5 tips for better collaboration within the design team

Increase transparency in interdisciplinary development projects

Perhaps you are familiar with the story of the lumberjack who could not fulfill his workload because his axe had dulled – yet he did not take the time to sharpen it. In many design and development departments, you encounter a very similar situation. Simply put, the right tools are missing to make work truly efficient.

One could also refer to this as “sneaker collaboration”: when there is no cross-team data management established, engineers have to run around in search of the right CAx models, drawings, or product data. Important information is buried deep inside databases of different authoring systems or in unsynchronized directory structures.

Heaven forbid the designer or project manager is not readily available to answer questions about changes to the product. Which version is the current one? Why was this design chosen specifically? Lots of questions, long distances, few answers.

As you may already suspect – of course, there is a better way. These 5 tips help you improve collaboration within the design team and attain traceability in interdisciplinary projects:

1 Use modern authoring and data management tools

The range of CAx solutions is extensive and serves nearly every niche. It is crucial that a solution includes all the functions and tools relevant to your work and leads to fast and high-quality results. Only then can you increase the efficiency of design and manufacturing – which is absolutely essential, since development and innovation cycles are getting shorter and shorter. Companies must be able to bring new products and innovations to market faster than ever before in order to stay ahead of their competition.

In addition to modern authoring systems, engineering teams should also leverage another tool: Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). PLM software assists you in managing the entire product lifecycle, from ideation to production, marketing, and product operation.

2 Establish a “Single Source of Truth”

Design teams often have to search extensively for product data like CAx models or drawings, as they are stored in different authoring systems and not synchronized. These so-called data silos significantly complicate information exchange and collaboration.

With modern PLM software, you establish a “Single Source of Truth” – a digital home for your data. CAD, CAE, and MES software are integrated via open interfaces, as are Office and ERP applications. Check in advance whether a provider offers open interfaces – otherwise, you run the risk of inadvertently tying yourself to an ecosystem, a so-called Vendor Lock-in.

With a Single Source of Truth, you ensure transparency and always keep a clear overview – even in demanding development projects. Another advantage: since all relevant information and documents are gathered in one place, you can, for instance, link product data with upcoming tasks and further enhance the efficiency of your development processes.

3 Facilitate remote work

Today, teams collaborate not only in one location or time zone but also across different sites and from the home office. PLM software should be designed to facilitate this shift. With the rise of New Work, remote work is becoming increasingly important. Particularly employees from generations Y and Z now take working from home for granted.

Thanks to cloud-based software models like Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), companies can now fulfill this promise. Via the cloud, employees access the same software and shared documents from any location – provided they have an internet connection and a web browser. Information is exchanged in real time. New team members can be integrated easily and flexibly depending on project requirements.

4 Keep your software up-to-date

To ensure that all employees have access to the same features of a PLM system, a single software version should be used across the entire workforce. This proves to be a challenge for many companies because extensive software updates may require numerous manual steps.

Cloud-based software helps you get around this problem. Software updates and patches are automatically provided, downloaded, and installed over the internet. Since the software is centrally managed, changes can be rolled out to all employees quickly and with minimal effort. Furthermore, the SaaS provider is responsible for software maintenance and administration and provides technical support when needed.

SaaS software also excels in terms of cybersecurity, which is increasingly coming into focus. Regular updates not only fix softwarebugs and expand functionality but also eliminate security vulnerabilities. Backups ensure that crucial data is always available and protected. Regular security checks by the SaaS provider and strict data protection guidelines further enhance protection against cyberattacks.

5 Use no-code software to get started quickly

PLM solutions are often associated with high investment costs and long implementation periods. As a result, companies fear disruption to their operations and avoid their implementation. However, this does not have to be the case: thanks to SaaS, a PLM system can be put into operation quickly, as there is no need for a local installation on the company’s servers. With instantly operational software and standardized, preconfigured function modules, you can start right away. Configuring the SaaS PLM software does not require any specific IT expertise (no-code) and can be performed by the departments themselves.

However, even the best PLM software squanders its potential if it is not used or only used hesitantly. Hence, the PLM provider ideally offers a trial version, allowing you to get an impression of its user-friendliness beforehand. Another advantage is an online onboarding, which guides you step by step in getting to know the system and setting it up. Training sessions conducted by experts help your team use the software effectively and seamlessly integrate it into their day-to-day work.

SaaS software is typically used on a subscription basis. If the need arises, more licenses can be added effortlessly – scaling a system could not be easier. This keeps your company flexible and allows you to keep costs in check – with pay- per-use, you only pay for what you actually use.

In a nutshell

Modern design tools are essential for high- performing design teams, but they are not enough on their own. The efficient management of technical data and cross- location collaboration additionally requires PLM software. When provided as Software-as-a- Service from the cloud, companies and their development teams benefit from additional advantages:

  • Quick and easy start into professional PLM
  • Scalability and flexibility through easy addition of licenses
  • Working with always up-to-date and secure software

With SaaS PLM software, you take the desire for digital transformation, streamlined processes, and efficient collaboration into your own hands – regardless of your resources.

