This morning, Buzz Kross (Sr. VP, Mechanical) and Dr. Andrew Anagnost confirmed the theme Autodesk stated earlier this year: Digital prototyping. This is a bottom-up approach to going beyond mere modeling into the world of simulation, but focusing on the creation of a virtual product that behaves like the product, to the extent possible.

The concept is presented in contradistinction to PLM - product lifecycle management - which is a fuzzier, less-focused concept, promoted by Dassault Systemes and Siemens PLM (formerly UGS).

At this very moment, I'm watching a presentation by  the CIO of Franke, a huge manufacturer of kitchen systems (McDonald's, Burger King, more, and homes). He is pointing out the essential underpinning of the Autodesk Mechanical message: That integration must happen bottom-up, over time, not through big conversion of the entire company.

Karl Thysell, R&D Development Manager for HTC Sweden, a much smaller firm, is now speaking about their use of Inventor for creating beauty in their large floor-polishing equipment. They have made digital prototyping a competitive advantage, both in terms of reduction of the number of prototypes, and in terms of elegance of design.

HTC's vision is to have a complete "digital pipeline," from ideation through the supply chain. Inventor has helped them solve problems that required innovation. One example was a huge new machine, designed from the ground up in 4 months.

Both users indicated that integration of mechanical and electrical is almost there, but not quite.

Thysell indicated that digital prototyping greatly facilitates communication with patent attorneys, for the creation of patents. 

Brenda Discher gave Thysell the Autodesk "Inventor of the Month" award for October.

Tomorrow: What the future holds.