Adobe’s Solutions for Manufacturing

Adobe Systems has historically focused upon creating multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray towards rich Internet application software development [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_software]. With ubiquitous products like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Fireworks, Acrobat, Flash etc I was surprised to see Adobe's offerings for the manufacturing world. (Maybe it’s there for some and maybe I have just noticed while writing my previous blog post “3D PDF Technology – Where it fits in”).

"Adobe and partner software can be used to publish, protect, review, and archive product data as part of these and other product lifecycle management (PLM) workflows: 3D model-based definition (3D MBD), Item master creation, First article inspection (FAI) reports, Engineering change orders (ECOs), RFPs/RFQs etc." [http://www.adobe.com/manufacturing/solutions/product_development/]

This image shows where Adobe is trying to push its product in the PLM world:

I am not sure how successful Adobe has been in its endeavor to optimize product development since they are so much PLM vendor dependent to tie up with actual PLM systems. However I do think Adobe will be successful in helping organizations create and deliver more effective technical communications and enhance customer service because of their history. From their site: "Leverage 2D and 3D engineering data in the creation of technical publications (Work instructions, Field service manuals, Training manuals etc) for manufacturing, assembly, sales, service, and support. Provide technical publication users with a much richer, easier to understand learning experience by sharing 3D data in a more secure, easy-to-use format — 3D PDF. Whether it's a local field service technician repairing a commercial pump or military personnel in a remote desert outpost maintaining an F/A-18, anyone, anywhere can view rich, interactive 3D manuals electronically with free Adobe® Reader® software, which is installed on over 90% of Internet-connected PCs." [http://www.adobe.com/manufacturing/solutions/work_instructions/]

3D PDF Technology – Where it fits in

I happened to read about PROSTEP PDF Generator 3D in CIMData’s website this weekend which lead me to explore the world of 3D PDF’s. I find interactive 3D PDF files pretty amazing. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to view them please click on this link: http://www.adobe.com/manufacturing/3dpdfsamples/3dsolutions/ to view sample 3D PDF files. There are several examples listed like:

→     Turbine engine (PDF, 4.5M, Original CAD format: SolidWorks)

→     Jet concept design (PDF, 4.7M, Original CAD formats: Siemens NX, CATIA V5, and Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire)

→     Crankshaftassembly (PDF, 3.0M, Original CAD format: Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire)

I observed many tools when I opened these files in Adobe Reader including those to isolate Parts, different Part Rendering Modes including Transparent, Wireframes, Illustrations etc, different Model Rendering Modes, Model Tree highlighting - will highlight different parts in the model, 3D measurement tools, etc. PDF Generator 3D Reader Extensions Module offers the option of activating a large number of additional functions for using the generated 3D PDF documents in Adobe Reader. The recipient can, for example, add comments or fill in certain fields on a form. PDF Generator 3D Rights Management Module allows the information contained in the 3D PDF documents to be protected against access by unauthorized persons. Access rights can be restricted to a specific period of time and if necessary can be revoked when, for example, a document is no longer valid. Overall I feel it’s a good tool for visualization even though rendering and loading takes some time even with a powerful computer. For those interested in the details of the components of PDF Generator 3D have a look here:

I see 3 major advantages of using 3D PDF technology:

→     Standardization: No doubt there are visualization tools from nearly every CAD vendors which will help view a multitude of product data (e.g., MCAD/ECAD files, MS Office documents) without the authoring application. But all such tools need the downstream consumers to have the same tools which might be difficult considering that manufacturing and support services are likely to be outsourced.  I think Adobe tries to solve this problem with Interactive 3D PDF. “Interactive 3D PDF files look exactly like the original 3D design, regardless of the application used to create it or the environment in which it's viewed.” [http://www.adobe.com/manufacturing/solutions/3d_solutions/] The currently supported CAD formats are:

→     Reduction in Total Cost of Ownership: If your product data needs to be viewed across the Realise (Manufacturing), Use/Support (Customer service), Retire/Dispose phases (The phases are from John Stark's PLM Grid) then each user associated with the individual phases will need licenses for a visualization tool. With 3D PDF that cost is cut down. Since Adobe Acrobat is installed in the majority of users – this would also mean a reduced load on IT for installing and maintaining the visualization tool. However a details cost benefit analysis should be made comparing the total license costs of the currently used desktop-based visualization tool versus the cost of the 3D PDF Generator tool (a professional server solution that offers full functionality and accommodates up to 50 users for less than € 10,000).

→     Long Term Archival and Retrieval Solution: If the lifecycle of your product extends several decades then a question worth pondering is whether the CAD format would still be supported. While the PDF specification was available for free since at least 2001, PDF was originally a proprietary format controlled by Adobe, and was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 32000-1:2008. In 2008, Adobe published a Public Patent License to ISO 32000-1 granting a royalty-free rights for all patents owned by Adobe that are necessary to make, use, sell and distribute PDF compliant implementations. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format].3D PDF is the perfect candidate for a long term archival and retrieval solution. More information at 3D PDF Consortium http://www.3dpdfconsortium.org/pdf-standards-info.html.

Thanks for reading! I would be happy read your comments.