Creo Customer Q&A: Concept Design and Direct Modeling

By LINDSEY CHRISTENSEN | Published: JAN 11, 2012

RKS Design is consistently recognized as one of the top 10 industrial design firms in North America. I posted previously that VP and Creative Director, Lance Hussey, was to present in a webinar entitled Top Tips for Selecting Concept Design Software. Lance explains some cool real-world examples of innovative designs from RKS and how they came to be.

At end of the live event we received some great questions from the audience which were fielded to Lance as well as Creo’s Technical Sales Manager, Paul Hamilton.  For your reading enjoyment, the live Q&A transcript:

Q&A with Lance Hussey of RKS and Paul Hamilton of PTC

Q: Why do you believe direct modeling is a better approach than others duringconcept design?

LH: For our process, when we need to have the flexibility to change and go in different directions while trying to come up with something, direct modeling is fast.  History-based modeling is great, it has its place, it’s just a different type of tool. But because we really move around a lot on the map, in terms of being able to change and modify things, direct modeling is how we’re able to develop fast. It’s been a huge advantage in terms of the overall process.  Designers can come in and be comfortable enough to use it because they don’t have to understand the knowledge of how everything fits together and fight processes- they can just go create as they think through it.

Q: Do you use other tools like sketching or rendering during concept design?

LH: Absolutely, there is no replacement for hand sketching, we do that all the time. We also use Illustrator and similar programs that help us visualize before we go to 3D. But when there are tight time cycles or when concepts are hard to understand but simple enough to do in 3D, it’s an advantage to be able to do that.  I find that with direct modeling, you can net out a 3D concept in about the same time as a 2D concept, just depending on the level of detail.

Q: Is it important to also manage and keep track of the designs clients don’t pick?

LH: Yes, I think that is a very good question- What happens to the bandwidth of designs? If only one goes forward, what happens with the others?  Yes, I think that what can happen, especially with product development, is that sometimes those designs need to be looked at when similar challenges occur in the future.  It’s important to reconsider them and understand what might be their benefits and even apply those designs to unrelated products. We usually keep them in the database.

Q: How many design alternatives do you typically explore during concept design?

LH: It varies quite a bit.  For some projects it might be 3 alternatives and other times it could be 20. It depends on the type of project and expectation level of the client.  But typically we do 3-5 and narrow that down to 2 or 1. Sometimes you need to explore more options and whittle that down- so you make more in 3D before you narrow it down and develop further.

Q: Are you following any phase gate design process to design? If so, can you share your process or ideas for faster turnaround design from concept until production?

LH:  Yea, we use the classic design cycle. We do preliminary design with review points then decide how to move forward with selection.  It is a phased approach prior to strategy and research which then gets integrated in. The nice thing about our team is that a number of the designers are involved in the strategy and research.  This is really valuable when we’re translating that knowledge and data into either assets to provide our clients and/or the designs themselves.  We have a nice waterfall flow of what happens in strategy and research then going into the classic design cycles.

Q: Is direct modeling useful beyond concept design?

PH: Good question.  There are a few key characteristics of direct modeling that lend it very useful in a variety of areas of product development.  Certainly there are companies that use it from art to part. Some characteristics like those Lance mentioned make it especially fast. If you think about geometry and validating that geometry as quickly as possible there’s just nothing faster.

There’s also the flexibility that Lance talked about- the ability to interact with geometry regardless of how it was created or where it was created.  And when we’re working directly with geometry (as with direct modeling) you can interact with it from any source. It doesn’t matter what CAD tool it was created in, doesn’t matter how it was created- it’s geometry.  And geometry is the master document with direct modeling. As such, concept design is a great place to utilize direct modeling.

Direct is also great if you have to go through a bid proposal process. If you need to generate geometry and quickly validate it for proposals, nothing’s faster than direct modeling.

Another area we see companies utilizing direct for is preparing a model for the analysis process, maybe simplification and defeaturing for FEA. Companies may want to extract the negative space for computational fluid dynamics, things like that.  So there are a variety of areas where you can use direct modeling and it will add value in your process.

Check out the recorded webinar which is now on-demand.

Best-in-Class STEM Education at Newton North High School

By LINDSEY CHRISTENSEN | Published: DEC 29, 2011

I received a hot tip that I should interview English-teacher-turned-engineer Steve Chinosi at nearbyNewton North High School.  Steve has started up some amazing engineering programs over at NNHS that are receiving national recognition. Being the friendly neighbor that we are, PTC contributes to these programs both monetarily and with free software like Creo.  I went to talk to Steve in person and didn’t regret it – he has a contagious passion for the engineering programs and accomplishments of his students.

