simplify my simplified definition?
- Could ERP vendors reduce my simple three to just two?
- Could the product development process be simplified to just Design and Manufacture?
- Could release just become a simple transaction that is part of what the Manufacturing system does (maybe it already is…)?