Right Hemisphere, a purveyor of product graphics management software, this week will announce a major upgrade to its integrated suite of visual communication and collaboration tools. The next-generation software platform, called Right Hemisphere 5, automates the delivery of data confined in PLM systems and allows manufacturers to reuse that data in other enterprise applications.

The Right Hemisphere platform, composed of client and server software, translates product information — specifically CAD data — into rich media content for use in sales, marketing, manufacturing, or training. In that way, a downstream user of product data such as a promotions manager or catalog editor can access advanced engineering models without any familiarity with engineering programs like CAD. Automating the translation of CAD information into other programs can help a company shorten the time it takes to launch a product and streamline the process of creating supporting product documentation for marketing, training, assembly, or maintenance purposes, according to the company.

Right Hemisphere addresses "the whole second half of the PLM problem," said Michael Lynch, president and CEO of Right Hemisphere, in an interview with Managing Automation.

The latest platform upgrade, from version 4.1 to 5.0, is aimed at solving various communication and collaboration problems across functional silos, according to the company. The Deep Exploration client software will be available next week. Right Hemisphere's Deep Server enterprise software will be available this summer, company officials said.

In developing version 5, the company worked with several customers, including DaimlerChrysler, Bell Helicopter, and Sikorsky, to identify key capabilities that should be added to the new product.

Version 5 adds technical illustration capabilities, 3D true type fonts, legacy illustration sheet support, and Adobe PDF callouts. Other enhancements include: external workflow support for post editing and collaboration processes to make PDF creation more flexible and powerful; advanced parts and BOM management, including a new metadata display and editing tools; updated measurement tools; new assembly and part workflows that allow animations; and 2D and 3D symbol libraries.

Right Hemisphere is a strategic partner with Adobe, providing the technology for Acrobat 3D, officials said. The company predicts that the use of 3D PDFs will be an important collaboration tool for manufacturers in the future.

For example, "Instead of having all that paper around, you can create multi-page manufacturing process sheets in a PDF," said Rix Kramlich, Right Hemisphere's vice president of worldwide marketing, in an interview. Another use of the software involves the creation of interactive training materials that include 3D assembly and disassembly procedures. "You don't have to worry about proprietary viewers... [Right Hemisphere] automates the process to deliver [data] in the means most appropriate for the stakeholder it is sent to," Kramlich said. A manufacturer can also take advantage of the software's encryption capabilities and other security features to prohibit an unauthorized user from marking up the document.

Strong collaboration among various product stakeholders — many of whom are not engineers and do not work with engineering-based technologies — can make or break a launch. According to AMR Research, the number one reason most product launches fail for manufacturers is that the product does not meet customer needs. The second and third most common reasons are being late to market (missing demand) and poor commercialization or promotion, respectively.

"Leading manufacturers point to successful product launches as critical to their market and revenue growth strategy, yet barely one-third feel this process is under control," said Michael Burkett, a vice president for AMR Research, in a report titled, "The CIO's Guide to the PERFECT Product Launch." According to Burkett, "the challenge is that a product launch is a cross-functional business process that requires seamless execution across the groups responsible for defining market demand, designing new products, and supplying and servicing customers."