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- Welcome
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- Update
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* Welcome *
Welcome to this issue of 2PLM, an e-zine distributed every two weeks on
a free subscription basis. This week's article,
"The PLM Software Scene: Tips for Smart Shopping" is from Dick Bourke.
(It is reprinted from the January issue of Desktop Engineering.
We gratefully acknowledge their permission. Qualified individuals are invited
to apply for complimentary subscriptions. Visit
www.deskeng.com
for details.)
But first, a quick update about the PLM Interest Group.
* PLM Interest Group *
PLM is a new fast-evolving technology of strategic importance.
As Marc Halpern, Research Director, Product Lifecycle Management, Gartner wrote in his article
"Making the Case for Greater PLM Investment" in the April 14, 2003
issue
of 2PLM, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the next major wave of opportunity for
manufacturers looking to improve business performance.
It takes time to put PLM in place - time to implement new
lifecycle processes, time to organize product data, time to
implement new Information Systems, time to train people to work in the
PLM environment.
PLM VPs, PLM Managers, PLM Project Leaders, PLM team leaders and PLM teams can work
on PLM alone, or they can work on it with other organizations facing similar issues.
What's better - doing it alone or doing it with top performers?
If you are interested in working collaboratively with PLM leaders, join the
PLM Interest Group. Become a member for 2004.
Benefits of PLMIG membership include:
- improve your company's understanding of PLM and the related benefits
- interact with PLM thought-leaders
- expand your industry relationships
- get leading-edge PLM know-how
- gain competitive advantage
- influence the future of PLM
- receive membership
services
such as access to the PLMIG portal, and participation in workshops, conferences,
meetings and seminars
- participate in
activities
of the Interest Group such as PLM benchmarking, definition of a PLM Capability
Model and metrics
- receive the Product Lifecycle Management Journal
Join now. The individual annual
subscription fee is USD 470.20 or Euro 350.
* The PLM Software Scene: Tips for Smart Shopping *
The PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) marketplace is teeming with an
abundance of software resources to achieve a PLM strategy - from point
solutions to claimed One Stop Shopping. In this article, I will discuss
effective planning for software selection and identify a few issues
that will shape your decision-making.
Planning
A common - but invalid - question often posed to consultants is:
"What is the best PLM package?" The more valid question is: "What package best
meets our company's needs?" Thus, smart software shopping is based on clearly
understanding a company's needs before contacting potential vendors.
First, to facilitate consistent communication, the PLM project team must agree
on the company's specific definition and interpretation of PLM. Here are two
high-level definitions of PLM:
- PLM consists of a strategic business approach that applies a consistent
set of business solutions to the collaborative creation, management,
dissemination, and use of product definition information. (CIMdata, Ann Arbor,
MI)
- PLM is the business activity of managing an organization's products all
the way across their lifecycles in the most effective way. It helps a company
get its products to market faster, provide better support for their use, and
manage end-of-life better. PLM requires a holistic approach melding
product-related application systems, data, processes, techniques and
skills. (John Stark)
AMR Research (Boston, MA) uses five major classifications of PLM software
elements. These are:
- Collaborative Product Design (CPD)
- Product Data Management (PDM)
- Direct Materials Sourcing (DMS)
- Customer Needs Management (CNM)
- Product Portfolio Management (PPM)
A company must resolve which of these software elements are most significant
for achieving its PLM strategy.
In the early stages of forging a PLM strategy, build a knowledge foundation
with education about PLM elements and processes provided by industry
seminars, reports, and consultants. You can identify expected benefits
from sources such as successful users, and reports such as CIMdata's recent
Measuring PLM's Business Value. There is ample evidence to
substantiate a business case to achieve company objectives, such as reducing
time-to-market and the cost of engineering changes, to cite just two of
many possible benefits.
Next, conduct a brief As-Is study of your current situation - emphasis is
on brief - just enough detail about current processes and problems to
catalyze a fast shift into developing To-Be scenarios. Importantly, how does
the project team visualize your company thriving on improved processes; for
instance, New Product Introduction and Engineering Change Management?
