Category: PLM

Digitalization for the High Seas

The sun is shining in Hamburg, and the mild autumn air is in motion – even though I am perfectly equipped for rainy weather. In early October, shipbuilders from around the world gather in a conference hotel near the harbor for the CADMATIC Digital Wave Forum. The user meeting invites participants to experience CADMATIC’s CAD application for shipbuilding firsthand and to learn about current trends, product innovations, and new developments. The highlight: CADMATIC Wave, an integrated CAD/PLM solution specifically designed for shipbuilding and jointly developed by CADMATIC and CONTACT.

Model visualization simplifies data retrieval and collaboration

After our first coffee, we slowly make our way into the conference hall. The morning is filled with numbers and facts around CADMATIC’s digitalization strategy. In the afternoon, our Managing Director Maximilian Zachries presents CADMATIC Wave to the 200 participants. As we demonstrate the first functionalities of the integrated Product Data Management (PDM), some attendees quickly pull out their phones to snap a photo of the feature. I am somewhat excited – now it’s official. Now we also need the data model. And that isn’t quite so simple.

Cadmatic's Atte Peltola introduces the audience to Cadmatic Wave

CADMATIC’s Atte Peltola presents CADMATIC Wave. (© CADMATIC)

The resounding call for a data model for shipbuilding carries me through the three days in Hamburg. During my conversations with industry colleagues, it becomes evident that the information required and generated in the shipbuilding process must be able to be mapped within the model. Model-centric is the magic word: the ship’s geometry is visualized, including equipment, fittings, and logistics. Information can then be retrieved and added via the specific parts of the model. Model visualizations provide a shared and intuitive view of the ship for all involved trades, significantly simplifying information retrieval. This enhances the efficiency of engineering activities and collaboration, also with partners.

Basing a data model on ship geometry is challenging

Engaged in a discussion with a research associate from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), we stumble upon a question: Is the geometry model even suitable for generating a generic product structure for data storage in the PDM? After all, as a placeholder in a data model, there are quite a few locations in such a ship. And let me put it this way: data models are typically organized along the processes in product creation, not the geometry of a ship model. I am curious to see how we will solve this challenge in CADMATIC Wave.

The evening event takes place on the Cap San Diego, a museum ship in the Hamburg harbor. The rustic flair of a ship’s belly and the lavish buffet create a cozy atmosphere for lively conversations. We talk about life in Finland and Norway and the difference between information and data management. The evening ends stormy and rainy, and I finally put my rain gear to good use and return to the hotel dry and warm.

SEUS brings European shipbuilding to a new efficiency level

At the CADMATIC Digital Wave Forum, I also meet my consortium partners from the Smart European Shipbuilding (SEUS) project for the first time. Among them are representatives from NTNU and CADMATIC, as well as employees from two shipyards, the Norwegian Ulstein Group and the Spanish Astilleros Gondan SA. SEUS is an EU-funded research project with the goal of developing an integrated CAD and PLM solution for shipbuilding. This endeavor goes way beyond the functionalities we develop in CADMATIC Wave. For instance, we aim to incorporate knowledge management and utilize AI for searching within product data.

In this context, the broad positioning of our research department, CONTACT Research, works to our advantage. Our focus areas include not only Digital Lifecycle Management, where we conduct research on digitalization strategies for various industries, but also Artificial Intelligence. The AI product data search we aim to implement in SEUS allows us to bring our self-declared motto to life: “Bringing artificial intelligence into the engineering domains.”

As three days in Hamburg come to an end, three strong impressions remain:

  1. It is necessary to design an abstract data model for shipbuilding. One that contains the modules of a ship and yet can be customized to fit the specific needs of any shipbuilder. This data model must be closely linked to the development process.
  2. Personal exchange and meeting each other face to face have been an enriching experience for me in this new work area. This positive feeling motivates me for my future work in the SEUS project.
  3. In Hamburg, rain gear is a must.

Anyone out there not yet in the cloud?

Yes, this is a serious question: Is there anyone who does not yet use cloud services, whether from their computer at home, at work or directly from their cell phone? We have all become so accustomed to using cloud servers like WhatsApp, Facebook or Dropbox. And these services work, are secure and are always available. Who would want to set up their own server at home for data communication or file exchange? Even at work, more and more companies are renting data exchange (Dropbox Enterprise) and communication services (Slack, MS Teams). In short: The use of cloud services at home and at work is becoming more and more standard.