Take advantage of cloud-based PLM software now: CIM Database Cloud is the solution for end-to-end digital product development. With “Collaborate”, you optimize product development and collaboration within the design team.

PLM systems are of crucial importance for manufacturing companies. They not only serve as a central data source, but also as a tool for efficiently managing development processes. Due to their many advantages, an increasing number of companies are choosing cloud-based PLM software instead of on-premises installations. Learn in our white paper how companies benefit from cloud PLM and what you should consider when selecting and implementing a solution.

Asset Administration Shell as a catalyst of Industry 4.0

“Country of poets and thinkers” or ” Country of ideas”: Germany is proud of its writers, scientists, researchers, and engineers. And of its meticulous bureaucracy, which aims for absolute precision in statements or indications. Combined, this often results in awkward word creation when naming technical terms. A current example of this is the “Verwaltungsschale” (literally: administration shell), whose innovative potential and central relevance for Industry 4.0 are not immediately apparent.

What is an Asset Administration Shell?

“Verwaltungsschale” is not a dusty administrative authority, but the very German translation of the English term “Asset Administration Shell” (AAS). The AAS is a standardized complete digital description of an asset. An asset is basically anything that can be connected as part of an Industrie 4.0 solution (for example, plants, machines, products as well as their individual components). It contains all information and enables the exchange and interaction between different assets, systems, and organizations in a networked industry. Therefore, it is pretty much the opposite of a sluggish authority and currently the buzzword in digital transformation.

As with many new topics, definitions of AAS vary and are quite broad. From very specific like the Asset Administration Shell as an implementation of the digital twin for Industry 4.0 to the loose description of AAS as a data plug or integration plug for digital ecosystems.

I prefer the representation of the AAS as a metamodel for self-describing an asset. With this metamodel, further models can be generated to provide collected information. Through the use of software, these models are then “brought to life” and are made available to others via interfaces.

Concept and usage of the Asset Administration Shell

As a digital representation of an asset, the AAS provides information or functions related to a specific context through its submodels. Examples include digital nameplates, technical documents, the component or asset structure, simulation models, time series data, or sustainability-relevant information such as the carbon footprint. The information is generated along the various phases of the lifecycle, and it depends on the specific value network which asset information is of importance. Thus, submodels are initially created in certain lifecycle phases, specified and elaborated in subsequent phases, and enriched or updated with information in the further process. Thereby, the AAS refers to either a very generic (type) or a very concrete (instance) representation of an asset.

As assets change over time (as-defined, as-designed, as-ordered, as-built, as-maintained), so does the Asset Administration Shell. Thus, multiple AASs can exist for the same asset over the lifecycle. In order to utilize the information in the AAS within its value network, it needs to be accessible. Access is usually given via the Internet or via the cloud (repository-deployed AAS). In intelligent systems, the management shell can also be part of the asset itself (asset-deployed AAS).

Information can be exchanged in various ways. Either via files, so-called AASX files (AAS type 1), via a server-client interaction such as RestAPI (AAS type 2) or via peer-to-peer interaction (AAS type 3), in which the AASs communicate independently using the so-called I4.0 language and perform tasks cooperatively.

While type 1 and 2 take a passive role in the value network and are more likely to be used with repository-held AAS, type 3 describes an active participation in the value network and is more likely to be used with asset-held AAS running smart products.

Common standards connect!

No matter what type of Asset Administration Shell you choose: Important is that the recipient and the provider speak the same language. To achieve this, the exchange of concrete information must be standardized. Considering the amount of different industries, scenarios, assets, and functions, this is an immense number of submodels that need to be standardized. Organizations and associations such as the Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA), formed by research institutes, industrial companies, and software providers, are tackling this mammoth task. The rapidly growing number of members as well as the lively exchange at trade fairs and conferences among each other illustrate the potential for the industry. It is important not to leave SMEs behind, but to involve them in the standardization work in the best possible way.

Conclusion

The Asset Administration Shell is at the core of successful Industrie 4.0 scenarios. It enables manufacturer-independent interoperability and simplifies the integration of all types of assets into a collaborative value network. It increases efficiency within production processes by providing complete transparency of the real-time status of each asset. And it also offers a comprehensive security concept to protect the data. Within a very short time, the AAS has thus transformed from a theoretical construct to a real application in practice. Together with partners from research and industry, we are working within the ESCOM and Flex4Res research projects to make it usable on an industrial scale.

AAS in practice

In CONTACT Elements for IoT, you can create, manage and share asset administration shells. Our blog post ‘The asset administration shell in practice’ explains how companies benefit from this.


