In this case study, ScotlandIS member PACE Anti-Piracy sits down with Taneli Malinen from Jetecon to discuss his products and how he utilises PACE solutions within his 3D simulation technology business.
Taneli Malinen sees things differently. Literally. As a production and simulation expert, he’s been building software and advising companies to see their processes in the VR space for years. He helped found Jetecon, a 3D simulation technology company that allows companies to be more productive through the use of VR and simulation.
What/Who is Jetecon OY?
Jetecon was founded in 2007. We started consulting and doing simulation models of different types of value chains and logistical systems. So for example, a warehouse manufacturing plant assembly process. We would create a detailed model of this which would allow the company to then run a digital twin.
From there in a computer environment you could check things like how fast a batch would go through a factory and how well that factory performed.
We were basically just two people for a couple of years. But we noticed right away that this was very difficult to scale. It’s a very niche business. So we thought about making something more scalable, i.e. software. So in 2018 we came up with the idea that with software you could create your own VR environment to explain a predefined process. Something that felt “game-like” but was based on learning. For example if you would like to teach somebody how to change a car tire, you could then do it in our software where you have that tire, and the bolts and the tools and then create the process. You learn the steps via the software in the correct environment.
This works well for certain companies that teach people to use their products. They can use our VR environment and create, for example, problem situations and then within the environment, teach people how to solve the problem.
This is not a new idea in VR environments, it’s been around a long time. The difference is that with our software you are able to do more complicated tasks that require a bit more learning in a more efficient manner that solidifies the process.
It sounds like these new products you’re developing are going to be very accessible to just about everybody. Different industries etc.
Yes. For now we are working with manufacturing assembly factories. But it can apply to any industry. If you have an automated system there are a million things that can go wrong. So you’re going to use our software to create all these different scenarios of what could go wrong and then learn how to solve them. What’s great is that it scales. When people change in the factory you still have this VR environment where you can easily train new employees. The biggest market at the moment would be in the services business. For example, American companies that have products in Finland but don’t really have factories or engineers. They have very small support teams locally. For example, with Caterpillar you have these very big trucks. And when there’s a problem you have to get somebody from somewhere in the States to come to a location or at least do some videos and send them to the customer. It’s very slow. With our software they could learn to solve the problem in VR and get the truck up and running much faster.
So this can be used in any environment where there needs to be some sort of 3D modeling, and that 3D modeling could include being able to assemble something anywhere from medical to automotive?
Yes after troubleshooting what the actual problem is. Let’s use an endoscopy or a colonoscopy, for example. No doctor goes in and says “I see a polyp” and fixes it right away without training. And that training can happen in VR before they train on patients. Our software is definitely a B2B solution for many industries.
So if we look at any of the vision headsets that are out these days you could probably develop something for them with this B2B solution
Yes. Absolutely.
That all makes sense. So tell us about your Unity simulations and your use of Unity.
Everything is built on Unity. And if I give you the software, it’s basically a Unity application. It’s very simple. Basically in our software, the main idea is to select what you want to move and then you define where to move it or how to move it. So let’s take the example of repairing the truck. The main idea is to have parts that are 3D in a VR world. You can add or you can remove various parts and steps. I always say it’s a movie. So you create your own movie of what to do and what to do it with – then you can animate it. For these types of three dimensional workflows we use Unity.
Where does PACE and its products fit in?
We use PACE to wrap it and to protect it. From there we can distribute so we use PACE to license everything via iLok. So when we distribute our software we are thoroughly protected.
We could have done this ourselves but it would have cost much more and PACE has a lot to offer us in the long term. It’s a very good environment. It’s a turnkey solution to protect our software and enable our distribution in the most flexible way.
We looked at many other solutions, but PACE had a much more flexible system of handling and distributing and doing different types of packages of the product. The pricing wasn’t the cheapest. But I think it’s the most competitive and they understood that we were a start-up and priced accordingly. PACE was the best choice.
So tell us a little bit about your relationship with PACE. Do you have an ongoing relationship with them? Have they been helpful?.
We have felt like there was someone with us every step of the way. From the sales contact to the technical support, we’ve had a very good experience. They really listened to our needs and cost concerns. We’ve also been working with them to help test products and that has also been a good experience.
So what was that process like of wrapping your software with PACE? How was that deployment? Did everything go smoothly?
The first time I used it I spent maybe 15 to 20 minutes checking some documentation from the internet portal, and I was able to use it. It’s pretty simple. I think compared to other solutions that deal with complexity and need flexibility, the quality of PACE works best. It’s pretty user intuitive and everything so far has gone smoothly.
Could you distribute and do what you do right now without PACE products?
We could do a basic level of protection but in the long term, I don’t see how we could ever get there. We should focus on our product. As things scale, PACE already has all the tools that we need. We couldn’t scale without PACE. It secures our future.