Adobe Solutions for Manufacturing

I have been working with a colleague and mentor, Mike Juras of Vertare Corporation, who has introduced me to the concept of Relational Product Creation.  Relational Product Creation is grounded in Complexity Theory, and points to a whole new model of product development. The RPC concept is based upon a business operating framework that requires interoperability, a process framework that requires contextual collaboration and an open source infrastructure.  I won’t attempt to fully describe Relational Product Creation in this brief article, but I will focus upon a couple of key elements: in context collaboration and interoperability.

Like most successful innovators, Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC) has created created innovative and segment leading products through close collaboration between JVC and its hundreds of parts suppliers. JVC has realized substantial benefits, such as:

• Reduced document exchange cycles from as long as 20 days to 1 day
• Improved accuracy and timeliness of input from reviewers
• Eliminated errors from manual data entry by automating data capture
• Shortened product time to market with accelerated document exchange
• Increased competitiveness of manufacturers

To learn about how JVC was able to achieve these improvements, continue reading below. 

The Adobe Flash platform was integrated into the Acrobat product family with version 9 and this enabled a lot of very cool, cutting edge features like portfolios and dependable/flawless video playback in the free Adobe Reader. The collaboration tools were integrated with the video content as well enabling anyone to comment directly on a specific frame of a movie using the 2D commenting tools. In addition to all this, the engineering team also added the ability to use Flash content as a 3D material which opens a whole new world of possibilities for 3D content inside of PDF.

If you are interested in understanding how this works, there is a two part tutorial on AcrobatUsers.com you'll want to watch. Here's part one and here's part two.

John Warnock and Chuck Geschke will each receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama at a White House ceremony next Wednesday.

Here's an excerpt from a White House press release:

"The National Medal of Technology and Innovation has its roots in a 1980 statute and is administered for the White House by the U.S. Department of Commerce's U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The award recognizes individuals or companies for their outstanding contributions to the promotion of technology for the improvement of the economic, environmental, or social well-being of the United States. Nominees are selected by a distinguished independent committee representing both the private and public sectors.

From the White House press release:

"These scientists, engineers and inventors are national icons, embodying the very best of American ingenuity and inspiring a new generation of thinkers and innovators," President Obama said. "Their extraordinary achievements strengthen our nation every day--not just intellectually and technologically but also economically, by helping create new industries and opportunities that others before them could never have imagined."

The Adobe founders are being acknowledged "for their pioneering contributions that spurred the desktop publishing revolution and for changing the way people create and engage with information and entertainment across multiple mediums including print, Web and video."

Terry Wohler's group covers the manufacturing industry and publishes an exhaustive annual report on the current state of the industry. He attended the Collaboration and Interoperability Conference last May in Estes Park and sat in on Chris Senesac's presentation on how Boeing Rotorcraft Systems has deployed 3D PDF for multiple use cases. He was so surprised at learning that PDF can now contain precise geometry suitable for fabrication along with PMI, 2D drawings and associated technical documentation that he wrote an entry in his blog, Wohler's Talk. It's worth a read and you can find the entry here.