As many of you may know, there is a clear trend in manufacturing to increase the use 3D design data, not just within engineering and manufacturing functions, but across the enterprise.  However, sharing 3D data, especially outside of technical areas and with suppliers, has been a challenge.   3D data is almost always accompanied by 2D data, often coming from numerous sources and in involving numerous formats.  We at Adobe have long recognized the need to ensure interoperability while simultaneously helping customers reduce the number of systems necessary to share data with customers or suppliers.  Adobe also recognizes the importance of outstanding presentation and ease of use.  How many emails have you gotten that look like this? (Hint: Look at all of the attachments you get to open… nice!)

Not only does  the PDF Portfolio solve this problem, it is still possible to include multiple file formats where they are needed.  So let’s get to it… click below to read on.

The Portfolio Explained

Okay, so what if that email I showed you had looked like this?

Much better?  Of course it is.  Now, maybe you are thinking “so he’s just created a single PDF… what’s the big deal.  Well, let me explain what the big deal is

Suppose when you opened the attachment, you saw this:

As you will see, this is intended to be part of an RFQ process.  Lets click on “get started” and see what happens.

You may need to look really closely to see, but there are Word, SWF, PPT and PDF files (some with 3D content) “embedded” in this PDF.  In the past, we offered something call a PDF package, which converted all of the files to PDF, and you can still work that way with Portfolios, but there are now several options.  This is one of the formats, by the way, that is included with Acrobat Pro Extended.  The various files are arranged and selectable in carrousel fashion.   Let’s select the PPT file and see what happens: 

After a couple of clicks, here is what happened.  I opened the PowerPoint file.  Of course, I needed to have MS Powerpoint on my laptop, but depending upon the workflow and permissions, I could even make changes to the file and save back to the Portfolio.  And look at this:

While the PPT file was open, it was labeled as open in the portfolio.  So in short, that is what a portfolio is.  Imagine how portfolios can address business challenges you may be having.  The sourcing process is just one great example of where you may be able to use them.  Oh yes, did I mention that I opened this in the Adobe Reader?  To learn even more about portfolios and other Acrobat Pro Extended features, click here.

Pretty cool I think!

So, you may be asking yourself, where has Doug been?  He hasn’t posted anything in a while.  Well, I really have something to write about now.  A week ago, Adobe announced Acrobat V9.  The announcement includes Acrobat Pro Extended, which has had many industry analysts speculating about what Adobe was up to in manufacturing.  Acrobat V9 comes in three flavors, Standard, Pro and Pro Extended.  Acrobat Pro Extended is the new “home” for 3D PDFs created on the desktop.  We also announced Livecycle PDFG 3D last week, a server based solution for batch generation of PDFs with 3D content.  I am going to concentrate this article and several that will follow to some of the new features of these two essential manufacturing products.  Today I’ll concentrate just on Acrobat Pro Extended.

New options for 3D PDF generation

First, lets get the questions about Acrobat 3D off of the table.  There were sound business reasons for changing the name.  We added awesome Flash autoring/integration, mapping (GIS) support, improved collaboration and many, many new features, so calling Acrobat Pro Extended (APEX for short) “Acrobat 3D” was far too limiting.  Besides, readers of this blog know, the focus has always been about PDF in manufacturing; not just 3D PDF. 

That said, there are several features our customers have been asking for regarding 3D annotations.  The ability to do precise measurements, surface areas, volumes and physical properties topped the request list.  So did balloon generation and BOM extraction.  STL export is now supported as well.  Tesselations can be done with user selected perameters such as chordal deviation.  Annimations and exploded views can be developed using either the U3D format as in V8 or precise and tessellated PRC formats.  The ability to do persitent measurements and callouts is now included. If you want to read more, here is a link to Adobe’s press release. 

One of the things I fell in love with from day on was the concept of a PDF Portfolio.  I will do a future article on how I see the portfolio being used in key workflows such as RFx.  The portfolio is a Flash-enabled PDF package that can contain both PDFs and other file types that can be opened by the recipient, provided of course the recipient has an application to open the file.  All the recipient will need is the Free Adobe Reader V9 to begin working with portfolios. 

Above is an example of a portfolio with a carrousel user interface that allows previewing the content, no matter what the file types.  This next screen shows a preview of a Flash video:

.  

