FrontPg.jpg)
Company Describes Itself as "The Google for Shapes"
A company at Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette is helping manufacturers with the search for suppliers of a particular part or product—items that are often easier to visualize graphically than they are to describe in text. To solve this problem, Imaginestics LLC has developed a technology the company's chief executive officer describes as "the Google for shapes."
Beyond the most basic service of being a "shape search engine," Imaginestics takes the technology one step further, connecting a manufacturer with the right supplier. The company has used this innovation to create custom applications for some customers and even an online community where manufacturers can explore engineering and design needs.
As a previous developer and owner of an intranet text search engine, Imaginestics Chief Executive Officer Nainesh Rathod understands the limitations of words.
"We're engineers, so we can't spell," laughs Rathod. "What we're good at is describing things visually and graphically—the proverbial drawing on a napkin. Shape is the lowest common denominator for a product or design. That's why we started in that realm—because we understood what the text search engines do and what the limitations are." Listen
To find suppliers of parts, Rathod says manufacturers often rely on traditional search options, such as paper catalogs, trade shows, and text-based Internet searches, which are extremely limited and present only a handful of options.
Imaginestics' VizSeek technology allows users to log on to the 3DSeek Web site and doodle, or freehand sketch, the part or product they're looking for. Using the free service, a user can also upload an image, 3D model or drawing. The technology then searches an index of over one million parts and services to connect the user with a relevant match.
"If someone designed something, and wanted to know the best process to manufacture it and what it should cost—finding those answers is an art, and we've converted that art into a science," says Rathod. "VizSeek is able to evaluate the design, tell the person what the best manufacturing process is and who in Indiana, the U.S. or the world is able to make that." Listen
Rathod's thought process of relying on shapes instead of words appealed to 80/20 Inc. Co-founder Doug Wood, who often found it difficult to connect with potential clients who lacked an engineering background. Based in Columbia City near Fort Wayne, 80/20 Inc. manufactures aluminum bars that can be used to make a wide range of products from trade show exhibits to Hollywood stage settings.
"Our product is like aluminum lumber in kit form. I wanted to develop a way someone could go online, without any engineering experience, and use a Web-based tool to design a project made from 80/20 stuff they could then submit for an order," says Wood. "Through lots of research high and low all over the country, we found Imaginestics in West Lafayette—really in our own backyard." Listen
Imaginestics developed an online application for the company called 80/20Edge, which launched in March. The design widget allows users to "connect the dots" and design a product made from 80/20 Inc.'s aluminum bars. The application provides pricing and allows the user to submit an order.
"Our product is for anyone who has a mechanical bent—the right brain, creative type of person who wants to build something," says Wood. "Our intent is to get this design tool to those ‘gear heads' and give them an opportunity to design what they need and create their own applications for whatever they build. The hope is that the orders come flooding in from all over the country with cool designs people created using our tool."
80/20 Inc. features the online design tool on Imaginestics' social networking Web site VizSpace, a private and public industrial community where users can showcase products and services, share ideas and network with others in the industry. Listen
"There's an explosion occurring with social networking. It helps us look at opportunities that we never would've been aware of," says Rathod. "We're fascinated, because it's never been done in the manufacturing world. VizSpace is going to evolve, and the market will dictate how it's used—probably in ways we've never thought about." Listen
Just one year old and boasting more than 70,000 members, Rathod describes VizSpace as "facebook for manufacturing," and he believes it holds the key to Imaginestics' future. With new members joining daily, he hopes the explosive growth will translate to explosive business.
