Best Practice and Tips and Tricks from Mike Watkins

Thought I'd share a few early details of an example of an iOS app that we are working on to show you how you can track GPS locations and upload photo's to PLM 360 using the REST API.   T his can also be done for android but for this example I'm using the iOS version.  There could be a number of uses for this like field inspections, tracking locations of your product install base or even a basic capture of the locations of your customers. If you have PLM 360 Enterprise licences you have access to the PLM360 REST API. This will allow you to develop iOS or android apps that work with PLM 360.  PLM 360 has a RESTful API. Like most client/server APIs, it consists of a collection of functions that a client application initiates. Structured data is passed back and forth during these function calls. In the case of REST, a function is represented as a URL and structured data is passed in the body of the HTTP request and response. Basic knowledge o...

The Next Industrial Revolution is here. Are you part of it?  Discover the future of manufacturing at Autodesk University.  Register now for Autodesk University 2013 (AU 2013) in Las Vegas, an event that offers manufacturing training and events for a new era on December 3-5. Join us for interactive workshops, product design classes, and keynote addresses by thought leaders and innovators on industry trends that are changing the way you do business. Learn why new technologies such as additive manufacturing, crowdsourcing, and advanced automation are transforming manufacturing.  This year, we are also introducing I3D Summit , a summit for progressive thinkers, fellow designers, manufacturers and leaders. This not-to-be-missed innovative experience will feature the most creative and inspiring visionaries, investors, and media in business today. This two day event happens on 12/1-12/2 right before Autodesk University. It will inspire and ignite ideas...

As I'm sure we can all agree for those of us who have kids, LEGO is BIG in most households. For me being a PLM fan I love the process of seeing the un-constructed box of parts and then seeing it through to the finished product. A perfect match for people and process !! but I'm not a fan nor do I get excited to pour over a 50 page booklet to begin building . To help you out, Autodesk and LEGO have collaborated in developing the newly released 3D Builder app, containing interactive 3D assembly instructions for the latest LEGO MINDSTORM robots. These interactive instructions are forward thinking and have game changing potential for the industry.   See it in action ! Hear more about it from the Autodesk Publisher team . Thanks for reading....Mike

This week I'm covering a new app in the PLM 360 App Store, the  MFG Costing to Engineering app . The Costing to Engineering app helps with one of the most important phases of your product design. The costing, quote, order and engineering processes, use the app the track the progress at each stage and make sure that everyone is involved in the approval process. This app consists of 5 workspaces: Project Management: This is the top level project, all of the costing, quote, order and engineering process are managed and tracked via dynamic Gantt chart. Stage 1: Costing Management: To track the initial product costs and review with the internal review team. Stage 2: Quote Management: To produce the quote and submit to the customer, you can also create a bespoke print view to match your company standards and logo. Stage 3: Order Management: Once the quote has been approved this will take you through the order entry process. Stage 4: Engineering Management: This is...

This week I'm covering a new app in the PLM 360 App Store, the  Autodesk Services Implementation Tracker PLM 360 App . I met with Ian Hadden from Autodesk Services to discuss the app and tell us all about it. Mike:  Hi Ian, thanks for taking the time to speak to me, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you do for Autodesk? Ian: I sure can Mike, I am a Solution Architect with Autodesk PLM Services. My role is to help Autodesk’s PLM customers get the most out of their PLM deployments. That means understanding what they are looking to do with PLM, helping them find the right configuration of the system to achieve their goals and assisting in the development of that configuration.  Mike: Sounds like you’re a busy man! Can you tell me about Autodesk Services and what are the main services you offer our customers? Ian: Autodesk PLM Services has a menu of offerings designed for a variety of customer needs from packaged workflow s...

This week I'm covering a new app in the PLM 360 App Store, the CE Marking  App. The purpose of this app is to manage the approval stages needed for the affixing of the CE marking on your products. With this app you can also create the EC Declaration Of Conformity  and get an automatically generated document ready to print and sign for the official bodies to approve. Background to CE Marking.. CE marking does not indicate that a product was made in the EEA, but merely states that the product is assessed before being placed on the market and thus satisfies the legislative requirements (e.g. a harmonised level of safety) to be sold there. It means that the manufacturer has verified that the product complies with all relevant essential requirements (e.g.safety, health, environmental protection requirements) of the applicable directive(s) – or, if stipulated in the directive(s), has had it examined by a notified conformity assessment body. Using the CE Marking App ...