Here is a jpg file that was included:

So, are you getting any ideas about how this will work in your company?

As I said, I will have a lot more in comng days.  Stay tuned.

The Automotive industry may ahead of virtually all other industries in both the conversion to 3D but also in the way data is managed within the companies and across the vast supply chains. This is an industry where change is constant as competitors vie for global markets against intense competition.  Without high levels of collaborative product design and manufacturing, companies have no chance to succeed.  The progress the industry has made will enable superb global flexibility in the near term. Among the things I noted during the conference presentations:

• Every OEM has figured out how to manage product data across the enterprise and equally importantly across the supply chain of suppliers and JV partners. All manufacturers use a combination of portals, direct PLM connections and data exchange to share 3D data to accomplish engineering and manufacturing tasks. 
• The industry is addressing the next steps of extending both formal and informal workflows intelligently outside of engineering to other business functions and across the supply-chain.
• There is a very mature understanding of how release management, change management, product data management, configuration management and enterprise resource planning systems must work together, and every company seems to be addressing the challenge.
• Globalization is an overriding reason for attention to PLM “standards”.  Particularly challenging is the need to engage with suppliers who are not connected to OEM networks and perhaps cannot operate that way due to limited telecommunications capability.
• It is clear that flexibility has been built in to processes and systems to enable globalization.  Access to information about differences in local manufacturing process capability, parts and systems and requirements has been accomplished on an enterprise-wide basis.

Based upon what I saw and what is emerging technically, I also think it is clear that these manufacturers are looking to the next step.  Here is what we will see in the next few years:

• Rich Internet Applications and Portals will employ sophisticated digital rights management to replace remote connections with information that can be revision controlled, tracked and managed on an extensible, persistent basis. 
• Document and content-based collaboration will augment current information-sharing practices, including sharing of 3D and 2D CAD data with operations and location that either require very expensive connections today, or even worse, don’t share up-to-date data today.
• Standards, including lightweight visualization formats will replace a large percentage of the native CAD file sharing of today. 
• Integration of content and collaboration-based workflows with integrations to PDM and ERP systems will extend these processes and solutions and enable “portable” PLM… enabling access to data that once required authentication into numerous systems.
• Field service information, manufacturing work instruction, customer installation guides and many other “static” documents will be replaced with rich content that can be shared securely, virtually anywhere.

I believe PDF and PDF Packages are the ideal “containers” for sharing integrated 2D and 3D data outside the firewall.  Adobe’s Acrobat, Connect and Livecycle product lines combine to provide an excellent foundation for collaboration. Both formal workflows and informal collaboration/information sharing leverage ubiquity of Adobe’s run-time clients – Flash, AIR and the Adobe Reader, will make it all happen.

I would like to jump off from Robert’s article to offer offer my thoughts on how companies like Adobe are helping with that transition.

Read on…

Making the Transition – PDF is Essential to the Enterprise

I think there are two main viewpoints that need to be addressed.  The first, and most important should be the consumer of the 3D content.  To be honest, when the transition to 3D began, engineering was its own customer for the most part. Initially engineers had to satisfy engineers… they were both the consumer and creator of the content.  When creating 3D content it is important to correctly manage the background data to provide the context for the emerging design.  It took a while, but CAD companies branched out into PDM for that very reason.  Of course, generation of 3D data would be useless unless there was an effective way to effectively generate prototype and then production parts from it… thus the CAM component and the sharing of data with manufacturing.  The term PLM began to emerge as companies were forced to address how downstream operation would access and use the 3D content, and realized there were vast disconnects between process and technologies used in engineering and what was needed for consumers of the data.  That battle continues.

Why 3D Deployment Stalls

Assuming that downstream use of visualization and solutions designed for engineers working with other engineers is the way to go to make 3D useful will surely derail the transition to 3D that should be taking place.  To go to a ridiculous extreme, imagine that your company wants to share 3D content with customers, so you require customers to obtain CAD seats.  How successful would that be?  Imagine trying to train them even if you purchased CAD for them. Well, the same thing is true both internally and across the extended enterprise.  Would you deploy CAD seats to workers in manufacturing facilities to view 3D content in work instructions?  Of course not.  Would you do the same thing with field maintenance facilities?  I doubt it.  You get the point. You can’t make people’s work more difficult and hope to succeed. That is where Adobe can help. 

