World Telecommunication Day 1999

IHT October 11, 1999


Case Study: Design Teams Work Together On-Line

An U.S. manufacturer uses Internet-based software to allow collaboration between teams in Iowa and Singapore.


When mechanical engineers at Fisher Controls International Inc. in Iowa wanted to discuss modifications to a new design with their counterparts in Singapore, they came across a number of communication problems.

First, fundamental engineering terms such as ''rib'' and ''boss'' meant subtly different, but crucial, things to the two groups.

Second, it became apparent that even identifying the relevant part as the subject for discussion was fraught with difficulty.

Overall, the process took time and left no one with complete confidence that the resulting modifications would produce what was required. Randy Hall, an engineering associate at Fisher Controls, says that ''we wasted about three weeks'' on one particular part design.

Fisher manufactures process control valves, instrumentation and pressure regulators for the energy industry, and engineers at its Marshalltown headquarters are in regular contact with the company's design centers in Singapore, France and Japan and with manufacturing plants around the world. But conveying complex mechanical concepts over phone, fax and e-mail was leading to expensive misunderstandings and delays, especially when communicating across language barriers and time zones.

Fisher says it has found the solution in a 3-D collaboration software tool that allows personnel located worldwide to meet and work together on a product design in real-time over the Internet.

OneSpace, from Hewlett Packard Co.'s subsidiary, CoCreate Software Inc., is a client-server-based application that lets staff view a 3D model, suggest and try out modifications, update the stored model and download the results - from any location in the world with a PC and an Internet connection.

Contributors direct the meeting over a conference call and view a shared perspective of the assembly on their PCs. The engineer or marketing executive leading the discussion can change the view of the product as seen by each of the other clients logged onto the session. Zoom settings and view angles from the lead client are broadcast by the server to the others, ensuring that everyone is looking at the right part from the right perspective.

Any participant can highlight any part of an assembly and then try out modifications in real time.

One advantage of OneSpace is that it can bring people with different levels of experience into the design process at an earlier stage, Mr. Hall says. With a clear visual model to refer to, the marketing staff is able to follow the engineering discussion and make suggestions.

''We might think it's great and meets all the codes,'' says Mr. Hall, but then find out later that in the marketing department, ''nobody likes it.''

After experimenting with the system in Iowa, the next step was to train engineers in Singapore. Once they were familiar with operations, control was handed over so that they could lead the U.S. team through a design meeting. Together the two teams were able to reach decisions quickly, finalizing complex specifications for new ribs, blends and wall thicknesses in less than two hours. ''Singapore ran the session,'' Mr. Hall says. ''By the end, we had a model we all agreed on.''

The cost - $10,000 for 50 hours of session time, or $50,000 for unlimited use of OneSpace - is cheaper than sending engineers to Asia or Europe.

CoCreate also offers a server-hosting service - accessed via the Web - for companies that would rather not invest in their own hardware and software.

OneSpace delivers maximum efficiency only if all players involved in the design process are able to access the system, so Fisher is encouraging its third-party suppliers, such as die-casting plants, to sit in on OneSpace sessions. The security system includes different access levels so that a vendor's view can be restricted to the parts of an assembly that pertains to it alone.

Eventually, Mr. Hall would like to see suppliers install the client software on their machines. ''It doesn't cost them anything, and they don't need a high-end box. They're usually pretty excited about it, and it gets them off our back for schedules.''

Sheridan Nye