The CAD Insider

Synchronous Technology Faces the Herd Mentality

I know someone who won't vote for McCain because he has short arms.

Of course, you'll make your choice for the right reasons. Or will you?

At a recent CAD user meeting, the speaker asked the assembled thousands if anyone had analyzed the presidential candidates, like with a spreadsheet? Had any one bothered? Surely, something as important as picking the right presidential candidate would warrant some serious consideration. This was a crowd that was all about analysis -- you would think. These guys did FEA to determine if their bracket would only bend elastically or made decision grids to find the optimum muffin fan for their electronic enclosures.

I was ashamed.

So it's hardly surprising that even a decision as picking a CAD program is made without hard analysis or a technical assessment. I recall making a detailed checklist when I was picking a solid modeling product -- but that was back in the 80's. I haven't heard of anyone doing that lately. People say there is no need. More than one CAD industry executive has told me the products are all the same (though not on record).

Now Synchronous Technology could change the game. Suddenly, there is something new, different...exciting. Is it enough to overcome the herd mentality? Or will new users still buy what other are buying? Safety in numbers. Why stick your neck out? Solid Edge may be the greatest software on the planet but who on earth uses it? Will I be all alone?

Synchronous Technology- A Revolutionary Technology Seeks a Revolution

Synchronous Technology looks like a big technology breakthrough for solid modeling. Being able to change a part at will -- without having to first understand how it was created -- will be like flying after being used to walking. I expect Synchronous Technology, or perhaps some variant of it, to reduce history-based modeling to a historic relic. We're going to realize that we all didn't go 3D because of history-based modeling, we went 3D in spite of it. So compelling is Synchronous Technology.

But I must take a deep breath before I promise a revolution. I have to remember Synchronous Technology is still only a technology, part of Solid Edge, part of UG. To get it, you have to buy one of those applications. That may be what Siemens PLM is banking on. But for the existing MCAD user, that is asking a lot. Changing religion might be easier.

It's hard to imagine an existing customer of SolidWorks or Pro/E volunteering to switch to Solid Edge, despite the advantage Synchronous Technology offers. CAD users are quite stubborn. While being able to edit or change a solid model is a clear advantage with Synchronous Technology, it may not compensate for the years of investment in their existing MCAD software. Who wants to go back to school to learn another application? How can you turn your back on the hundreds of legacy models already created?

After creating a compelling technology, Siemens PLM now needs to create a bridge to it. 

The Case for Factory Automation

 Factory automation software, such as offered by DELMIA, is far from commonplace. While CAD softtware is taken for granted in architectural design, mechanical design, even machining, the idea of using software to plan assembly lines and configure and guide robot, is more the exception than the rule. The far more common way of creating even todays sophisticated factories seems to still be guided by experience, old school planning -- and sometimes very expensive trial and error.

This was brought home with the following story, allegedly at some unnamed automotive plant.

A robot tasked with placing windshields on a car body on an assembly line had received faulty instruction. It would pick up the windshield just fine, swing and reorient it to place it, but it would stop not soon enough. It was pushing the windshield into the car, not by much, but enough to shatter the glass. Technicians tried in vain to dodgethe flailing robot arm while being sprayed with exploding glass. Soon the floor was covered by slippery glass particles.

I imagine the assembly line had to be stopped while the robot was reprogrammed.

Should that video ever be available, I'm sure it would sell a lot of Delmia seats -- not to mention be a big hit on Youtube.

Lunch with Philippe Charles

The DELMIA press event and North America user conference that recently concluded in Detroit was an excellent introduction to factory automation software as well as the folks at DELMIA.

  CEO Philippe Charles told me over lunch that many DELMIA customers are also CATIA customers, and therefore the company has good penetration among the big aerospace and automotive customers. What about electronics, food and pharmaceutical companies, I ask, thinking of more places that would benefit from automation or modeling of assembly lines and production facilities. Not so much, says Philippe.

Phillipe has a PhD in EE, writing his thesis on signal processing. He is brother to Bernard Charles, CEO of Dassault. What would it be like to have your brother for a boss, I wonder. He spends 40% of his time in Delmia HQ nearby Detroit but home is in France. He doesn't get jet lag.

He asks about the new collaboration tools shown onstage. Clearly, all Dassault is pushing 3DVIA. I tell him the UI (turntable, lack of menu) is clear, child's play even. Philippe is attentive, unhurried, thoughtful. He can make even a journalist feel important. So I venture that although it is nice to be collaborate online, there are time when one is offline and still have to work. For example, managers (an ideal demographic for collaborative tools) may spend a lot of time on airplanes. Could there be a way to keep data locally which would synch up later with online collaborators? I point out that this already being done for documents.

"So we have some work to do," says Philippe with a smile.

Synchronous Technology Pt 2

Huntsville, Alabama will not live up to your expectations of the deep South. Everyone is from somewhere else. I have yet to hear a drawl. I am told Huntsville has the highest concentration of PhDs and the second biggest number of supercomputers in the US. It's also supposed to be quite the little hotspot. I wouldn't know. I've spent the whole day immersed in synchronous technolgoy at the Solid Edge "headquarters" inside a a vast industrial park ("2nd biggest in the US").

It was great to finally spend all day with the software I had read so much about. Also, being able to ask questions of Siemens PLM directly was much appreciated. My goal was to learn if synchronous technology was more than hype. Was it the revolution many were claiming? I had been shown many demos, but it's too easy to dazzle with hand picked simple parts. How would synchronous technology behave on more complex geometry? I had bought several "real world" models with me to test.

But first I had to sit through some marketing presentations (which I had already seen) and then undergo basic training (which I probably needed). Precious little time was left for testing my samples. I was given a demo of Solid Edge with synchronous technology. I'll hope for a rainy day to run my samples.

So my conclusions at the end of the day are short of an unequivocal thumbs up or thumbs down for synchronous technology. But the following seems clear:

1. Synchronous technology does indeed look like a valuable tool, based upon the demos I've seen, what I've read, and now the little hands on experience I've had.
2. The advantage of editing a solid model without the encumbrance of history is undeniable.

I'm sure synchronous technology will be embraced by the existing Solid Edge user base.

As a reader points out in previous comments, users can be resistant to change. But I think just changing one part may be all the convincing they will need to believe in synchronous technology.

Synchronous Technology: Revolution or Hype?

Unless you have been orbiting Pluto for the last few months, you heard how wonderful synchronous technology (ST) is and how if will revolutionize solid modeling. The buzz is the loudest I have ever heard. While some of the credit must go to the marketing staff at Siemens PLM for conducting a brilliant PR campaign, there seems to be more to it.

Is ST really that good?

Joining in the praise of synchronous technology have been an unusually high number of CAD insiders: analysts, editors and authors. Most surprising has been the reaction among users of rival MCAD software, who typically only get interested in other software to bash it. News of ST has lit up the SolidWorks blogs. While not openly praising ST, there was an unmistakable envy among the bloggers. Why can't we do that, they seem to ask.

Caution at accepting vendor claims seems prudent, as many revolutions are promised but few are delivered. Certainly, CAD was one such revolution, So was 3D, and parametric.

Maybe I'm the last hold out. But I'm trying to get my hands on the software to see for myself. Siemens has agreed, providing that I take a one day training class at their Huntsville, Alabama office where most to the Solid Edge team still reside.

Stay tuned for a hands-on report.