Config-tag Management: can we learn a trick or two from social media?

[c12774]

I would like to discuss this publication that extrapolates how information is managed by social networks for social tagging to see if there is something that can be learned to structuring and classifying industrial products data and how this could be applied to how companies define their own product.

 

[ptruitt]

Thanks for posting this. I am more of a CAD designer than a CM professional, so it is basically 'over my head'. I know that from small to large organizations, most folks consider more old-school comparisons of methods that force all of the organization to use one BoM (Frank Watts) or linked systems that give the various groups in the organization more latitude (David Garwood). Since I am not able to comprehend the paper very well, I am somewhat frustrated and want to make a rather unhelpful comment: The paper takes us closer to a highly automated system where customer requirements are processed digitally into a 'house of quality', design automation processes use algorithms to produce a robust design, additional algorithms optimize the factory floor given materials and tools, and driverless trucks deliver the goods to the customer. All that is left to do is to automate consumerism. Sorry to be rather negative. I do like my 3D CAD and enjoy many benefits of technology. My concern is that the human species needs to evolve or most of us will serve technology, rather than the other way around. So when the complexity goes over my head, I can't but react negatively. I do sense that the system envisioned could be part of next-generation business analysis software that might execute, or assist (the better option, in my opinion), planning that would benefit Wall Street, if no one else. Nevertheless, thanks again for posting this. Perhaps it will add clarity to what/how decisions are made, even now, as we try to do things better. I hope my response does not keep you from wanting to influence our evolution for the better, I am sure.

Peter Truitt
Minnesota

 

[c12774]

Dear Peter, thanks for your point of view, I agree technology should serve us and not the other way around. Effectively, my vision deals more with enlarging the technology limits to get bigger profit of the added value the people can give to the development of a product. In this way the system described would grant more flexibility and dynamism allowing a multiple but well inter-connectedand product view for not constraining the people because of the existing and limited ways of doing product data management.

Moises MARTINEZ-ABLANEDO
Toulouse