Example Manufacturing Work Instruction – Large Automotive OEM

The PDF format is a “super container” that can leverage almost any format, 2D, 3D, whatever.  Both can be combined into single PDF documents or PDF packages.  That is huge, because all that is needed to “consume” those documents (and the 3D content) is the free Adobe Reader.  The Reader does so much more work than many people realize.  Whether its collecting and aggregating data from Forms, doing the same thing with Review and Comment cycles or simply enabling analysis and interaction with embedded  3D content PDF is the perfect compliment to CAD and visualization systems. 

PDF Benefits IT Too

From an IT perspective, all companies I work with are making strides to reduce the number of applications they need to deploy and support.  For them, even free solutions are not free.  The Adobe Reader, however, is already in place.  What I find over and over again is that most are not aware of the capability, and don’t fully leverage what they already have as a result. 

Did I mention security?  Look, the reality is that security is another reason you don’t get enough out of your investment in CAD.  There is absolutely a need to share data outside the “firewall”, but that is a big deal to IT pros.  Direct connections, poking holes in firewalls, identity management, authentication and authorization, VPNs… the list goes on and on.  I am convinced most manufacturers are spending money and taking risks they don’t need to take.  Look into the security benefits of PDF, especially when combined with Adobe’s Rights Management ES.  Can those other “solutions” be eliminated or reduced?  Can you cut spending?  Can you simplify operations? 

So What?

Getting back to Robert’s article… the transition to 3D is not an easy one, but it is well worth it, provided you think through both the ease of creation and use of 3D content.  Yes, you will face issues.  Cultural challenges and expertise will surely rear their heads.  Do what is natural.  If pushing 3D into a work stream seems unnatural, ask yourself if you are asking people to learn skills they really won’t use very much just to access the data. If there are IT challenges, and there will be, ask yourself if you are using what you already have or adding complexity. You need to think about what users really need to maximize the return on your investment.  Those of you who have been through this will know what I’m talking about.  The transition to 3D, carefully aligned with 2D content, is the way to go, and will pay off.  Not extending 3D content across and outside the enterprise is one area where companies fall short.  Don’t let it happen to you.

So along comes Rak Bhalla from Marketing and says “Doug, that’s fine, but can you show me an example?”  I wrote another article I called Extending CAD outside Engineering showing how to combine 2D and 3D content and make them available broadly.  Well, still not satisfied Rak asked if I would do a “Breezo”.  Well, I did.  Read on to find out what a “Breezo” is and to view what I did.

Watch the “Breezo”

Some of us at Adobe got in the habit of using the term “Breezo” to refer to recorded Connect sessions and such. The term dates back to Breeze, the old Macromedia Product.  That product has eveolved into Connect.  A better term for the recordings would be “Connecto”.  For the record, this was actually done with Captivate, Presenter and Soundbooth.  It is a live demonstration, showing similar content to the “Extend” article.  Now, I realize I’m no stage performer, and there are a couple of little glitches, but this recording might help you understand what is possible.  Obviously, in a limited time I can only show you a little, but I think I hit some of the key points.  To view the recording, just click here and just click on Extending Product Information Outside of Engineering.

I’ll be doing more of these, so feedback would be helpful, but remember I’m no rock star.

Thanks.

I read a study recently about business process trends that said manufacturing companies are increasing the number of structured workflows (in comparison to ad hoc) to streamline operations.  Hum?  So that must mean that business process management being implemented at enterprise levels is swinging the pendulum from informal to formal processes.  I suppose that means enterprise solutions are in and simpler, client-based solutions are out.   I don’t believe it.   Here’s why.

The Great Debate:   Perspective on Structured vs. Unstructured Solutions

First, let’s talk about surveys.  I strongly suspect that if you speak with most IT executives and business leaders charged with streamlining operations, many would point to managed workflow systems.  That is their job!  Ask those people about trends, and guess what the answers will be.  Now, I’m not here to trash structured solutions… Goodness knows I’ve implemented my share, and better ones are needed virtually everywhere.  I am a huge proponent of them, in fact.  But, I’ve learned the hard way that they don’t always have the desired effect.  