The Innovation Lab

Housing the organized chaos that is all things engineering at Newton North High School is the Innovation Lab (also known as Newton’s Lab because it serves all Newton Public Schools). The Lab, which opened December 2010, holds that its mission is to be a place “where educators, students, business and community stakeholders can explore and pilot new educational initiatives and partnerships designed to link students and learning to the world around them and address and create solutions for 21st century social, economic and environmental challenges.”

Steve (aka Mr C for those in the know) told me about a number of initiatives living within The Lab.  They tend to fall under either environmental engineering or mechanical engineering, or both!

Green Engineering

“Greengineering” is a program Steve started over 4 years ago, around the Design Thinking principals of IDEO, in an effort to transform his classroom into a multi-discipline Think Tank.  The club tackles a number of impressive projects:

• Making biodiesel from the waste vegetable oil of a nearby fast food restaurant
• Making reusable bags from plastic shopping or food storage bags.
• Growing algae for biodiesel use
• Solving the glycerin composting issue
• Innovative ways to make NNHS a greener school

With awe I followed Steve as he explained how the water heaters in the lab are reverse-engineered and reconstructed every year into bio-fuel creating machines.  The program is the first of its kind in the US.  Greengineering has won a number of prestigious grants and awards including the Governor’s Award, Secretary of Engineering’s Award and a Green Schools Award.

CAD Software for Students

The engineering organization at NNHS also involves students in CAD-centric programs that have been covered before on the Creo blog like FIRST robotics and the Real World Design Challenge.  In these exciting design engineering competitions, both sponsored in part by PTC, students are able to get hands-on experience using professional design tools like Creo.

I learned that beyond the programs for which NNHS has been supplied complimentary seats of Creo, they are using the design suite for other projects and competitions as well (even testing out adirondack chair designs before creating them in woodshop!).

Innovation Lab students familiar with Creo are also using it for 2D sketching, concept design and eventually simulation to give them a leg-up at UMass Lowell’s Assisted Technology Design Fair.  ATDF asks high schools to team with a disabled member of their community and produce an assistive technology that meets their unique needs.

Sea Perch photo credit to MIT.edu

MIT organizes an annual underwater remote-controlled robot challenge (doesn’t everyone?) called Sea Perch.  High School teams actually work together, albeit on different project elements, to address whatever the challenge is (last year it was to cap a simulated oil spill in the MIT pool). Although not required, Newton North once again takes advantage of using Creo to problem solve, collaborate and optimize their designs for the competition.

I hope to get back to Newton North High School soon to check out the teams’ progress within this wide array of commendable programs promoting STEM education and a better tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Innovation Gains Steam in China

By BARB SCHMITZ | Published: FEB 27, 2012

Few would argue that China has become the world’s leader in manufacturing, due largely to its lower labor wages and enormous pool of workers. That’s only one side of the manufacturing dominance equation, however. Due in part to a corporate culture steeped in tradition and hierarchy, China has been sorely lacking in innovation. This, however, might be changing, according to a recent McKinsey & Company report, “A CEO’s guide to innovation in China.”

Evidence of increased innovation includes a doubling of the global percentage of patents granted to Chinese inventors since 2005 and the growing role of Chinese companies in emerging wind-and solar-power industries. China is now also the world’s second-largest venture capital (VC) market, rising to $7.6 billion from $2.2 billion in 2005, while the American VC market has remained largely stagnant, according to Rebecca A. Fannin, author of “Startup Asia.”

The Chinese have traditionally focused on innovation through commercialization, being more comfortable than many of their Western counterparts to put out a new product or service quickly, then improving its performance through subsequent iterations. In China, it’s common for products to come to market in a fraction of the time it requires manufacturers in more developed markets. Though the quality of these initial releases is variable, subsequent ones improve quickly.

Chinese companies have greatly benefitted from their government’s emphasis on indigenous innovation, which it views as critical, both to the domestic economy’s long-term health and to the global competitiveness of Chinese companies. China has created innovation hubs to spur development in key growth industries such as life sciences, biotech, and semiconductors. Similar strides are being made in the communications and pharmaceutical industries.

China tackles emerging energy markets

China has made big gains in the business-to-business (B2B) sectors, such as communications equipment and pharmaceuticals. Other emerging markets are alternative energy, both solar and wind power. China will become the world’s largest market forrenewable-energy technology, and it already has some of the sector’s biggest companies, providing critical components for the industry globally. Not only does the country enjoy scale advantages, but also uses new homegrown manufacturing techniques that improve the efficiency of solar panels.

Success in B2B innovation is due in part to government policies, such as establishing market access barriers; influencing the nature of cross-border collaborations by setting IP requirements for electric vehicles, high-speed trains, and other segments; and creating domestic-purchasing policies that favor Chinese-made goods and services. The Chinese government, after all, owns most of the companies in China.

