SolidWorks: Heard! - speaks out about SupplierSource

It’s really nice when someone else does your job for you! Especially when they do it so well.

   

Lou Gallo, from SolidWorks: Heard!, recently did a great podcast that dissected SupplierSource, described all of our parts and then put us back together again. He clearly explained so much in a short time that I’m tempted to use it as the audio when I present SupplierSource to SolidWorks Users Group meetings.

Thanks Lou, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Shop Rats Rule!!

This really gets my motor running! These folks just plain get it - big time. ShopRat.org knows that we’re running out of Shop Rats and they’re doing something about it.

Manufacturing all over the world relies on a continuous supply of Shop Rats to keep its motor running, therefore we ALL rely on Shop Rats. If you’re here at SupplierSource, then you care about manufacturing and engineering and already know what a Shop Rat is and are probably proud to be one. For our friends and visitors here’s a little help:

These characteristics are true of Shop Rats all over the world, not just the US. Let’s be honest with ourselves, the only reason we need groups like the Shop Rat Organization here in the states is because we’ve “forgotten” how important Shop Rats are to our way of life and have chosen instead to glorify individuals and groups with other skills rather than the ones that make our world possible. Now our daily life is becoming a steady stream of reminders of why we need to include Shop Rats in our recognition of true heroes. This not an “us vs. them” issue. The real issue is that we all rely on each other.

Yikes! I’m getting a little passionate there. I care. We should all care.

Shop Rats all over the world deserve our respect. Each of us needs to work a little harder to both earn that respect and to share it too. Go see what ShopRats.org is doing and see if you can help them - and yourself - whether you’re here in the states or somewhere else in the world trying to understand how to help make things better.

Many thanks to Marie Planchard, Director of Worldwide Education Markets at SolidWorks Corporation, who told me about ShopRats.org in the first place.

(Hopefully, she won’t regret it now.)

RSS - better than a fire hose

If you’re thristy, you could try drinking from a fire hose, but that usually involves a fireman who has other things on his mind. The hose, the volume of water and the direction are in his control. Good luck getting what you need. 

You could use a garden hose and then you get to hold the hose. You also control the volume of water and you decide where it goes. But, you still end up with a lot more water making puddles on the ground than quenching your thirst.

 You could use a glass and maybe even some ice to add further controls.  You decide what’s in the glass now and when and how you want to drink it. Even so, sometimes you  still end up dumping all the ice cubes down your front.

Use a straw and now you’re making all of the decisions and you can avoid the embarassing avalanche too.

So, now that you’re not thirsty any more, we can talk about the whole RSS thing. 

RSS means Really Simple Syndication. It also means you decide which glass you want to put your straw in and how much you want to drink and when. Those little orange things all over our site mean you can put your straw there and not have the avalanche of ice, the puddles, or your lips ripped off. You’re asking that part of our website to notify you when that part is updated.

If you want to know whenever we have a new company added, then you click on the orange button next to the “New Supplier Listings” and subscribe to that feed. Many of our service categories have RSS feeds too. You can subscribe to updates for only the services that you want. You decide what you want to read about.

So, look for the orange icons to help turn the internet firehose into an information stream that you control and enjoy!

This Google page has lots more detailed technical information about RSS and how to get set up. It’s not hard to do and it is worth it.

Lies, Dang-blasted Lies, and Statistics

Mark Twain (working with Benjamin Disraeli’s original material) got it right that we must be careful when presented with statistical information. The interest of the presenter is always behind the statistics. That is also true in this case; however, I’ll show you the tools to create the stats for yourself and maybe even apply the same tools to help provide insights into your own internet environment.

 The following charts come from www.Compete.com . You can go there, register, recreate them, and look at the tabs and other information provided for a more complete understanding. Compete and other sites are well-known for their constant monitoring  and presentation of web trends. Trends is the keyword here. Capturing what is really happening on the internet is like saying that one fish in the ocean is getting bigger and another is getting smaller - so what! It only matters if the bigger trend matters.