Some teammates at Adobe, Jim Merry and Mark James and I were recently challenged to explain how LiveCycle (for this article read that “structured”) and Acrobat (“unstructured”) support manufacturing companies.  We chose the product development lifecycle to make our points.  First it was Mark who pointed out that the major difference between them is the structured/replicated procedures question.   Then we talked about what really happens… structured systems often drive more ad-hoc collaboration.  Why?  Well, before marching through the complications that inevitably accompany formal, systems based workflows, most people actually “run the play” manually to determine if necessary approvals will be granted, and so forth.  So formal drives informal.

Next we talked about the need for less formal systems early in the product development lifecycle.  Let’s consider change management for example.  Those systems are critical when products are in or nearing production.  The overhead they would drive early in the product development process, where the goal is to find issues early – collaborate early and often would be impossible with formal systems. 

Here is a chart we came up with to explain the idea:

So that is our opinion.  Now, where are you?  Too formal?  Too ad hoc?  Don’t know?  Well, as the chart says, you need a balance.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  There is much more to talk about here, but I’ll end this discussion here.  Next time perhaps  we can explore how to blend formal process flows with informal ones.

I just received some news I thought I would pass along.  (The marketing guys promised to buy me dinner for this.)  It is news that could be important to you if you are using or considering adoption of the PDF format for leveraging CAD data across your operations and repourposing it in technical docs and so forth.  Adobe is announcing an update that you may want to check out…  details are spelled out below. 

The Acrobat 3D version 8 update is schedule to go live on Feb 21 at 9am PST.  Here are the details:

A free CAD translator update for Acrobat 3D Version 8 is available for download for registered or trial users of Acrobat 3D Version 8.

This update provides support for more recent versions of CAD file formats, allowing users to more easily and effectively convert 3D designs from major CAD applications to PDF documents.

For more information, including a list of supported formats, please go to: http://www.adobe.com/go/a3d_update . This URL will link to the support when we go live. It’s not working yet.

The free download includes translator updates for the following CAD file formats:

Okay, what’s the trend?  According to almost every account or study I read, use of 3D CAD data is growing.   To some that means that everyone is (or will be) moving to 3D.  I don’t believe that at all, but I think 3D data should become the standard for key workflows.   I think that the reasons it has not are a combination of business and technical limitations that are being overcome.

Use of 3D data is growing.  Cambashi recently reported 13% 2007 growth in sales of engineering software world-wide (with the Asia Pacific region leading the way, which I think is very important to note).  While slower growth rates are expected through 2010, there is clearly something going on here.   You can assume that 3D data use/applications are growing proportionately, at least.  They are probably faster, because there are indeed many mid-size and smaller companies that have resisted, but are being driven to 3D by the large OEMs they sell to.   Then there are 3D Model Based Engineering/Design initiatives intended to take whole industries in that direction.

How fast is 3D usage growing?  The rates vary, depending upon whom you want to believe.  I’m not going to try to give a precise answer.  I’m not going to look at this question from the perspective of someone who has worked to develop PLM systems (broadly defined to include CAD, CAM, PDM, etc.), deploy them.  I am going to look at this from the perspective of what will benefit the enterprise mostly outside of today’s PLM focus.

I am going to ask you to look at this problem by starting with the end in mind.  We will then look at the product lifecycle in reverse, trying to identify where 3D data makes sense, and perhaps where it doesn’t.

So let’s get to it… click below to read on.

Let’s quickly look at the question in reverse

So what is the goal of a discrete manufacturing enterprise?  You Eli Goldratt fans are saying “to make money”.  Okay, so let’s not go that far to the end state, but let’s consider what is necessary to deliver a product say to a retail outlet.  For the sake of making this more concrete, let say a car dealership.  You are, of course going to need the product and a way to order and deliver it.  You will need marketing collateral – probably both print and web-based.  You will need service instructions for the shop (and inmost industries for the field).  There are also aftermarket needs, but let’s leave those out for the sake of brevity. 

Now, of course, if we step back a bit, there had to be a production manufacturing facility up and running near flawlessly to deliver the product.  Not only did the production tooling need to be right, but inspection and monitoring systems needed to be in place to ensure everything is right quality-wise.  Parts and systems had to be scheduled and delivered to meet today’s demands fro one-part flow and JIT delivery.

