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2PLM John Stark Associates |
Number 13 |
- Welcome Page 2 - Update Page 3 - News Page 4 - Brief lines | Welcome to this issue of 2PLM, an e-zine distributed every two weeks on a free subscription basis. This week's article, "PDM MKII" is from Menno Huijben, of Technia. * PDM MKII * In this ezine, we've seen several articles covering the difference between PDM and PLM. Nevertheless, I thought that I would have my try at it from a different perspective. This because, while I fully endorse the vision of Product Life Cycle Management, I do believe that we all have to work very hard to realize it. So, PDM and PLM. Let's first examine what the two acronyms have in common, besides the 'P' and the 'M'. What's common to PDM and PLM? Both terms confuse a vision that promises high business impact, with an information system deployment. Consider the grand vision 'Manage all your Product Data'. Is there anybody out there that has successfully implemented this vision? During the nineties we were struggling to realize this grand PDM vision by trying to explain to senior management the necessity of getting this done, along with deploying client-server applications and such. Definitely, several companies have come quite far in realizing aspects of their product-definition (mostly the CAD model) and have been successful in capturing it in their PDM system. Generally speaking, many of these companies have also succeeded in implementing functionality that allows them to keep that product data consistent and to distribute this data in a controlled way outside the design department. Than came eBusiness, with marketplaces, product catalogues and portals. And what happened next? Large corporations quickly put up websites showing their products and offerings (often without having any process to keep the data on the website consistent and up-to-date). The PDM movement wasn't able to pick up on this opportunity. Even if there was a PDM system in the organization's back office, the marketing department (or the newly nominated eBusiness manager) did not know about it. So, we started hearing about 'Content Management' and eBusinessers put some 'pdf' product brochures on their website - but with no connection to PDM. The PDM vendors suddenly had to rethink their role in eBusiness, and a new set of acronyms were introduced. And here I have to make a confession. Among with all those new acronyms such as CPC, ePDM, cPDm was PLM, and I took it as just another acronym for the same grand vision of PDM. How wrong I was. PLM is an even grander vision, and PDM is merely the first step. So, that's what PDM and PLM have in common: a vision, but one that nobody has realized. What's the difference between PDM and PLM? PDM has delivered business benefits to most of the companies that have implemented it, PLM is just starting. Companies that embarked on PDM learned that the biggest challenge is in 'cleaning up' their product data. Using PDM as an 'Item Master', they removed duplicate coding for the same item or product, thus enabling supply managers to save lots of money. PDM enabled companies to have a serious try at 'Manufacture Anywhere'; keeping the product definition consistent at different locations, reducing Cost of Poor Quality and Time to Market. Why hasn't the PLM vision delivered business benefits (yet)? For me, the vision seems too big - manage all the information about a product during its entire lifecycle - the cradle-grave thing. Most product (platform) lifecycles are in the range of 5 to 100 years. This vision, in relation to the state-of-the-art offerings and the capability maturity of organizations, represents a wide gap. Could it be that this is why PLM is not yet high on the agenda of senior management? That the gap between 'practice and promise' is too big? Perhaps we jumped too soon at PLM and what we should have done was to do what we did with MRP: go, via MRP II, to ERP. So, should we forget about PLM for a while and go for PDM MKII? PDM MKII… I would define as getting the PDM job done AND having well-implemented processes to keep the product definition consistent, AND leveraging this product definition across the extended enterprise. Straightforward stuff that will provide senior management with easy-to-understand savings and business process improvement potential. By the way, I joined the PLM Interest Group. It's the type of organization that's needed to move forward with PLM. For questions and comments, please contact me by mail or call +358 40 860 7221. Menno Huijben is a consultant at Technia, a leading supplier of PLM solutions in the Nordic countries. |
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News |
Ariba, Inc. announced a definitive agreement to acquire FreeMarkets, Inc., a provider of Global Supply Management solutions. Details Moldflow Corporation announced that the Company has completed the acquisition of privately-held American MSI Corporation. Details * Financial * Ariba, Inc. announced results for the quarter ended December 31, 2003. Revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2004 were $52.7 million, as compared to $61.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2003. Details Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced its fourth quarter and fiscal 2003 results. Cadence announced total fourth quarter revenue of $308 million, compared to $274 million in the same period last year. Details FileNet Corporation announced financial results for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003. Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2003 were $101.0 million compared to total revenues of $89.4 million for the same period in 2002 and $89.4 million for the third quarter of 2003. Details Framework Technologies announced revenue growth for its fiscal first quarter of 2004 which ended December 31, 2003. Details Hummingbird Ltd. reported its consolidated results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2003. Details i2 Technologies, Inc. announced results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2003. Total fourth quarter revenues were $98 million, as compared to $117.3 million in the third quarter of 2003 and $168.