Harvey Clawson, Hewlett-Packard Vancouver Division, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 18110 SE 34th St., Vancouver, WA 98683, USA. Phone: 360 212 3851 Fax: 360 212 3149 E-mail: harvey_clawson@hp.com
World Wide Web, Product Data Management, Process Redesign, Knowledge Sharing, Intranet, Extranet, Extended Enterprise
This paper describes the Perseus information management system for the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet Printer Extended Enterprise. The system stores key product information and provides timely access to a very large user community around the globe. The system uses the World Wide Web to integrate many information sources needed to design, manufacture and market the highly successful HP DeskJet printers.
The engineers, technicians and other users within the HP DeskJet Design Center and at partner sites have enthusiastically embraced the Perseus system. Due to the popularity of the Web interface, many other HP divisions have also leveraged this software. This paper focuses on the Perseus business process redesign, metrics, results and future expansion plans. The system will eventually link together all the companies that form the HP DeskJet Printer Extended Enterprise.
Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printers have been widely accepted in the market
place. The printers produce high resolution text as well as photo
quality full color images. HP leverages this inkjet printing technology
into a wide range of related products, including plotters, copiers, FAX
machines and multifunction combinations. HP's printer business has grown dramatically throughout the past ten years. Several product models are targeted for the home and office. Hewlett-Packard has many aggressive competitors, so new product introductions have been very frequent. To cope with the exponential growth in volumes, HP has established major DeskJet manufacturing sites in the U.S., in Europe and in Asia.
The compexity of the business increased significantly as more and more HP sites and third party companies became involved in a wide range of partnerships. The DeskJet team contracted with many HP divisions, and with outside companies and contractors for products and services, spanning many aspects of marketing, design, procurement, logistics, material delivery, assembly, test, distribution, support and repair. HP refers to all of these internal and external working relationships as an "Extended Enterprise".
Historically, the process for sharing the drawings and other defining documents for our printers was very manual. It was time consuming, error prone, and highly dependent on the human network and experience level of each engineer and coordinator. We stored and distributed copies of documents on paper, film and aperture cards. The computing environment consisted of a complex collection of incompatible operating systems, application programs and databases. We relied on various electronic transmission mechanisms, including e-mail, FAX, 'ftp' file copy and shared disk directories.
Some of our document sharing processes were out of control, especially during product prototyping. In many cases, we had never defined a standard process. We frequently bypassed cumbersome formal processes to cope with deadline pressures. On several occasions we had purchased the wrong parts, caused delays in the production ramp, and slowed down the progress of new tooling due to inaccurate or obsolete product information. Growth in capacity and accelerated Time to Market required an improved Product Data Management infrastructure for the product lines.
A few years ago, I joined the DeskJet Enterprise as a software engineer in the Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) organization of the HP Vancouver Division in Washington state. I had previously worked in the HP Electronic Design Division and in the Mechanical Design Division. I had helped design HP CAD systems and Product Data Management (PDM) systems for sale to external customers. Shortly after my transfer to Vancouver, I was promoted to the role of Engineer/Scientist and was assigned strategic responsibility for information flow into and out of the DeskJet manufacturing organization.
In my new role, I began to comprehend the magnitude of the DeskJet Enterprise data management problems and the potential opportunities if we could make progress. With the support of the CIM management team, I set in motion a process that would radically alter the ways we shared enterprise information.
In the spring of 1994, we started the first Galaxy project, named after the constellation "Perseus". We conducted a somewhat simplified Business Area Analysis. We wanted to determine the types of data that would provide the highest benefit to the organization. We led interviews with managers, engineers and coordinators in Product Engineering, R&D, Procurement, Metrology, Model Shop, and Process Engineering. We developed an extensive data model and activity model.
We then created a prioritized list of information needs, including both mechanical and electronic CAD documents in several application formats, bill of material (BOM) from multiple sources and Product Change Order (PCO) information. The data needed to be managed from concept and prototyping through support life and obsolescence (or transfer of responsibility to another division).
We recruited a large, diverse user team representing the document authors in R&D and manufacturing, the drafters, the PCB designers, the project coordinators and the customers for these documents. The user team defined the information lifecycle including organizations, processes, roles and responsibilities. We tried to get early involvement from our partners at remote international sites, most importantly, at our manufacturing hubs in Barcelona, Spain, and in Singapore.
We developed an extensive support network of peers in other divisions. In order to meet our ambitious schedule goals, we consistently tried to find and leverage existing solutions for our needs and problems.
One of the key success factors for our program was our decision to customize the World Wide Web as our principal vehicle for integration. The Web allowed us to combine data from these new PDM databases in novel ways with legacy databases, including our proprietary procurement systems. The Web infrastructure greatly simplified data distribution throughout the global user community. The Netscape browser provides our users an industry standard, easily learned environment that works with all of our computing platforms (UNIX, PC, and MAC).
