Manas Bajaj with InterCAX

00:04

Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's go.

00:21

Alright, once again, thank you very much for joining industrial talk. And thank you so much for your support. We are once again broadcasting from Austin, Texas as to the OMG q4 meeting. And it is once again a collection of very smart people and making the world a better place debating these new standards that you just take for granted you do. I'm pointing at you in the video, you take it for granted, but they are passionate about our success. And so they're making the world a better place. And that's what industrial talk is all about elevating these industrial heroes so that you know that they are doing their very best to make us or just make the world a better place. All right in the seat in the hot seat. We have Manas Manas, What's your last name? Bajaj. Right there. And we're gonna be talking a little bit about their membership. But hold on, I'm looking down, enter into packs. There it is.

01:13

Right that we are a platinum member.

01:15

There it is. Right there. See? See I pulled them in to see how I did that. Manas, having a good see I'm not gonna say conference because it's not a conference. It's it's a meeting. Yeah, but a good one.

01:27

Yes. Excellent meeting.

01:29

What makes it excellent.

01:31

It is just the, in an A post pandemic world getting out of your comfort zone, your home office and meeting people. It also is about having the right avenue for exchanging ideas. You could get onto cross industry calls to whiteboarding chat with them. You can learn more about what's moving in their industries, what's happening in their enterprises. And I think the best part is just people from diverse backgrounds, diverse industrial sectors coming in, building a cold sandwich will influence how they do engineering for the next 10 years. 15 years. That's exciting.

02:06

What's interesting about that, and and I'm very passionate. I'm always, I'm always preaching. Because I'm always educating myself not, I could do always do better, but educating. But the biggest one there is like collaborating with, with trusted individuals that are just really focused in on solving problems. I don't think in this world, this this rapidly changing world this velocity, this innovation or this technology, you It's hard not to collaborate?

02:37

Oh, yeah, it's an essential part of of everything, right? Unless you don't know what's happening around the world. You wouldn't generate new ideas, you would not have a check and balance on how you're thinking what you're thinking where you're going. Collaboration is kind of the bread and butter for any modern organization.

02:55

You can't understate that because I think especially now, and I love the fact that you can talk in the OMG world that he got these consortiums, and each one of those consortiums and the subgroups and all of the stuff in it could be overwhelming, right. And I got it, it can be overwhelming. But the reality is, is that there's a lot of great work, a lot of passion, a lot of focusing on really solving problems and having those conversations and and as a member of which you are, you're able to sort of be a part of that that whole dynamic. And I look at that digital twin and look at this responsible computing whatever it is, and have those conversations.

03:37

Yeah, exactly. We are we are a platform member, we've been an OMG member for almost five years now close to where we started with the influencing member because we were very actively contributing to systems modeling language, the system health standard, and also some to the UF. But now system is going through a system of version two, and the industry is behind it. And we are one of the submitters of the standard back to the G, I play a lead role in the development of the system will lead to API and service as part of the standard. And so we have been totally enjoying our own gym membership and having the collaboration working with industry, academia, government sectors to bring people from diverse industries and building the standard out here.

04:21

What is what always fascinates me is that you and others within OMG and the standards group are very thorough. Which just I'm so grateful for your focus on detail, which is thank you thumbs up on that.

04:40

We're gonna be voting sometimes the details. Yeah, but but

04:43

you know that that's where it's at. It's, you know, if there was a release of a standard, and you didn't take the time you pencil with the point there, whatever it is, and then there's a problem. That's not good.

04:55

That's absolutely correct. If you make the mistake, and if you're under specified standards, So what happens is when the times are actually implemented by the tool vendors, and the users start to use it, they find all sorts of issues with it, that breaks the trust in this channel. And once that trust is broken, it takes a lot of time to repair it. So you want to do that due diligence upfront. And that's why it's also important that all stakeholders understand are a part of it. The vendors have to become part of it, because they have to build the tools to support the standard, the users have to be part of that standard development process. Because they have, they will be the beneficiaries of the standard. And you want all of them to provide that introspection and do the due diligence upfront. So we can have a better standard, because there shouldn't be any surprises when it comes out.

05:44

It's stringent. Yes, it's very stringent. And for me, you know, I'm quite thankful for that. And I really, I really appreciate that. As as a member, you have a company. Tell us a little bit about that company.