So why not use the same kind of data management, file sharing and collaboration services for product-related data such as 3D CAD models, bills of materials and design specifications in the cloud?

Why not PLM from the cloud?

In the past, there was some skepticism about this in terms of network bandwidth, performance and security. But cloud solution providers, especially the big cloud hyperscalers, have done their homework, providing sufficient network capacity and even running their own physical cables across oceans. Take a minute and do the speed test at Amazon’s AWS Global Accelerators (https://speedtest.globalaccelerator.aws/#/).

Security concerns can also no longer be a valid argument for not running business-critical applications like a PLM system in the cloud. Companies like AWS, Azure and Google offer everything you need for highly secure, encrypted communications. Add your own virtual private network, single sign-on directory access, and multifactor authentication with timeout, and you’re as secure or more secure than you could ever be with your own infrastructure.

Cloud PLM from CONTACT Software

So it is a logical step that CONTACT Software also offers its solutions in the cloud. The idea: to reach a larger customer base faster (time to value). Since then, numerous potential and existing customers have actively approached us to run our products CIM Database PLM, the project management solution Project Office or the IoT platform CONTACT Elements for IoT in the cloud.

The CONTACT Cloud Solutions offer customers, on the one hand, a standard SaaS solution (Software as a Service – see NIST) with all PLM, project management and IoT functions that you can also install on-premise. In addition, there are predefined ERP interfaces in our technology platform as well as CAD integrations based on the new Workspaces Desktop for Web. For customers who want to customize the application or even implement their own solutions on top of the CONTACT Elements framework, CONTACT offers an enterprise edition of its platform in the cloud. This contains the entire CI/CD DevOps infrastructure to program locally, merge customizations, verify and deploy to test and production instances in the cloud.

So what is there to wait for? Get to know the possibilities of the CONTACT Cloud now.

Context is King – virtual collaboration in product development

The past two months have given the topic of virtual collaboration an enormous boost. The Corona crisis has forced everyone to deal with this topic. And the conclusion is consistently positive!

In the first few weeks, the main task was to create the possibilities for virtual collaboration. Now it is a matter of continuing to use the potential of these possibilities after the return to “normality”. What’s even more: many companies are taking the experience they have gained as an opportunity to rethink their structural and process organization and to further digitalize business processes.

Special case product development

While common office solutions in combination with video conferencing are easy to use in areas such as administration, marketing or sales, they often reach their limits in product development. One reason for this is, among others, the high level of interdisciplinarity in this area. Many different specialist teams have to work together at the same time and on several projects. Added to this is the high complexity of the work objects, which are often developed as structures and have many different relationships with each other. In order to work together productively under these conditions, the possibilities of the usual IT tools are not sufficient.

New requirements for IT tools

Intelligent platform solutions for collaborative product lifecycle management (PLM), which enable context-related interdisciplinary work, provide a remedy here. Context-related means that all work objects are linked to each other and can be called up at any time in the work process and from any context. Analysts like Gartner speak of content collaboration tools. This means that you can navigate from one work item to all neighboring work items without having to search and ask questions. This guarantees efficient and valid collaboration, especially in distributed teams.

Intelligent platform solutions offer yet another advantage in collaboration: a common environment in which all project participants can inform themselves and view changes directly. Cross-team chat functions, so-called activity streams, support the consistent exchange of information on the current status of the project. Especially in virtual collaboration, this guarantees a continuous flow of information, which in most cases more than compensates for the lack of “office grapevine” or the meeting at the coffee machine. Gartner has a term ready for this, too, which is Workstream Collaboration.

Another key component of intelligent platform solutions is the use of integrated task boards, which allow development teams to organize their tasks independently. In the past, task lists with several hundred entries were often used. Today, task boards allow only important milestones or quality gates to be set, but leave the individual tasks within the milestones to the teams themselves. This allows an interdisciplinary, distributed team to carry out a joint weekly planning on screen in virtual sessions, e.g. via Zoom.

The main advantage of integrated task boards is the direct linking of to-do cards on the boards with the work objects. This avoids not only the time-consuming search for the appropriate work objects, but also error and version risks. These additional expenses and risks usually occur with purchased individual solutions.

Conclusion:

The Corona crisis has prepared the ground for the continuous expansion of virtual collaboration – also in product development – from now on. Product development places special demands on IT tools for efficient virtual collaboration. Especially working in context is a decisive productivity factor here. Selected intelligent platform solutions for collaborative PLM already meet these requirements today.