EDM NEWSLETTER PRODUCT BRIEF NOVEMBER 1991

incorporating the Effective Engineering Management Newsletter

PRODUCT BRIEF

NOVEMBER 1991

Sherpa Corporation
Sherpa Corporation (San Jose, CA) traces its origins to a group of software engineers working under an R&D contract in 1984 to develop an Engineering Data Management (EDM) system as an OEM product for a CAE vendor. In 1985, the group incorporated as Sherpa, and defined its long-term mission as the development of product information management solutions capable of operating across different hardware platforms and in conjunction with all CAD/CAM/CAE tools. In June 1987, Hughes Aircraft Radar Systems Group became the first Sherpa user.

In 1991, Sherpa Corp. remains a privately-owned company, and has about 100 employees. Key start-up individuals such as CEO/President Steve Schopbach and Steve Baunach, VP Engineering are still on board. There are more than 100 Sherpa customers, with a total of more than 15,000 Sherpa seats installed. Sherpa is currently the major vendor uniquely dedicated to the EDM market. Its primary target market is manufacturing companies in the defense, aerospace, electronics and automotive industries.

Sherpa refers to its products as PIM (Product Information Management) solutions. They are based on the Sherpa DMS module which began shipping in September 1986 under the name Sherpa Design Management System. Initially VAX VMS-based, this has been further developed and ported, and now runs on local and wide-area networks in multivendor, distributed, Unix and VMS environments.

Features and functions of PIMS
Key components of Sherpas solution are the PIMvault and the PIMS Application Set. The PIMvault manages electronic documents such as CAD files, engineering specifications, NC programs, test programs, work instructions and engineering notices. To maintain control over documents, PIMvault stores and uses metadata on each document. This is maintained in "records". Records are the building blocks of Sherpa's PIMS. Information related to a product is either contained in a record or is referenced in a record. A record can be seen as a library card, describing a piece of information and keeping track of who checked out that information and when. PIMS can contain several types of records. These records will be managed in a variety of ways - created, browsed and reviewed by different groups of people. PIMS users can create reports on records grouped and selected according to user-defined criteria.

Some of the methods by which PIMS will access and store this information allow users to: access the correct document and document version; "publish" a document to other users upon completion; promote or demote a document; record and report on all documents used with a specific product; store and manage part information; store and manage vendor information; select components for use in design, and initiate and track parts approvals. Common attributes can be assigned to documents to classify and identify their contents. PIMvault has an associated query and reporting facility, PIMreporter.

While Sherpa DMS provides the basic document electronic handling services, the PIMS Application Set offers applications designed to support concurrent engineering and configuration management. At the heart of the concurrent engineering module is the "release procedure", which is used to define and manage the various release processes needed to get a product to market. Sherpa provides release procedure management, document set management, and baseline creation and management. These tools allow users to participate in product reviews; obtain copies of document data required to generate or support the processing of other documents; record document signoffs; receive immediate notification of document actions that may affect user's work; and define baselines for configuration items.

At the heart of the configuration management module is the management of the product structure, the interrelationships between the assemblies, sub-assemblies and individual parts which make up a product. PIMS can drive product change configuration, keeping track of what needs to be changed in a product, when and why. It also focuses on the process of change. Once identified and reported, PIMS distributes Engineering Change Orders (ECOs). Major functions in their change management include specifying what needs to be changed, and helping users evaluate impact and record changes (including ECO distribution and notification). PIMS allows the user to raise a change request; reference appropriate objects and attached supporting electronic information; distribute the change request to responsible reviewer(s); obtain information concerning the status of change requests; review the change; make a disposition recommendation; assemble ECOs, define the change and the affected product objects and participate in ECO reviews, signoffs and approvals.

Sherpa's PC Connection module allows IBM PC/XT/AT compatible PCs to log-on and access Sherpa applications. PC Connection is available for both Unix and VAX/VMS systems, and allows automatic and transparent file check-in and check-out.

Integration with other systems
EDM software needs to be integrated with other computer systems in the company. As nearly every company has a unique set of systems, Sherpa runs with or alongside a wide range of systems. For example, one Sherpa customer uses Computervision on Sun for mechanical designs, Mentor on Apollo for schematic capture, ME-30 on HP for solid modelling of plastic containers, and Racal-Redac on VAX for printed circuit board layout work.

Current developments
During the coming year, Sherpa will be addressing several key areas including the burgeoning PC marketplace, and support for new environments such as OSF and SVCR4.