05:59

Sure. We are a company called InterCAX and we spun out see a x that's or C A X Yes, InterCAX, we are a spinoff out of Georgia Tech 15 years back when I was pursuing my PhD. At that time, we have been with a CML market since the beginning. This the the, the demand for doing systems modeling and analyzing systems was was very crucial. So we started building some of the first commercial tools to architect systems, and then kind of do the analysis on the system, mathematical analysis and systems. And then we build a product called Scindia, which comes from the Greek rule, synthesis or sin to compose things together. And what that product does, it actually has built a digital thread, just like you know, with social media can go onto Facebook or LinkedIn. And you can explore friends of friends, on a social graph. Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of technology pervasively used in the engineering world. So when you have teams developing a large complex system, like a satellite, like an electric vehicle, or a smart home, you have different disciplines, building different parts of the system, but they're not well connected. So when changes happen in one, you don't see the impact of the change in other,

07:17

okay, so I'm gonna, I'm working through the flow diagram here in my head, it's not as extensive as probably a flow diagram that you have. But this is when. So I have a system, let's use a car as an example. And that car is a collection of other systems. They're all together, and they're supposed to be working together, right? And they write, I roll it off that thing, and they work together. I heard a stat somebody says that there's more technology in cars today than there are in in like rockets or something like that. It's

07:46

just it's excellent software intensive,

07:48

software intensive. So you're saying that there are these systems and they're working together? But But when something changes over here, this side doesn't know it? And then there's a potential? Is that Is that what I'm saying?

08:02

Yes. So during the design process, when you're building and designing the system, you are designing it in different tools, different environments, and the data is not connected. So during the design process, you may have that mismatch, where you're defining the architecture of the system, but the mechanical design of the chassis of the car may not see that and that flows out, because in a different environment, different tools, version managed differently. So what our products in there does is it brings them together and builds a data mesh. Instead of a social graph, we build the engineering graph on top of the data, so that we can keep that connected. We can analyze that graph, we can think about it, we can reason about it, when changes happen, we can propagate that change, and have a definition of the system that's crossing multiple disciplines. And then can be preserved through its lifecycle. Imagine when one another good exact analogy I would give you is that when you build a house architects have a blueprint of the house, where they know where the plumbing is, where the electrical is, you want that kind of a blueprint for any modern system that's been designed by multiple teams in a geographically distributed multi vendor environment. Oh,

09:07

and that's that solution? Is does that just sort of stick us in the car, stay with the car, the whole lifecycle, you can think

09:19

of it as it's a digital twin of the car. Right? It is the it is it has a we've heard the word virtual twin in this conference digital twin,

09:26

but then I got all geeky on that one,

09:29

too. But think of it as the as the model. ego of the of the car, there's a physical car, but there's a digital car. And you want to keep that blueprint of the digital car surviving as long as the cars out there. And that is at some point unique to that car like VIN number, right? Every car might have its own digital twin. So essentially, if you don't want if you don't connect the data upfront, you can't just go and build it and the car comes on the factory. It should have been trying to build the very first day

09:59

so Now that you have this sort of layer this this view of this systems or the systems, where does that reside? I've got the physical card, it's over here. I got it. Where does this this value vision of that vehicle reside?

10:18

That's a great, great question. So because the system has been developed by different teams, and different dedicated tools for mechanical design, electrical design systems, software, they have their own databases where that part of the system is being managed. And then we as a part of a product, when we define that mesh, we have a system that stores the edges of the graph, right? So that's, that's what we call is the authoritative single source of truth for the data. It is federated, it's no longer in a single database, it's scattered, and you want something to mash that together. That's what a product does.

10:58

So with that said, and I'm designing a car, so I want to have that conversation. It's better to have it upfront than at the end. But let's say we have an upfront. So you're building that in, I've got a, I got a tool over here that I'm designing, and I'm working on and I add another tool, but you're having those conversations so that all of these tools, then go up to a common layer a mash, a database that says, and then is able to, once it's there, what are we talking about? What what what, how do I see it as the visual side?

11:32

Exactly. So you may, you may start seeing it from different perspectives, think of it as a graph. And like in a social media analogy, when you have a social graph, you can start from one friend, and then you can trace to what their friends are, what businesses they went to, etc. Think of it same way, when you start to navigate that graph, you could be looking at the mechanical design of the car, its chassis, its hardware. And from there, you might want to trace to oh, what are the electrical parts that fit in that in that in that door of the car? I know who designed them? Who took the decision on the architecture of this thing? Where are the tests for it? Which suppliers Am I talking to? So you could start navigating this graph this digital graph from any node and you can find your way out into that. So think of it as a graph with multiple entry points, depending on who you are, what your questions are.

12:18

This is this is a this is a solution that is probably applicable to many industries.

12:26

That's exactly correct. That's exactly correct. We work with customers in aerospace, defense, automotive, health care, you'd be fascinated how complex pacemakers have become.

