Networking and More

Looking at the industry trends, it appears that IoT, Industry 4.0 and product digitalization will substantially affect competition, profitability, and the structure in many industries, as did the previous wave of internet-enabled IT. To be prepared and to define their strategy, companies must understand how smart, connected products impact industry and their service organizations, in terms of competition, profitability, and the way companies do business. Service business is an essential part of most new business models that companies are implementing. Within the service business, it appears that Customer Business Related Services are driving the growth, while Product Related Services will shrink, if not managed very differently than today. The major trends that drive the development of advanced services are: (1) Manufacturing companies shift value proposition from Product Related Services to Customer Business Related Services (2) Everything as a Service: Customers want to consume techn

Windchill 11 presents a fresh look at PLM -- one that is focused on creating and leveraging smart, connected products. So what is next for PLM? Building on advancements in the current version of Windchill, this session discuss the roadmap and strategy for the PLM business at PTC, including new features in upcoming maintenance releases and beyond -- including a future vision for PLM at PTC and in the marketplace.

Windchill 11 is the first production-ready enterprise solution launched by PTC that is powered by ThingWorx to deliver new capabilities beyond any other PLM offering on the marketplace: to create smart, connected products and to leverage the information they generate. In this practical, technology-driven session, the presenter examined IoT is PLM and how new technologies and services both offered in Windchill 11 today and in-work in our Research and Development labs are delivering on this promise. This session showcased "concept  apps" demonstrating powerful engineering use cases that connect PLM with IoT.

All companies need to manage contracts for contractors, suppliers, and vendors. Windchill ProjectLink, along with Security Labels and Agreements, can manage this easily, safely, and collaboratively. To properly manage contracts, contract documents must be safely stored and have controlled access.  Windchill ProjectLink provides these capabilities out-of-the-box. Additionally, Windchill ProjectLink can provide subscriptions to document changes or as contract nears closures. Plus easily modified process workflows for contract creation, modifications, and closure. Throw in Security Labels and Agreements, and you can now have all outside parties’ access the same location without fear of unintentional information release. Agreements also provide date controlled access to the appropriate documents.

Augmented reality is rapidly moving from science fiction into reality. In this session the presenter discussed the potential future of augmented reality using 3D models and how it can help support design, manufacturing, operations, and service processes in the office and in the field. This session was a contemplation about the future of augmented reality and not directly associated with any existing software product.

This was a fun interactive session on tips and tricks in Creo Parametric 3.0. In game show fashion attendees answered questions while learning about tips, tricks, and what’s new in Creo Parametric 3.0. Topics covered included general usability down to new advanced features. Attendees were challenged to test their knowledge to see if they have what it takes to call themselves  a Creo Engineer.

Here is the updated presentation file with all the answers and questions for "Who wants to be a PTC Creo Engineer". If anyone is interested in the actual presentation file with the macros to make the "gameshow" work for use at your company let me know and I'll upload it as well.

Keep everything working out there and have a terrific weekend.A young engineer was leaving the office at 6pm when he found his boss standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand."Listen," said his boss, "this is important, and my secretary has left. Can you make this thing work?""Certainly," said the young engineer. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button."Well done, Well done!" said his boss as his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s largest producer and manufacturer of wind turbines, used Excel to run tolerance analyses combined with some trial and error on the prototypes for a new design. During one final test before shipping the first unit to the field they realized that the spinner at the center of the blades was colliding with the fixed nacelle. The required gap in the design wasn’t there in the actual assembly. What would they do? What would be most effective in terms of cost and time? Would they change the design - an engineering change could cost 5000€ just for the paperwork? Before understanding the cause of the problem one consideration was making adjustments at the time of final assembly in the field. Before changing anything, though, they used CETOL integrated within Creo to understand the true cause of the problem and explore better alternatives for resolution. Attendees learned how Vestas explored both manufacturing and design alternatives to enable them to solve t

Most companies live in a multi-CAD world. Whether you have a mix of internal CAD tools, or you are collaborating with vendors or suppliers using other CAD tools, you need an environment that minimizes disruption, and provides accurate, high value CAD data when and where you need it. The optimal solution is different depending on your needs. Sometimes a STEP file is sufficient. If STEP is not enough, Creo’s Unite Technology and Flexible Modeling capabilities may meet your needs. If your requirements dictate that you must have a native, parametric model in Creo, or that you provide native, parametric data and associative drawings to a customer or supplier in another CAD format, manual re-modeling is not your only option. This session covered some useful tips and technology that can help you operate as efficiently as possible in a multi-CAD environment.