Sherpa in the market
As the EDM market matures, relative strengths and weaknesses change. At the moment Sherpa strong points appear to be:

dedication to the EDM market
availability on many vendors' hardware, and ability to work in a multivendor environment
a track record of meeting user requirements. Sherpa developments have kept up with the needs of a growing market place
independence from other systems, yet a willingness and ability to integrate
a focus on getting users to a productive state quickly with demonstrable pay-off in less than 12 months
comparatively easy to implement

Sherpa has consistently demonstrated a clear vision of EDM, thorough understanding of EDM market requirements, an ability to produce technical solutions, and the importance of linking potential EDM benefits to its customers' business objectives. The next 2-3 years in which the EDM market faces 50-100% growth rates, and the entry of very powerful competitors, will be critical to its further development.

Sherpa at Schlumberger
Schlumberger Ltd.'s Wireline Division designs and manufactures micro-processor based sensors that take measurements in oil well shafts. These instruments employ sonic, nuclear, electromagnetic, and physical sampling technologies, all designed to meet extreme environmental conditions. To maintain competitive positioning, the product range is continually upgraded with new products and field upgrades. Engineering changes are frequent, averaging about 300 per month. Use of CAD and CAE software leads to the creation of large numbers of data files. In this environment, without effective management of the flow of data from engineering to manufacturing, incomplete or erroneous product configurations can easily occur and lead to long manufacturing change cycles, and high personnel, scrap and inventory costs.

Since 1989 Schlumberger has used Sherpa to manage the entire product design and engineering change process from the moment a design begins or a change request is made, through a four-step management approval process, to the release of a new configuration to manufacturing. Sherpa's PIMS was installed in tandem with Cullinet's MRP II software which runs on a world-wide VAX and IBM network. Sherpa is installed on VAX at Schlumberger Wireline's headquarters, while remote nodes are installed at several outlying sites. The Sherpa database, serving more than 700 users worldwide, includes multiple configurations for more than 900 sensor products, records for over 300,000 components, and engineering bills of material that run up to 18 levels deep. The Sherpa system is linked through an SNA gateway to an IBM mainframe and Cullinet. According to Buddy Peiser, Sherpa project manager for Schlumberger Wireline, scrap and rework costs due to erroneous configurations and incomplete design documentation have been virtually eliminated. Overhead costs have decreased, while productivity has increased. The process of going from formal analysis and checking of revised engineering data to entry of the modified configuration in the MRP system has been reduced from 6 weeks to about 1 week.

Sherpa at GPT
GPT Ltd., a world-wide telecommunications company jointly owned by GEC (UK) and Siemens, manufactures a range of telecommunications equipment from telephone handsets and cellular phones to country-size switching systems. In 1989 it recognised its existing systems were getting expensive to maintain and support. Having taken the decision to adopt common tools, systems, practices, and engineering frameworks, with a major emphasis on EDM, a working party was set up to develop the requirements of a system that would become known as EMDS (Engineering Manufacturing Data System). With the overall objectives of improving competitiveness, and reducing design costs, the business requirements for this system were identified as the support of GPT's total Development Life Cycle, and the provision of comprehensive tools to reduce data duplication, facilitate access to data, control changes, and maintain accurate and up-to-date product data.

The underlying technologies for EMDS are DMS and PIMS. The pilot for GPT's Incident Report application began in December 1989, and went into general use in March 1990. The pilot for the Core Components and Core Allocation applications began in April 1990, and went into general use in October 1990, when its Sherpa database contained 7500 components and 12,000 manufacturing sources. Since then, some 500 new components and manufacturing sources have been created. GPT now has a user base of 600 EMDS users. This is in the process of growing to 2000, and eventually will exceed 6000 users.

Sherpa pricing
PIMS is sold on a per-user basis. Prices range from about $5000 per user in small configurations to under $1000 per user in many-user configurations.

Other users of Sherpa
In addition to companies mentioned above, users of Sherpa include Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, Baxter Healthcare, GM/Delco, Raychem, Fiat Avio, Rohr Industries, Martin Marietta, Storage Technology, NCR, Alcatel, Smiths Industries, Aerojet, Loral Aerospace, General Electric, Sikorsky Aircraft, Sandia National Labs, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Intel, Motorola, Vickers, Micropolis, Burr-Brown, Snapper-Power Equipment, BBN Communications, Siemens, Thorn EMI Electronics, and Hunting Engineering.

There are Sherpa user groups in the US and in Europe.

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