Blue Marble Project

This article was originally posted at our sister site: the School blog

This is part 2 of a Case Study - read part one here.

Before I tell you how School helped Whirlpool to reach designers, get their products specified and drive sales, I need to mention the contribution of my fellow team members.  Joe Sharkey was the first person to meet Brad Schell, cofounder of @Last Software - the makers of SketchUp.  Joe’s insights, background in industrial design and 20+ years experience with AutoCAD helped me in see the value of pursuing an experiment in 3D modeling with Google SketchUp and 3D Warehouse.  His CAD skills also made it possible to pursue modeling in SketchUp without a budget for outsourcing so we could start immediately and keep up with Google’s launch schedule.  Ben Wojcikiewicz tackled aspects of how to organize, update and optimize the 3D appliance collections within the Google 3D Warehouse.  My two talented friends collaborated closely, taught me the technology and we worked like a “start up”, but within a large corporation.

My vision is also driven by a business challenge from a manager who stated, “I’m tired of going to the Kitchen & Bath Show (KBIS) and having past presidents of the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) ask me, where are Whirlpool’s 3D models for 20/20 software users.”  I had negotiated potential contracts several times but the development and distribution costs for 3D appliance models and my conclusions were always the same.  The costs were too high to demonstrate a positive ROI for appliance products.  Modeling fees were too costly for proprietary software that only reached a niche audience, distribution costs for mailing up-to-date CDs to keep up with new appliance launches were too high, and the file size of typical CAD models was too large for kitchen and bath designers to easily download because they often use older hardware and lack high speed Internet.

I struggled with this challenge for three years.  So the approach Google suggested was stunning by contrast:  Create a collection of 3D virtual product models with either the free version of SketchUp or $495 Pro version, use your in-house team to draw the models or outsource to a company like Igloo Studios’ Blue Marble Project, then post and manage your product collection in Google’s online 3D Warehouse at no cost.

In SketchUp, the 3D model file size can be minimized for fast, easy downloads for architects and designers.  Google doesn’t charge manufacturers for hosting building product collections so they can be updated with new products any time and as often as needed.  And there is no cost to users for downloading branded products to incorporate in their designs.

What’s more, Google has been working proactively with CAD software companies to make manufacturer’s 3D building product collections an “open community” solution.  You’ll find that many CAD programs for architects already allow them to download product models directly from the 3D Warehouse into their designs.  Interoperability with Kitchen and Bath CAD software has been slower but early adopters like Chief Architect introduced import capability for SketchUp models about a year ago.

So what’s not to like about this approach?  Seems like a no brainer to me.  Fortunately, we were not burdened with a proprietary solution when the Google SketchUp and 3D Warehouse opportunity was presented.   The economic downturn may have slowed the building and remodeling industry in the short term, but affordable, web based solutions like this one should be high on any building product manufacturer’s wish list for 2009.

Read Part 3 of this case study here.