Automating product and processes may reduce effort to launch or change a product configuration by up to 70%. The presenter discuss a proven high-level vision that provides a connected product development eco-system, while providing clarity through an enterprise dashboard. This resolves the issues of everything being manual, lack of executive visibility, fragmented systems, and lack of global infrastructure.

This session answered the question of “What are Things and how do I best use them?” by using the example of implementation and delving into the relationship of application requirements and ThingWorx constructs. Other questions addressed included: How to design the model for maximum re-usability? How do I encapsulate business logic and asset definitions to make the model as easy to maintain as possible? How do I plan for extensibility of the model?  When do I use a ThingShape versus a ThingTemplate? What is the difference between a data entry versus a Thing?

Products are evolving from “things” you ship to extended, connected experiences for your customers. Manufacturers must ratchet up their ability to envision and build new business models to navigate the shift to a new product-service continuum--where products evolve from disconnected, isolated pieces of hardware to encompass a services catalog and a “products as-a-service” model. Designing the “art of the possible” requires manufacturers to understand their end-to-end products’ lifecycles and ecosystems. So, how do you define the ecosystem of your product portfolio? How do you and your customer’s interact with each product throughout their lifecycle? How do your products interact with the rest of the world? Progressive manufacturers and producers of goods and services, like Sealed Air, are using new digital strategies to operate their businesses differently. They are entering the “as-a-service” economy with smart, connected products. For companies that want to learn how to transform the

The focus of this session was for attendees to learn more about PTC's Strategy and Solutions to accelerate the "factory of the future" and "Industry 4.0" initiatives.

Aircraft manufacturing requires the highest standards for quality and operational excellence. In this session, Thomas Bachellerie, Geometric Client Partner for Aerospace & Defense, Senior PLM Consultant, working for a leading aerospace manufacturer, shared a solution being piloted to resolve the link from digital model to shop floor operations, supporting a Right-First-Time approach. More specifically, Mr. Bachellerie reviewed a ThingWorx-based case-study where the Product Definition (Design) is automatically consumed to drive the Production Execution (Manufacturing Shop floor) and quality assurance processes.

Machine Learning helps us to make sense of data in multiple ways, from correlation to prediction of future data. One such application is the space of Augmented Reality where the real world data is over laid with augmented information. Together Machine Learning and Augmented Reality bring an entirely new perspective on how we interpret our world. This session introduces and explores the Machine Learning and Augmented Reality areas and finally, describes an example road map of adoption.

This session described how to drive productivity improvements in digital product development through intelligent Creo automated applications. The presenters described various projects related to Creo custom tools and process improvement application development based on Pro/Toolkit. The focus of the presentation was on the following  initiatives: Digital Quality Validation Tool; Digital Design Application in Creo and Driving Knowledge Based Engineering through Creo Integrated Mathcad Solutions.

Virtual and augmented reality technologies in the retail space can provide exciting new buying experiences for consumers and make product development tasks easier. Attendees at this session heard PTC’s perspective on potential use cases for leveraging these technologies and how they can applied.

The presenter shared how IoT technology can help you, as a retailer or brand owner, connect with consumers and your supply chain better. This connectivity can yield insights into consumer buying decisions, and provide supply chain visibility you’ve never had before. Both types of insights can lead to better assortments and designs, ultimately driving your top and bottom lines.

The presenter shared the new capabilities within the Windchill FlexPLM v11 release. The presenter demonstrated v11 features, reviewed the upgrade process, discuss architectural changes that allow customers to understand how the IoT technology supports Windchill FlexPLM v11.

The presenter gave an update on PTC’s roadmap for its retail solutions. The session discuss both near-term and long-term objectives of the retail roadmap, along with the capabilities that address these goals.

The presenters discuss Home Depot PLM journey and shared how they did this by establishing a business case, creating the appropriate team, setting the appropriate scope, deploying base functionality, created stability before they expanded the footprint.

Have a great weekend and be safe.Thanks, Dale

HMS discussed how to position IoT technology to win over the operational technology (OT) teams.  Concrete examples were provided including several strategies for extracting accurate data from automated and semi-automated industrial systems without impacting the performance of the system.

People, process and technology are all vital linchpins in the establishment of a working system. Adoption is a commonly neglected topic, time is spent on process and technology. Organizational Change Management (OCM) is the practice of managing change and improving adoption in the organization.  In the session, Javier Cubero, a Systems Engineering Architect at KPIT discussed the importance of OCM to a productive system.