This first chart is to figure out who are the big fish and who are the little ones. (We’re down in the minnow part of the chart.)

The second chart shows us in comparison to one of the fish that’s quite big in our part of the reef.

The third and fourth ones show us with the fish that we see all the time.

 

I’ve put these simple charts out there, so that we all can see how deep the ocean is and where SupplierSource fits on the food chain. We’re working hard to make a difference in your personal ability to put food on your table, but certainly don’t want to pretend that we’re bigger than we are. Just as fish are one part of a balanced diet, SupplierSource is one ingredient in your marketing pantry. Use it appropriately and it will taste just fine.

The best statistics are the ones that you understand and that you can get more information about when you want to. So go to Compete (or someone else) and start exploring the depths of the internet! Have some fun and let us know what you find.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) disclaimer: no actual fish, large or small, were in any way harmed by the mash-up of analogies in this post.

Help save your own way of life!

As inventors, designers, engineers and ultimately - makers of real things, we sometimes feel like an endangered species when we look at the entertainment-based world around us. Don’t people understand that what we do is important too? Don’t they understand that without us, what would they play their video or computer games on?  Without us, how would they even have the power to do all the things that are so much fun?

More importantly - do we understand what we can do to help save our own way of life?

Dean Kamen (not always my favorite guy, but in this case he’s right on the money) made a short, but accurate assessment of our current cultural state of being as a speaker at SolidWorks World 2008. His 15 minutes summed up what we’re facing and identified one way to make a difference. My condensation of his 15 minutes = “Less passive absorption of entertainment and more active involvement in teaching and making”.

It’s not an earth-shaking solution, but it does work. Keep doing what you’re doing with the passion that makes it worth doing - and share that passion with the people who are just learning what this world is all about - kids!

This screen grab from the FIRST website www.usfirst.org pretty much says it all:

Just look at those smiles! 

We’re all competitive; that is what survival is based on, but in this case, being FIRST is about igniting a passion for science and technology in our young people. Let them feel first-hand the power of dreaming and creating and those new generations of makers, designers and engineers will help us survive and thrive.

FIRST actually means: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Since its start 15 years ago, FIRST has grown to provide inspiration for over 150,000 kids in 2007. That’s a lot of real science and technology learning! But it hasn’t happened in a vacuum. For every excited kid there were many adults who helped them along. That’s where we come in to help save our own way of life.

Go to the website and see what’s going on in your area. See what you can do to help - time, money, skills - they all make it work. They all help remind you of why you do what you do. Doing it with them will also provide a return on your investment that can’t be quantified.

Oh yeah, it’s a blast too!

Thinking about hardware

SupplierSource is an internet application. My hands never get dirty and I never get a blood blister or new scar on my hands as I do my job. Even though I’m in San Diego to attend a celebration of software - SolidWorks World 2008, (full disclosure: SupplierSource is part of Dassault Systemes, which is also a parent of SolidWorks) it was a “hardware moment” that made me feel at home.

 The unmistakeable warning horns of an approaching train drew me to the window to watch as four massive diesel electric locomotives pulled a mile long (maybe more, maybe less) train of freight cars right through the middle of this high tech, tourist-driven setting.

As I watched its steady, unstoppable (and loud) progress between the attractive convention center and the elegant Gaslight District of downtown I was reminded of the massive amount of hard work and hardware that helped make San Diego what it is. The aircraft industry and the naval base were once the throbbing heart of this town.

A boat tour of the harbor is a stunning reminder of the amount of hard work and hardware required to build and maintain aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and all the support vessels that allow them to work together as a fleet.

A brief chat with a retired aircraft industry worker amongst the displays at the Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park can quickly remind a careful listener that hard work and hardware are the muscle and backbone of the world, whatever the end product is.

It was good and it was satisfying to be reminded of these things as I prepare to be immersed in the world of software.