More cybersecurity using the password

Today is “change your password day” again. A well-intentioned
initiative for more IT security. Coming originally from the military context of the 1960s, the recommendation to change your password regularly can still be found in many corporate policies today. Modern guidelines such as the current BSI Basic Protection Compendium and the NIST Digital Identities Guidelines drop this requirement because there are more effective strategies to increase password security:

Password length over complexity

First of all, a strong password needs to be changed only if there is a suspicion that it has been revealed.

Today, attackers can try out billions of passwords within a very short time using automated systems. Especially if these systems are accessible via the network or have access to the password hashes and can therefore be effectively tried offline. The complexity of the password is therefore completely irrelevant if it is too short. Recommendations for length vary from 8 to at least 14 characters.  Advances in attack tools such as Hashcat, and faster, specialized password-guessing hardware, are driving these requirements ever higher.

Compliance policies today require individualized login credentials. This eliminates the risk a password is known to many people and thus the need to change it regularly. One long password for exactly one person for exactly one service. Pretty secure.

Passwords are no repeat parts

To be honest, haven’t you ever used the same or a very similar password for multiple services? You should get rid of this habit quickly because a successful attack on one service automatically leads to a successful attack on others. The use of already privately used passwords in a corporate environment is particularly critical.

Modern password policies ensure that passwords appearing in lists of captured passwords are rejected. The website haveibeenpwand, for example, indicates whether a password has been captured. Modern systems offer interfaces to check passwords in this way. In CONTACT Elements you can easily activate them:

from cdb.sig import connect
from cdb.authentication import check_pwned_password
connect(‘password_acceptable_hook’)(check_pwned_password)

Password manager instead of one-size-fits-all

Password repeating is bad, and so are short passwords. Users face the challenge of remembering a large number of long passwords in their heads. Writing it down on a piece of paper and hiding it under the keyboard or sticking it on the bulletin board is not a solution, because a camera can capture it.

It is better to use a password manager. It can create and manage long passwords and makes them easier to enter via copy and paste. Unfortunately, some companies, driven by the concern that a Trojan will intercept the passwords on the clipboard, block the copy and paste method in their applications, preventing the use of a password manager. However, in the case of a Trojan attack, this measure is usually ineffective and companies should instruct users to use a password manager to increase their IT security.

Beware of highwaymen and tricksters

Even the strongest password does not protect against attacks if it is intercepted. It’s often surprisingly easy to do. Connections without a minimum level of security like Transport Layer Security (TLS) are an open book for any attacker. Older network protocols such as Kerberos also offer numerous gateways. Ransomware exploits these to spread across the corporate network. As soon as an administrator logs on to a compromised computer, the attacker has the credentials, and shortly thereafter gold and silver tickets are created and the Windows domain is firmly in the attacker’s hands.

Here, too, security stands or falls with the password, because it is used in the calculation of the authentication tickets and, due to the symmetrical encryption, enables the attacker to calculate the password back from the ticket.

Increase security through multiple factors

One recommendation to get around the weaknesses of passwords is to include other factors. This works very well from a security perspective. A second factor significantly increases security in almost every case. In most cases, it is of secondary importance whether these are one-time passwords such as TANs via SMS, time-based codes such as Definition Time-based One-time Password (TOTP), or even simple confirmation emails with links.

The downside of second factors is the additional effort and the impact on usability. Helpdesk processes become more complicated, users need to be trained, and login processes often happen more slowly.

Single sign-on – both a curse and a blessing

Users love single sign-on (SSO), where you only have to enter a password and a second factor once to use numerous services. This minimizes the effort enormously – but also for the attacker. Particularly if access depends on a weak password only. A central login system also solves many problems for compliance when users are blocked or reports are generated. The costs for user administration are also reduced.

Single sign-on turns the “one password per service” argument above on its head. Again, only one password stands between the attacker and your system. If the attacker knows the password, he has access. And then the single sign-on system opens all doors for the attacker.

Detect phishing

Even stronger mechanisms such as TOTP or hardware key generators do not protect if the password and access code are entered on a fake website. This practice is known as phishing. The solution, on the other hand, is channel or token binding and links (binds) the desired access to the channel through which the access is requested. This means that a token is only accepted for access to device A but not to device B of the attacker. This form of multi-factor authentication is very secure and easy to use with modern hardware or cell phones. For enterprise IT, integration with common platforms is relevant here. Windows Hello, Apple and Android support the FIDO2 / WebAuthn standard specified by the FIDO Alliance to detect phishing and make single sign-on secure.

Passwords are obsolete!?

Starting from the WebAuthn standard, there is a new initiative since 2022 with passkeys – driven by Apple, Microsoft and Google – to banish passwords from applications and single sign-on. You can change your password to a passkey today if your device supports it and use 2024’s “Change your Password Day” to delete your password and never have to use it again.

More Information on Cybersecurity

Learn everything you need to know about building a reliable IT security architecture for protection against cyberattacks in our free white paper “IT Security for Enterprises”.