12:38

Oh, yeah, my mom had one. So

12:41

yeah, so I think we all have someone in the family who's has to guard pacemakers and think about a pacemaker, it's no longer a mechanical device, it's it's has it is running piece of software, it has data, your doctor can view the performance of your heart from outside the body on a machine that syncs with a pacemaker, there are regulatory issues on data privacy, and HIPAA compliance and all that. So it is a complex system. And we can guarantee that everything about the pacemaker was not the design was not designed in a single tool, or a single database, the data for it when it was designed, was scattered all across because of the mechanical design the pacemaker, if you've got the software, that means that you've got a Bluetooth connection or some kind of a connection that links with it. And then you've got the data that the pacemaker is generating that was able to your doctor to see how your heart's doing over time. It's a complex system. And if there was no mesh, there was no connective tissue across all this data. You could not make a sense out of it. How would you know, for example, how your heart is doing and how much battery you have, you got to build that in.

13:43

See what's interesting is that, as we continue to move forward in the world of technology, industry, whatever it might be, that more and more vendors or designers are putting more software in each of these devices. It's not just a It's not just an IoT device that sits out there and does vibration analysis. Now there's a lot of sophisticated solutions in that dividend, it's going to continue because somebody's gonna say, Hey, can we also put something in there? Hey, can we do something? Hey, it's already out there. Let's do some more.

14:20

Yeah, there's a lot of embedded software in everything. Yeah. I mean, we've have smart fridges who can tell you whether you're out of milk now. That's crazy.

14:28

That is, it just doesn't stop. Yes,

14:31

it doesn't start but to bring some of those smart products out in the market. We have to think back and fundamentally rethink how we have designed the old processes of the past which were silos of designs and manual coordination. Using documents is not going to cut it smart products. Like more importantly, look at it require radically different design processes. One that's more collaborative one that's not just collaborative in the sense of attending meetings and talking to each other zoom calls. But the data that these teams are producing is actually connected to a digital trading.

15:06

See. And again, as we loop back to OMG, and your membership with this organization and participation it's one thing to be an organization, a company that sort of operates in a vacuum. Not good, especially in the world of technology, not good. So again, we talk about the necessity to collaborate. And that's where you get the you get the right ideas, you get the right problems, and you discuss the, the solutions around it. Because it's one thing to say, hey, that's, that's what I want to do over there. But if nobody really cares about it, well, that makes no sense. But if there's a real problem, and we real challenge, that's why that's why oh, gee, and and many, you know, collaborate so well.

15:52

Yes. Cool stuff. Yeah, exactly. One reason why we are here is because of systems modeling language and the unified architecture framework. They are, they're both signs are intrinsically very important for this digital trade I'm talking to you about. So in the car analogy that we were talking about the pacemaker, someone was a system marketed history just has to think about how the system is going to work. And how you describe that system upfront is through a language like sis ml, or UF. It's an enterprise scale system. And the next version of systems modeling language is coming up. And we are here to show how that could be part of this digital thread to experiment with it, the new version that's coming out from OMG. And that's the really cool part about it.

16:38

And you know, the other thing about OMG if you want to get those standards, you could just download it, except disco g.org. And you can get it it's like, you're better just to just do that.

16:50

Yes, it's a sound smart. It's not Oh, my God. Yeah,

16:53

that's right. Object Management Group. Yes. All right, man, it's how do people get a hold of you, you can shoot me an email

17:00

monitor index.com You can follow on my Twitter handle at Morris Bajaj, or follow me on LinkedIn. Just type my name honest, which I need to find.

17:08

There it is. All right, we're gonna have all the contact information for Manas out on industrial talk. So if you're not you need to reach out to this guy. Definitely, you will will be a better person because of that. Thank you Manas for being on industrial talk.

17:21

Thank you, Scott, for the opportunity to talk

17:23

with me. Excellent. All right, we're gonna wrap it up on the side. So stay tuned, we will be right back.

17:28

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network?

17:34

Well, you know, what I got out of this conversation is one, you need to connect with Manas. Because these systems, these this digital transformation world that we find ourselves in this this innovative world that we find ourselves in, that it requires people like Mattis and others to be able to sort of keep just manage those systems in a way that benefit you. It's going to happen, it is just going to have to happen. And it might be frightening. It might be a little unnerving. But these systems are so important. Going forward and part of your success. And and no i I can't say that. I'm every I just a better person because of my conversation. But there's that realization that there's a lot to have happen and out there that you need to be engaged. You just do and you need to find trusted individuals that definitely have your best interest at heart. Madness is a gentleman that fits that bill in a big way. All right. I always say that we're building a platform that really supports you celebrates you. Because we want to educate Manas. We want to collaborate Manas and definitely innovate. Yeah, Manas has to be able to succeed going forward. It's just a it's a no brainer. Please be engaged. Please be a part of the industrial talk. ecosystem. Reach out if you want to get connected with me. I'm out on LinkedIn. We'd love to have a conversation. We'd love to know more about how you are helping companies succeed. All right, be bold, be brave, dare greatly hang out with man and you're gonna change the world. We're going to have another great and wonderful conversation coming from OMG shortly so stay tuned.