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2002. Details MAPICS, Inc. announced results for its first fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2003. Total revenue increased by 39% to $43.0 million from $31.0 million. Details MatrixOne, Inc. announced results for its second quarter ended January 3, 2004. For the second quarter ended January 3, 2004, total revenues were $26.9 million, compared to $28.0 million in the same period last year. Details Mentor Graphics Corporation announced fourth quarter revenue of $202 million. Details Moldflow Corporation announced the results for its second fiscal quarter and first six months of 2004. Worldwide revenue of $10.6 million for the quarter ended December 27, 2003 represented a 19% increase from the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2003. Details PTC reported revenue totaling $156.8 million for the first quarter ended January 3, 2004, compared with $172.0 million for the same period last year. Details QUMAS announced earnings for fiscal year 2003. Annual revenues increased to $11.5M for the year ended December 31, 2003. Details SAP AG announced its preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2003. Total revenues were Euro 7.0 billion (2002: Euro 7.4 billion), down 5% compared to 2002. Details Selectica, Inc. announced results for the third fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2003. Revenue was $10.0 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2004, compared with $10.0 million for the same period in the previous year. Details * People * Affinnova, Inc. announced the appointment of Robert Meers to its Executive Board. Details Engineous Software, Inc. announced that Al Wojcik has joined the company as Executive Vice President, North American and European Sales. Details  Formtek Inc. announced that Robert Bocchino has rejoined the company as Sales Director for the Northeast US region. Details Moldflow Corporation announced the appointment of Franco Ellena to the position of Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Distribution for Moldflow Corporation's Design Analysis Solutions products. Details Stage-Gate Inc. announced the appointment of Michael Wiebe to the position of Director of Consulting Services for Stage-Gate Inc. Details * Implementation * Endeca announced that IBM has chosen Endeca to provide Guided Navigation and dynamic merchandising for the company's online store at www.ibm.com. Details Exostar announced that it had finalized an agreement with AMS for the full deployment of its eSourcing and eProcurement solutions throughout the company. Details Intergraph Corporation announced ABB Offshore Systems AS of Norway has signed a multi-year contract for development and implementation of global information management and project engineering software. Details MatrixOne, Inc. announced that S.N.O.P. has selected MatrixOne's Matrix10 PLM environment as its product collaboration platform corporate-wide. Details Moldflow announced that multiple Japanese manufacturers have made substantial initial purchases or have expanded their current deployment of Moldflow Design Optimization software. Details Omnify Software announced that Redline Communications Inc. is leveraging Omnify PLM to manage product development from new parts inception to product completion. Details think3, Inc. announced that it is renewing and extending its contract with Phoenix International. Details UGS PLM Solutions announced MTU Aero Engines has awarded it its largest-ever contract in Europe. Under the Euro 15.2 million contract, MTU Aero Engines has selected UGS PLM Solutions as its new technology partner for product lifecycle management (PLM) and has standardized on Teamcenter. Details * Developments * Agile Software Corporation announced Agile 9 platform support for IBM's WebSphere Portal. Details Agile Software Corporation announced the general availability of Agile 9. Details Alibre Inc. announced the inclusion of ModelPress Publisher in Alibre Design Professional. Details Cadence Design Systems, Inc announced it will release key products of the Cadence Encounter digital IC design platform on the AMD64 processor-based systems running 64-bit Linux. Details FileNet Corporation announced support for Linux. Details Hummingbird Ltd. announced a complete suite of 64-bit native connectivity software for Intel Itanium 2 processor platforms. Details Informative Graphics Corporation announced the release of its Net-It CAD plug-in for Solid Edge. Details MSC.Software Corp. announced the availability of MSC.SuperForm and MSC.SuperForge 2004. Details PTC announced it has added a new module to its Windchill 7.0 suite called Windchill Enterprise Systems Integration (ESI). Details PTC announced the availability of Windchill 7.0. Details think3 announced its Product Configurator provides manufacturers with a cost-effective solution for mass customization, resulting in a significant competitive advantage. Details UGS PLM Solutions announced the availability of Parasolid version 15.1, the latest release of its geometric modeling component software. Details Valor Computerized Systems Inc. announced the release of version 7 of its Trilogy 5000 solution for PCB process preparation and assembly programming operations and its Enterprise 3000 DFM solution for virtual design verification of CAD data. Details * Relationships * GlobalSpec announced a strategic partnership with Laser Focus World magazine. Details ImpactXoft announced that Acuity Incorporated has joined ImpactXoft's Need SPeeD reseller channel program. Details Matrix Marketing Group announced that it has introduced a new Pay-for-Performance Public Relations program designed for small and mid-sized businesses. Details Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. and UGS PLM Solutions announced significantly enhanced interoperability between eM-Plant, the production and logistics visualization tool offered by Tecnomatix and Factory CAD, the 3D factory layout software solution from UGS PLM Solutions. Details UGS PLM Solutions announced its Solid Edge Voyager Program grew at double-digit rates in 2003, expanding to more than 200 integrated third-party software and hardware applications. Details * Other * AVEVA, the engineering IT solutions and services provider formerly known as Cadcentre, has announced a milestone achievement in the development of the 'XMpLant' intelligent 3D CAD translation solution. Details FileNet Corporation announced a major initiative to deliver ECM solutions for Asset and Plant Lifecycle Management. Details GlobalSpec, Inc. announced it achieved record double-digit growth in sales, registered users and the number of searchable parts in its database during 2003. Details SolidWork announced that Texas Instruments Sensors and Controls has purchased the 300,000th license of SolidWorks 3D mechanical design software. Details SolidWorks Corporation announced that more than 10,000 companies have purchased COSMOS to test designs prior to prototype and production. Details SolidWorks announced that engineers and designers configured or downloaded more than 1.6 million product models using SolidWorks 3D PartStream.NET service in 2003, making it one of the most popular Web catalog product configurators in the industry. Details |
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