Quantifying the Financial Value of PLM, Succeeding with PLM Implementation, A Goldmine, Search Tools for R&D and Product Development
2PLM NewsletterJohn Stark Associates February 10, 2014 - Vol16 #5 |
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Welcome to the 2PLM e-zine This issue includes :
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| Quantifying the Financial Value of PLM by Roger Tempest |
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| The PLM Financial Framework will have far-reaching effects. With a neutral metrics system that can be used by users and vendors, most of the uncertainties that are holding back PLM will be removed. PLM projects will be justified based on financial gains that can be measured as the implementation proceeds.
The acceptance that PLM metrics are there to be calculated, using a standard toolset and methodology, will make adoption much easier. The PLM Team will be able to take sufficient time to calculate the justification correctly, knowing that the results will be accurate and useful. Vendors will be able to propose solutions that clearly act for the benefit of the business, knowing that these benefits can now be quantified by the customer. The fact that the methodology is formalised and agreed will lead to a new form of 'best practice' which maximises the scope, permeation and traction of the implementation. With more and more companies establishing valid working metrics, the concept of an international PLM Benefits Reference Model becomes a real possibility. |
A key part of the Financial Framework deliverables is the toolset that enables the PLM Team to make this happen. The PLMIG workshops in Frankfurt and Vaasa at the end of last year developed the mobilisation process and document set that the Team can use to enact what may be a transformational change for the company.
Two forthcoming events will open a window to the insights that have been learned during the initiative. There will be a Focus Group session at the Product Innovation Congress in Berlin, 25-26 February; and a more detailed interactive session at the PTC Live Executive Exchange in Boston, MA on 16-17 June. The detailed results from Frankfurt and Vaasa are now being processed and will be published as part of the PLMIG membership material for 2014.
Roger Tempest is co-founder of the PLMIG. Membership of the PLMIG is available via membership@plmig.com. |
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| Succeeding with PLM Implementation by Scott Cleveland |
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| Successful PLM implementations have many common features. Learning about these features, some of which I address below, should help your company to succeed with PLM.
Find a Champion A champion doesn't need to be a high-level executive; they just need to be well-respected within the company. Manage the Scope Document your Processes Process improvement is another project entirely. The search for a better process can take a very long time. Perfection isn't your first objective [it's also unobtainable]. Implement your current process and make improvements as you go. The only exception to that is if you can see an activity taking place that adds no value - then I would remove that one. |
Field a Project Team Involve a team that represents all the stakeholders. If people have some input, they will feel some ownership. This will help the project to be successful. One person can kill a PLM project. If you suspect there's a potential project killer out there, get them on the team. Get them involved - this should reduce any negativity. Measure your Performance My thoughts .... Your thoughts ....
Scott Cleveland can be contacted on +1 408-464-6387 |
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| A Goldmine |
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| From a Customer Review of Product Lifecycle Management: 21st Century Paradigm for Product Realisation.
This is a goldmine of high-value material with rich veins of knowledge and experience. It will be highly valued by readers in the Manufacturing sector handling the complexity of developing, supporting and managing products in the global economy. Nuggets like the PLM paradigm lie on the surface. More highgrade material lies under the surface. |
Space shuttles, tires, SUV's, drug products, elevators. With collaboratively-developed, globally-used products the need for Product Lifecycle Management is omnipresent. Unless PLM is implemented, expect even more problem products. But implementation will take more than management presentations of cool and colorful Powerpoint slides. PLM is a new way of thinking, flying in the face of century-old thinking, and isn't so easy to take aboard.
This is a profound book building the foundations of a new paradigm for product development, realization, use, management. Reading it is an enrichening experience. |
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| Search Tools for R&D and Product Development by Dick Bourke |
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| My continuing review of the many searching methods and available software tools prompts me to refine how I describe Search & Discovery Solutions (SDS). I previously thought of SDS as only semantic-based and operating within the enterprise Intranet. It now covers all forms of search, including geometric, relational database methods and Internet.
Added dimensions of SDS are coming from the general search community, in addition to those with engineering/product development roots. To put into perspective the emerging vendor/software alternatives, I'll first identify a frame of reference, which I call the spectrum of Research & Development (R&D) through to New Product Development (NPD). On one extreme is the R of R&D - pure research; at the other is NPD - on-going product development, as well as enhancements to an existing product. In between are some blendings, such as applied research. The extremes are easy to label; the in-between gets a bit fuzzier. In the R&D area of the spectrum, representative software tools from the universal search community include:
In general, these products have similar characteristics: proprietary search engines, advanced semantic processing, document processing orientation, Internet capabilities and reference customers. Research firms such as pharmaceutical companies seem to characterize the ideal use case. At this end of the spectrum, patent searching on the Internet is a critical need for them. Typically, the ability to access CAD file content is not a requirement. |
In this area, I recognized some software tools in my previous articles. Here are two more:
Call these tool sets "point solutions." They address the needs of design departments. They also help product development processes in downstream departments such as manufacturing engineering and purchasing. The Apache/Solr (open source) search engine is commonly used with enhancements by the vendor or third party firms. And these tool sets usually include software connectors to extract information from places other than engineering records such as ERP systems or text documents outside of engineering. Some of these point solutions are embedded in PLM systems. So far in my columns, I've listed some "representative" software tools. Caution: Not including any particular tool set could mean that they are still "under review," such as IBM's Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager, Infor's Enterprise Search and more. Of course, I may have missed others, so flag me and I will check them out. Will search software tool vendors be pushed out of their comfort zones into other areas of the spectrum? Or will they do so as part of their go-to-market strategy? I would say that's very likely. Also, an enterprise's need for complete spectrum coverage and the availability of many vendor/software alternatives supports the idea that two or more tools may be essential to solidify a comprehensive search strategy, so co-existence - without integration - is a possibility. Other ways could be by alliances, acquisitions, or internal development. Permission Statement
For more information, contact Dick Bourke at dickb@bourkeconsulting.com |
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