So where would 3D data make a real difference, and where would it be just nice to have or even irrelevant?   What were the process steps and systems that were essential to getting to this point to get everything up and running?   Which of those are just fine 2D oriented processes, which are best using 3D data and which could be either?  Go to 3D if the benefit outweighs the cost, but for goodness sake, don’t go to 3D just because you can or want to.  

Here’s my assessment of what systems and processes need to be/should be 3D:

2D and 3D Workflows – Many do not require 3D

Note, I have highlighted cells where which I believe represent the sweetspot…  the place top performers will end up.  So what’s the point?  Well the point is that while I fully support the notion of CAD everywhere, as a friend of mine at one of the largest automotive companies likes to say, don’t assume that everything needs to transition to 3D.    The best in class competitors seem to be headed toward intelligently blending 3D data into traditionally 2D workflows.  Notice how many of these are a mix or 2D and 3D. 

Many manufacturing workflows are, and likely always will be 2D.  Companies who do the best job of meeting business requirements such as quality, time to market and cost, simply do a better job of using 3D data where it makes sense.  Many strictly 2D processes can be enhanced with 3D data.  In general, 3D communicates better.   The issue for manufacturing companies is extending workflows and making them easy to engage with.  That is why growth in the use of 3D data has been slower than many have predicted.   The CAD everywhere idea is spot on, but it hasn’t been easy historically to extend 3D beyond engineering to effectively blend 2D and 3D.  That is changing.   I think that is the place we’re going to see tremendous growth in coming years.

What should you do?

Find out how to extend both your 2D and 3D workflows as necessary, to the entire enterprise and outside to suppliers and JVs.  That is where the battle will be won or lost.  Then adopt technology that will allow you to both mix 2D and 3D technology and even more importantly, share it securely.

Your Opinion? 

So, while I admit my table above is not exhaustive, I would like to find out what your experience has been.  Think about whether you have done the things you need to do to extend your workflows smartly across and beyond you enterprise.  Analyze where 3D would improve what you are doing, and then ensure your engineering/manufacturing tools support that need. 

I would like to see some comments on this.  What would be required in your company to improve workflows, regards less of whether they are 2D, 3D or a combination (which is really the holly grail for many firms). 

Let’s start with a definition of PLM.  Dr Michael Grieves in his book Product Lifecycle Management defines PLM this way:

“Product Lifecycle management (PLM) is an integrated, information-driven approach comprised of people, processes/practices, and technology to all aspects of a product’s life, from its design through manufacture, deployment and maintenance – culminating in the product’s removal from service and final disposal.  By trading product information for wasted time, energy, and material across the entire organization and into the supply chain, PLM drives the next generation of lean thinking.”

Well, by that definition, Adobe is certainly not a PLM company.  So why would someone like me, at Adobe blog about PLM?  To understand, please read on.

Is Adobe a PLM company?  No, of course… never will be. We don’t come close to meeting Dr. Grieves definition of PLM and therefore what a PLM company is.  Is Adobe is a CAD authoring company?  No.  Is Adobe a product data management company? No.  We do not do BOM management.  Do we do engineering change management?  Nope.  ERP?  No.  So if Adobe is not in the PLM business, why did I name my blog “Doug at Adobe PLM”?  Well here is why:

Adobe’s mission is to revolutionize the way people engage with ideas and information.  A huge part of what Adobe does is vastly extending the reach of customer processes and systems.  I understand what it is like to have to enable global operations.  To share data with suppliers and JV partners.  Here is a picture I created recently to explain what I mean:

Adobe’s mission is to revolutionize the way people engage with ideas and information.  A huge part of what Adobe does is vastly extending the reach of customer processes and systems.  I understand what it is like to have to enable global operations. 

So, despite the fact that Adobe is not a PLM company, what Adobe does absolutely makes PLM solutions more effective.  Almost every entry on this site deals with sharing information and interoperability (almost every data format!) in ways that are difficult and expensive without almost complete ubiquity, and of course, the functionality to make access easy.  My focus at Adobe is manufacturing, and product information is the life blood of the industry. So yes, just like we help extend and solidify such things as legal, HR and purchasing processes, Adobe supports and enhances PLM.  

So the name will remain the same, but there is something I must confess.  The majority of manufacturing business processes are still 2D and many are paper based.  I think I have emphasized 3D data a bit too much, so my next entry will deal with what I see as the current balance of 2D and 3D processes and perhaps and making better use of all product data.