We wanted to provide universal document viewing for a wide variety of documents in their original format, without the risk of accidental alteration or delay due to translation. We needed viewing from all of our computing platforms, but the software for viewing many types of documents is often restricted to a single platform. We overcame this hurdle with a distinctive client / server architecture.
We set up several application viewer servers at our major manufacturing sites around the world. All network graphics are based on X Window protocol (the standard for UNIX). PC clients interface with these servers via X terminal emulation. For viewing PC documents from HP-UX clients, we used PC graphics emulation (WABI to support Windows applications and MAE to support Macintosh applications).
Originally, the Perseus system managed security via two key mechanisms. Access to the system was allowed only within the HP "firewall". Non-HP users could not directly access the system; they had to request data from their HP contact. Secondarily, the access was also restricted via password.
During this period, the user team verified the control processes, participated in system testing, promoted system awareness, organized training and provided consulting for their groups. We initially put the system into production in the spring of 1995. We started with a single class of data for a single printer product, then quickly extended the scope of the implementation for additional products, data types and user groups.
We made a major effort to coordinate processes with our worldwide partners. We visited the principal remote sites to promote the system, to train local experts and to install server software. We consulted often with the Product Data Management teams at partner sites to share best practices and to keep the system functioning smoothly. We welcomed opportunities to host remote team members in Vancouver.
We met almost all of our original program objectives within the Perseus project scope. The biggest challenge was working with document authors to incorporate all of the diverse types of data needed by the users. We addressed this issue by developing fairly simple Web forms that authors use to submit their new documents. We coupled document checkin with automatic notification via e-mail distribution lists.
We worked with process engineers to incorporate production line equipment structure and documentation. The DeskJet manufacturing lines consist of a large number of scaffolds, motors, conveyors, robots, fixtures, sensors, test devices and operator controls. We have made great progress toward providing complete, organized documentation of this array of machinery. We extended the system to accomodate additional non-HP CAD formats to include designs developed by subcontractors.
We have also helped the technician groups to organize various types of support documentation, including procedures for equipment setup, calibration, maintenance, troubleshooting, repair, shutdown, etc.
To improve Perseus system support, we developed a Web interface to an issue database for acquiring, acknowledging, and tracking user enhancement requests and defect fixes.
Several groups now use the system to manage different types of artwork, such as packaging graphics, labels, nameplates, icons and product styling. We improved PC graphics performance by replacing our Windows emulator (WABI) with a high end Windows NT application server with multiuser and graphics extensions (Insignia NTrigue).
To keep pace with growth, we installed high capacity disks and faster servers. With about twenty integrated software packages on our servers, we also needed to upgrade often to new revisions of software. Fortunately, we install only Netscape on our client machines, which greatly simplifies overall system administration.
We measure accessibility by the number of accesses to the data from various locations. The growth in accesses has been steady and we are constantly impressed by the many different organizations that use our system. Hundreds of system users now access several thousand documents per month.
The most significant benefits have come by enabling business process re-engineering. We have saved millions of dollars by eliminating delays, rework and unnecessary tasks. The system keeps people in communication to avoid "reinventing the wheel".
The Perseus benefits have been achieved at a very modest cost per user. Core staffing for information sharing has remained rather constant at approximately two engineers and two software technicians dedicated to supporting, enhancing, and growing the infrastructure and contents of the vault. The major user departments also provide resources for ongoing process re-engineering.
The system users are very pleased with the progress to date and are eagerly cooperating with efforts to extend the system to additional areas of the business.
We have also helped the HP sales force to leverage the sale of computers, software and consulting services by participating in promotional videos and by hosting executive seminars and customer visits.
However, our most urgent need is to extend the system outside of Hewlett-Packard to our vast network of DeskJet Enterprise partners. We are actively investigating new approaches to sharing information with third party companies. We are committed to providing direct access to our key information systems, based on each user's "need to know".
The World Wide Web community is rapidly evolving a wealth of techniques and systems for secure information sharing beyond the "firewall". This secure extension of an Intranet solution to selected third parties is sometimes called an "Extranet".
The DeskJet divisions are cooperating with HP Corporate engineering and networking groups to define access mechanisms and processes needed to manage the potential risks for this type of business connectivity. HP markets a suite of Internet security products called the "HP Praesidium Enterprise Security Framework". We are choosing appropriate technologies within this framework to manage various aspects of our extended enterprise information system. This technology is evolving rapidly, and will undoubtedly change over time, but the following issues must be addressed:
We expect to begin production use of the Perseus extranet documentation sharing capability in the fall of 1997. We will gradually provide additional types of transaction management, including supply chain inventory monitoring, part and product logistics, and sharing of quality and production metrics.
The Internet is providing unparalleled opportunities for this type of virtual teamwork. The expected benefits to the HP DeskJet Enterprise are extraordinary.
Harvey Clawson ©, 1997. The author assigns to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author also grants a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers, and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the author.
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