Corporate culture still risk-adverse

One of the challenges that remain is the fact that the traditional Chinese corporate culture does not support risk taking, an essential part of innovation. Internal collaboration and brainstorming—essential to developing new ideas—are all but absent from their corporate culture. Also lacking are advanced techniques for understanding what customers really want.

Let’s tackle the first one. Failure is a required element in innovation, but one shunned in China where a culture of obedience and adherence to rules prevails at most companies. One exception is a leading solar company that now transfers risk from individual innovators to teams. Shared accountability and community support made increased risk taking and experimentation safer. The company has used these “innovation work groups” to develop everything from more efficient battery technology to new manufacturing processes.

Fostering collaboration

Chinese companies are also lagging in promoting a culture of collaboration and the internal generation of ideas, which can develop into new insights, innovative new products, and business opportunities. In most Chinese companies, traditional organizational and cultural barriers prevent such exchanges of ideas.

The emphasis continues to be on competence in delivering products in large volumes rapidly. The country’s rigorous, linear processes for bringing products to market ensure rapid commercialization but create too many hand-offs where insights are lost and trade-offs for efficiency are promoted.

Fostering Innovation Through Better Brainstorming

By BARB SCHMITZ | Published: JAN 23, 2012

Successful new products start with innovative ideas. Generating new ideas, however, is often a difficult endeavor for organizations mired in the complexities of product development today. How do you fit in freewheeling brainstorming sessions when more pressing concerns (regulatory compliance, increased competition, demand for increased customization,skyrocketing raw material costs, and shortened design cycles) seem to take precedence?

An article, “Seven Steps to Better Brainstorming” by McKinsey & Company gives organizations some easy steps to follow to encourage the generation of better, more innovative ideas in-house.  The consultancy has worked with over 150 companies in a range of industries to develop a pragmatic approach—they’ve dubbed “brainsteering”—that captures the energy typically lacking in traditional brainstorming sessions. The trick, the company says, is to leverage the way people actually think and work in creative problem-solving situations.

Let’s take a look at some of the best practices recommended in the article.

Know the decision-making criteria. Often ideas hatched during these sessions die a quiet death because they are beyond the scope of what the organization would be willing to consider. Start out these sessions by laying out the real criteria (limitations or restrictions) the company will use to make decisions about resulting ideas. For example, while a company might be interested in ideas for new products, ideas that would require new regulatory approvals would be a no-go, regardless of how innovative the idea was.

Ask the right questions. Use the “right” questions as the platform for idea generation. Questions should have two characteristics. One, they should force participants to take a new and unfamiliar perspective, therefore, shaking up their thinking and eliminating the chance they will focus on ideas that worked in the past. Secondly, the right question limits the conceptual space your team will explore, without being so restrictive that it forces particular answers or outcomes. Limit it to 15 to 20 such questions and choose the questions carefully as they form the heart of the session.

Pick the right team. Choose people who can answer the questions you’re asking, not based on where they are in the corporate organizational chart. Pick people with “in the trenches” knowledge. Keep the boss away as they often prevent people from expressing unproven, novel ideas. Also, avoid adding “big mouths” to the mix as they take up too much time espousing their opinions, intimidate the less confident, and give everyone else an excuse to be lazy.

Divide and conquer. Conduct multiple, discrete, highly focused sessions among subgroups of three to five people—no fewer, no more.  Each subgroup should focus on a single question for a full 30 minutes. Of the total 20 questions, each group should be given five questions each. Isolate “idea crushers” in their own subgroup. These include anyone who, intentionally or not, prevents others from sharing their opinions and ideas. Can include bosses, “big mouths,” and subject matter experts.

Set your expectations. Before you divide the group into subgroups, tell them what your expectations are and what they will—and won’t—accomplish. Prepare your participants for the likelihood that each subgroup might only generate two or three worthy ideas, which can help prevent them from getting discouraged.

Wrap it up. A typical subgroup will generate perhaps 15 interesting ideas that warrant further exploration. If you’re running multiple subgroups simultaneously, your 20-person team should collectively generate up to 60 ideas.

What now? Unlike in traditional brainstorming, you should not have the full group choose the best ideas from the pile, because attendees don’t have the executive-level understanding of the criteria and considerations that go into prioritizing ideas for actual investment. Instead, have each group narrow its own list of ideas to a top few and then share all of the leading ideas with the full group, even though they will not be picking the winning ideas.

Follow up quickly. Decisions and other follow-up activities should be quick and thorough, as the odds that action will result from a brainstorming session tend to decline as time passes. Be sure and communicate the results of the decisions quickly to everyone involved, even when an idea was rejected.

The article was adapted from a book, Brainsteering: A Better Approach to Breakthrough Ideas (HarperCollins, March 2011) written by Kevin and Shawn Coyne. Read Seven Steps to Better Brainstorming in its entirety on the McKinsey and Company web site.