What is the future of search for PLM?

April 28, 2009

There is no doubt a search changed the way we work today on the Internet. Remember how looked for  information in the pre-Internet and pre-Google age? It wasn’t so simple as today. 

So, the change of the user’s behavior regarding ‘search’ has created a lot of opportunities on the Internet surface. I’ve tried to look at how PLM and search intersects and perhaps find new ways to improve PLM system behaviors today. I touched on this before in my posts about Enterprise Search and PLM. So, I’ll do a deeper discovery into this space.

 What is available today? :

 1.    Enterprise Search.

This term is used to describe the application of search technologies inside of organization. This term is opposite two other searches – web search and desktop search – it is probably the most relevant to what PLM does inside an organization. The ability to find the right information about product, documentation, changes etc. is extremely important. I think that this area will grow in the near  future.

 Microsoft Futuristic View on Enterprise Search

2.    3D Space search.

This is a very specific area in search applications that allows you to specify your search criteria based on certain geometric characteristics of a product. Even if such capabilities already exist inside of many PLM applications, this search is interesting since it can connect to an enterprise search. Actually, it’s important to integrate 3D Space search into enterprise search and other applications.

 Dassault Systems 3DLive User Experience (UX)

3.    Visual Search / 3D search

If 3D Space search mostly uses 3D as a criteria for search (WHERE), Visual search (or 3D search, as I call it) is mostly about being able to provide a search with information about WHAT to search for. This can be interesting for the decision making and design process areas – because it allows you to find all information visually. Sometimes, however, it’s misleading as it can be hidden by wrong meta-information and additional data.

 Innovative solution from 3DPartBrowser 

The above are my top three perspectives for Search in the PLM domain. I’m going to discover search topic in context of PLM during these days on Infonortics Search Meeting in Boston. During this meeting, I had some casual talk with Steven Arnold and got some interesting perspectives on his Beyond Search Blog. I’m looking forward to speak more about this topic in the future…


3 Comments | Daily PLM Think Tank, PLM User Experience, Technology | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by olegshilovitsky

Does PLM Behave like Deep Web?

March 20, 2009

I’m sure you have heard about Deep Web. For those who are not aware of this term,  Deep Web, (also known as Invisible Web)  is part of the Web which is not accessible by search engines. Even if Google has reported passing 1 trillion indexed pages, this is still only a small fraction of information available on the internet.

 I see that this story is very similar to what is happening in the backyard of PLM. PLM is trying to manage information about products from the initial idea of the product through to its disposal. Although there are lots of design models, engineering bill of materials, manufacturing plans, sales plans, and support reports, it looks like PLM is still catching only a small fraction of Product Lifecycle Data available in the organization.

 So, what is the main problem? I think that, content is the biggest PLM problem. This content – designs, different kinds of bill of materials as well as supplier’s bids and support claims etc. –  are hidden from most of the organization and is therefore unmanaged by PLM systems. How can we improve it? In my view, the ultimate goal should be to make PLM-related content available in an open format. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not talking about “another 3D format every CAD system can read/write”. I’m talking about an open format that allows us to expose PLM-related information in a way that it will be accessible in the manufacturing organization and beyond.

 This time I don’t have a recipe for how to cook up the next steps. I think that PLM and related industries have taken many steps in standardizing CAD/CAM/CAE data by inventing  multiple formats. However,  most of them, as well as initiatives around their creation, have been rather unsuccessful. IGES and STEP have been used widely. I think PDF is mostly used as a stable format for long term storage, but this is far from providing the ability to manage content.

 I will be glad to hear about your experience in this field as well as about developments I may not have discovered  (As I’ve mentioned, Google cannot yet dive into all the data available in the Deep Web Water :) ).

3 Comments | Collaboration, Daily PLM Think Tank, Design, Productivity, Technology | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by olegshilovitsky

Search for the right BOM – I’m feeling lucky?

March 20, 2009

 I’d like to start  a wide topic for discussion – BOM. Yes, Bill of Material. This may seem like an old topic, I think, since most of the work that manufacturers do, starts from a Bill of Material (requirements) and ends with a Bill of Material (built/support/disposal). Therefore, my first question in the Bill of Material discussion is how to find right the Bill of Material in an organization? You, of course, know about the “I’m feeling lucky” button on Google start page. So, how many times have you felt lucky and found the right Bill Of Material with single click?

 My initial thought was to discover multiple types of Bill of Materials organizations manage today.

 1.     Concepts /Ideas –I’m not sure that there is a formal BOM here. But probably there is some relevance to existing BOMs in the organization.

2.     Design – CAD systems and other design systems are increasing their potential of showing and managing Bill of Materials.  

3.     Engineering – PDM/PLM and other TLA (Three Letter Acronyms) systems are used here. But, I think, from a market share standpoint, MS Excel is the leader.

4.     Manufacturing – ERP is heavily presented in this space. Sometimes PLM supports the Manufacturing BOM. If ERP is not setup in the organization, manufacturing is supported by various homegrown systems and… by MS Excel.

5.     Supply chain – depends on the type of communication and various collaboration tools, CAD/Design/PDM/files and again…. MS Excel.

6.     Support and others – various systems for asset management, industry-oriented tools for product having long lifecycle, etc.

7.     Regulation – recently, there is a growing trend for support for various regulations. This leads to the question of how to manage a regulation Bill of Materials.

 While looking at this list, which I’m sure is not complete, I started to think about how I can find the right BOM for what I’m doing now for my role in organization. I don’t have an answer today, but I think, there is  some room for innovation.

 As I consider PLM Think Tank as a discussion place, I will be very glad to hear your voices as I will be continuing discussion on this topic in my upcoming posts.

11 Comments | Daily PLM Think Tank, PLM and organization, Productivity | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by olegshilovitsky

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