This demo highlights the Web's role in the design and manufacturing of the Silicon Graphics O2 workstation.

Author(s): Erik Mulder

Quick Start:

Following the links to the OutBox homepages of each of the participants in the process, you will see how information was shared between members of the team, from the Product Manager and Chief Engineer to the Analyst and Industrial Designer.


More Details:

Using the power of the World Wide Web to make knowledge available throughout a product's development cycle is transforming the way corporations do business. Web technology is simply a way of automating the capture and publishing of information, and is fast becoming the most convenient method to enable communication and collaboration on a more immediate level.

All of the information and content that people have on their desktops, in file systems, databases, or tied to other applications can now be easily shared using Web technology. Employing a browser, with its familiar graphical user interface (such as Netscape Navigator), Web technology makes it possible to integrate data and link or cross reference that information in a way that makes it available to everyone involved. The entire product development cycle is accelerated by integrating all the different modules in the design cycle more closely.

The Demonstration

This demo highlights the Web's role in the design and manufacturing of the Silicon Graphics O2 workstation. It consists in two parts; OutBox and Pole Vault.

Following the links to the OutBox homepages of each of the participants in the process, you will see how information was shared between members of the team, from the Product Manager and Chief Engineer to the Analyst and Industrial Designer. Each homepage uses a default layout that includes: introductions and explanations of roles, email links, a description of what can be found on the page and folders and files that have been published.

The Pole Vault link leads one through a demo of Silicon Graphics' internal product documentation system. This tool allows users access to all this information at the time of a product's release. As a result, data can be found using the network for things such as: accessing part information, viewing real-time training instructions, as well as service information.

(note: this does not link to a live database)

OutBox

OutBox is a software tool that ships with every Silicon Graphics desktop workstation. It turns your system into a personal Web server, allowing other people to access your OutBox homepage using the standard Netscape browser.

It was designed to be a user-friendly publishing tool for those with little or no HTML knowledge. As a result, everyone involved in the development of a product is empowered with the ability to contribute to the project and to remain informed of its progress.

OutBox:

  • creates a default homepage for each user on the system
  • allows the user to customize his/her homepage using Cosmo Create
  • allows the user to publish any kind of data onto his/her homepage using the OutBox drag-and-drop publishing utility

Pole Vault

Pole Vault is Silicon Graphics' internal, worldwide interface for accessing manufacturing information. It leverages existing Web technology and was created to provide a simple data inquiry interface for a large number of engineering processes.

Users can query Pole Vault using one of ten tools:

  1. AVL (Approved Vendor List) - Searches for approved vendors' names and commercial part numbers.
  2. CRU (Customer Replaceable Units) - Searches for customer replaceable units.
  3. ECO (Electronic Change Order) - Searches and displays selected ECO's.
  4. Indented Bom - Searches and displays indented bill of materials.
  5. Indented Where Used - Allows the user to see all of the assemblies where this part is currently being used.
  6. Part - To search for parts and display bill of materials where used.
  7. Preview - To search for prereleased vault documentation.
  8. Reference Designator - Search for component part given parent part and reference designator.
  9. Sales Order - To search and track the status of all sales orders.
  10. Vault - To search vault documentation for all "released" information.

Features:
 Industries:
 Hardware Options:
VRML
 CAD/ MCAD/ CFD/ MCAM
WORLD WIDE WEB