ASPs For Metalworking: Software You Can Use But Don't Have To Buy

Modern Machine Shop, Nov, 2000 by Mark Albert

By making specialized software available over the Internet, application service providers give shops of all sizes access to the same computer technology.

A shop receives a 3D CAD file and is expected to machine parts to match. Immediately the questions begin.

What if the file is from a CAD system not like the ones used by the shop's engineering or programming departments? Does the file need to be translated? Can it be exchanged as is? Will the translation be complete and reliable?

What if the original 3D geometry has defects such as overlapping or untrimmed surfaces, gaps, missing radii, or has dimensions with too many or few decimal points?

Is the tool path generated from this geometry really going to get the job done, or will it miss some areas or gouge others? Are the programmed speeds and feeds the most efficient? Are there any excessive moves, or is there unnecessary cutting of air?

If the part requires additional rotary axes, can the programmers handle that? Do they have a post-processor that's appropriate? Can the part program be reformatted in time if the job has to be moved to another machine of another configuration?

What's the setup going to look like? Will the clamps get in the way?

Is it worth quoting this job? Is the quote way too high, way too low or about right?

How will inspection data be analyzed? Do as-machined surfaces such as contours have to be compared to the 3D CAD model?

Some shops face questions like these all the time. Some shops face certain questions only once in a while. Some shops may not even ask a question because they know they don't have the means to find the answers.

Almost all of these questions can be solved with the right computer system and related systems expertise. Problem is, few if any shops have all the software, hardware or experience to answer every critical question when it arises.

In the last few years, a new kind of business has emerged to address this situation and similar ones in other industries. Start-up companies as well as established ones who get into this business are calling themselves "application service providers" (ASPs). ASPs deliver and manage software applications and computer services from remote data centers to an unlimited number of users via the Internet or a private network.

A Range of ASP Models

In the short time since ASPs have appeared, they have taken a remarkably diverse range of forms. The different types of ASPs can be compared to the different types of health care providers found in a community. You can go to a private practitioner for a single treatment that cures an illness or saves your life. Or you can go to a wellness organization that will not only provide medical exams and prescriptions, but will also help you manage eating habits for weight control, arrange an exercise program in its fitness center, give counseling about stress, career options, parenting and so on, and maybe even teach you how to meditate or develop your spirituality.

ASPs cover a similar range of services for metalworking companies. There's the ASP that will "heal" a defective 3D CAD file or optimize a single part program. Then there's the ASP that offers complete business management, making a large in-house data processing or information technology staff unnecessary.

"The ASP field is so new and evolving so rapidly that terms to define the different types of ASP models are yet to be settled on," says Andy Brewster, president of Abiant (www.abiant.com), an emerging company headquartered in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Abiant, for example, describes itself as an "application syndication provider," a company "that ASP-enables a vendor's software and makes it available at multiple Web sites through its syndication engine"--an ASP for ASPs, so to speak.

Mr. Brewster has identified four basic types of ASP models that have emerged, noting that most ASPs are not purely one or the other but combinations of several. The terms he uses to distinguish these four models are

* Point solutions,

* Rental,

* Hosting and

* Outsourcing.

According to Mr. Brewster, all of these models share many of the same advantages and benefits from both the users' and the providers' points of view. "Companies in the ASP business have the same basic story to tell. There's solid agreement about why ASPs in general will have a significant impact on how their customers will access software applications," he says.

Advantages And Benefits

Shops and plants find working with ASPs valuable on several levels:

* The up-front investment is minimal. Simply put, the user doesn't have to buy the software involved. New hardware or network infrastructure may not be required. The user can often avoid additional training and adding to a programming or data processing staff. Not buying new software or hardware means no added maintenance costs over the long term.

* Risk is reduced. Users can "test" new software and new techniques with minimal impact on existing systems or procedures. Users can test themselves as users as well, to prove that they are ready to license the software outright. ASP customers are usually in a position to benefit from the experience and expertise of the ASP.