Later in the selection activity, the project team should expect the vendor
to demonstrate that its products meet your company's process specifications
and decision criteria. This is a more rational selection methodology than
letting each vendor demonstrate from its definition and interpretation of
PLM. As one consultant said, "Vendors may take an expansive view of reality."
Evaluation and Selection Issues
As a result of proper planning, your project team should be well equipped
to precisely evaluate key issues regarding PLM software selection. Some
of these are described below.
Vendor Origins and Strategy
To realize a suitable match between company needs and vendor products, it is
critical to understand the vendor's origins, product development strategy,
and strengths relative to your company's needs. Why? Because you are
establishing a long-term partnership, not just buying software.
Furthermore, your visions must be in sync; for example, if your needs
are more engineering centric, then PLM vendors with strong CAD
functionalities may be more suitable candidates for your short list.
Best of Breed or One Stop Shopping
The Best of Breed (BOB) approach requires a company to match one or more
point solution packages to its needs - then shoulder the responsibility
and cost of integration - a decision not to be taken lightly. BOB choices
will probably remain for quite a while, though some pundits think many point
solutions will eventually vanish in favor of One Stop Shopping (OSS).
The OSS alternative may be broadly interpreted either one of two ways: full
functionality within the scope of PLM, or PLM in association with ERP. An
OSS solution to allay the fears and pain of integration is emerging from
the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) community; now PLM capabilities are
being offered by the large ERP vendors: Baan, Oracle, and SAP. In addition
to the appeal of minimizing integration, these alternatives provide the
ability to seamlessly draw upon the data in the ERP modules.
Moreover, PeopleSoft may be considered in this OSS PLM/ERP vein following
its alliance with Agile, now offering an expanded footprint due to several
acquisitions. Even with the broader OSS definition, however, there is not
yet a complete OSS solution from any ERP vendor.
In the futures category, mid-market companies should watch the evolving
development of Autodesk's initiative to provide PLM capabilities with the
Microsoft ERP packages. Autodesk's CAD products, coupled with Microsoft's
pervasiveness, should provide an attractive alternative to mid market
manufacturing companies.
Out-of-the-Box, Industry Focused, and Flexibility Needs
A clear trend is OOTB with industry-focused versions; for instance, for
pharmaceutical and medical device companies, the features necessary to
comply with CFR 11, Part 21 should be included. Indeed, to achieve fast
deployment and reap immediate benefits, industry focused OOTB solutions
should merit a high evaluation rating. The degree of OOTB functionality
vis-a-vis flexibility needs, however, may come into consideration. The
thoughtful question to answer is: "Will customization gain significant
competitive advantage while maintaining, or lowering, the Total Cost of
Ownership?"
Technology Infrastructure and Industry Standards
In addition to the business processes of PLM, the technical and architectural
issues must be addressed. In short, the potential vendor's technology must be
in sync with your company’s Information Technology infrastructure. In particular,
integration and interoperability are still critical issues. For instance, does
the vendor support industry standards for interoperability? Importantly, most
of the PLM vendors providing the core functionality of PDM and CPD have both
CAD and ERP integration tools available, many supplied through third party
sources.
Licensing methods
For some companies, it may be attractive to use hosted services as a lower cost
option, instead of in-house implementations, though the choices are more
limited. Examples are: Arena Solutions for general PLM capabilities; Framework
Technologies for PPM; and NetIdeas, a Windchill specialist.
Financial Viability
The PLM software industry is in a state of flux: consolidations, mergers and
acquisitions, an occasional bankruptcy, and strengthening of partner
relationships. The issue of vendor financial viability is relevant when
considering solutions from small or larger potential vendors. Especially
for point solutions, the decision trade-off may be better functionality but
at a higher risk, if the vendor is not well established with a significant
customer base.
Final Thoughts
The wide range of PLM software alternatives emphasizes the need for a company
to have a decision framework in place before shopping. By carefully selecting
the appropriate software, the rewards of a successful PLM implementation are
achievable.
Richard W. Bourke provides PLM and ERP consulting.
For more publications, visit his
website.
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