Engineers want a formula for Social Media....

Social media has been quite the buzz lately covering the entire spectrum. Some engineers have grasped the idea, others are probably more the skeptical engineering type. There are alot of guys that want a better explanation to exactly what social media is and what it does for them. There are some guys that want a better explanation to exactly what social media is and what it can do for them. I get the feeling that some guys want a formula that can show what social media can do for them? I'm not sure it's that easy.

I saw a post from COFES where an engineer jokingly stated that "...yeah, I'm not going to design a plane on facebook". Pretty funny statement, brings a bit of reality to the topic. I have had conversation with guys about Twitter and other tools out there. Response is mixed, either they feel they "don't get it" or feel its "not for me". The reasons are all over the map-- don't care, no time, not interested. What I find interesting is that these same guys don't have any issues frequenting certain forums of interest. I'm not sure Twitter is much different, it all depends on how you use it.

I do appreciate the skepticism, but I'm not a fan of narrow mindedness. Just because its different, just because you aren't into it or understand it, doesn't mean it has no value.

Simply put, social media, in my eyes is about communication, interaction, collaboration, knowledge gathering and knowledge sharing. Hmm, parallels engineering pretty closely from a top level? I'm the first to admit that there is a lot of fluff that all gets categorized as social media. But I think there is tremendous value being "plugged in, connected and informed".

Not too long ago, PTC announced what they coined Social Product Development. Instantly, eyes began to roll as it looked life another acronym was in the works. BUT, I immediately got what they meant. They are right! Is My Space and Facebook going to take over product development? No. But the idea of collaborating via the web, staying in tuned with other sites across the globe is a requirement in today's world. Tomorrow's engineers don't know life any other way. They will change the way we collaborate and view communication from a product development standpoint.

There are products popping up all over the place that allow engineers to communicate their design ideas across all of the aspects of product design. Check out vuuch. A tool that enables the design discussions within a cad environment. All of these tools will rise and fall over the near future. The strong will survive.

We will see the future of social media and product development begin to incorporate PLM/PDM info, text messages via iphones, instant messaging systems, video messaging, 3D mark-up, including FEA/CFD simulation and physical prototyping as well as 3D printing. Seem far fetched? Hang tight, folks, its coming.

PTC is for sale???

I just stumbled across this little gem. With all of the mergers going on, probably not that much of a surprise. If we look at the activity of late - some of it makes sense, some of it not so much.

To me, it makes sense that Autodesk is expanding it's horizons. Expanding its simulation game by acquiring Plassotech and Moldflow. Trying to become the dominant player.

Dassault Systems seems to be aligning itself by renaming/re-branding all of their product lines. ANSYS is just buying everyone and becoming this massive behemoth of a company.

So where does this leave, good ol' PTC? Arguably they are the leaders of PLM. They recently acquired CoCreate to either expand on some of their technology or more likely, gain traction in some of the CoCreate install base to sell MathCAD, PDMLink etc??? Now, they are putting the "For Sale" sign on the window? For $2B?

I have to admit, I am not sure I fully understood why Siemens purchased UGS, so I guess this falls in the same category. Who can afford a $2B purchase? I am not sure anyone in the MCAD/FEA/CFD world, so perhaps another monster company coming in like Siemens?? Maybe Google, Microsoft? How about Apple? One can only wish!!!

PLM is the Theme of Wildfire 4

The term "PLM" has been around for a number of years. I used to view it as a smoke and mirrors type of marketing campaign. I never really understood it, until recently. I used to always view the CAD market as high end (old, clunky, yet powerful) vs. mid-range (new, super cool, 90% functionality). I really didn't get the high end market. I figured alot of it had to do with legacy installations and complicated relationships at large organizations. But the more you dig into it, there is some method behind the madness. It is more than just modeling products and tracking them via a vault system for PDM. There is the interaction with ECAD data, routing & tubing but more importantly it is the "lifecycle" of the design. Not sure I can really put words around what that means, but I think I get it. Check out the New Features in WF4, it should shed light on what I am saying.

We have been partners of PTC for a very long time. We have been fortunate to see Pro/Engineer evolve substantially over the last few years. Having access to all of the CAD systems is a real treat. We are able to get our hands on the releases ahead of time and provide feedback to the developers. I have been driving WF4 for a few months now. To see a video of how to perform an Upfront CFD analysis with Wildfire 4, click here.