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- Welcome
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- Update
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- News
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* Welcome *
Welcome to this issue of 2PLM, an e-zine distributed every two weeks on
a free subscription basis. After the Next Generation Product Development article
by Michael McGrath in the
previous issue,
we return to the closely-related subject of PLM. First though, a few words about the PLMIG Open
Days.
* PLM and Collaborative Product Innovation Open Day : Hannover *
In association with Knowledge Futures, the Product Lifecycle Management Interest Group
(PLMIG) held its first PLM and Collaborative Product Innovation Open Day
in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on June 17.
Attended by a mix of users, vendors and consultants, it addressed PLM issues including :
- definition and scope of PLM
- PLM implementation issues
- CPD and PLM
- PLM case studies
The next Open Day will be held at The Radisson SAS, Expo Park, Hannover, Germany on June 24.
There's still time to sign up for the Hannover event. For more information, read the
Overview
and
Agenda.
To participate, contact
Catherine Johns.
* Investing in Product Lifecycle Management *
A few years ago, people involved in CAD and PDM (Product Data Management) projects often complained that
their budgets were much smaller than those for ERP projects.
These days we don't hear that complaint so frequently.
Perhaps that's because top managers are now investing in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), for which
the business case is much clearer than for CAD and PDM.
In today's competitive global markets, manufacturing companies must rapidly meet the increasing
demands of customers and regulators to improve their products and services. For example, they
need to respond to shorter and shorter product lifecycles. According to our research, in 2003 :
- about 10% of products had lifetimes of less than 1 year
- 20% less than 2 years
- 50% less than 5 years
- 75% less than 10 years
PLM helps companies adapt to shorter lifecycles, getting products to market faster,
managing them all the way across their lifecycles in the most effective way,
providing better support for product use, and supporting end-of-life better.
PLM extends and brings together previously separate activities such as CAD, PDM,
Configuration Management, Sustainable Development, Product
Portfolio Management, Life Cycle Analysis and Recycling. Without a joined-up approach
to these activities, developing and supporting products that are rapidly replaced
is a nightmare.
Business managers can feel instinctively that PLM, with its focus on products, is what they're
looking for. They've invested in SCM to manage the supply chain, they've invested in CRM to get
close to their customers, they've invested in ERP to get the enterprise under control. Now all they
need is more great products and more revenue from each product. They know that SCM, CRM and ERP can't
provide benefits such as:
- 100% increase in the rate of introduction of new products
- 25% increase in revenues by upgrading existing products and extending their lifecycles
- Sevenfold increase in part reuse
- 75% reduction in costs due to product recalls, failures and liabilities
But PLM can. By joining up all the product-related activities across the extended enterprise -
from the beginning through to
the end of life - PLM makes possible the massive bottom-line benefits
that top managers are looking for.
* Per Ardua ad Astra *
In response to manufacturing industry's desire to benefit from PLM, software and service vendors
are reacting in different ways:
- PLM leaders have bought into the PLM vision. Convinced that the PLM market will be huge
($16.5 billion in 2002),
they have worked hard to translate the vision into reality.
They have developed their strategies,
plans and marketing messages, and trained their sales forces. Aware that PLM will lead them into
areas where, historically, they have not been strong, they are looking to fill the gaps in
their portfolios.
- PLM relabellers, meanwhile, have been watching to see what will happen next. Often they are not sure
if PLM is here to stay, or if it just another passing acronym. Unsure whether PLM will be
like CIM and CPC, they prefer to wait and see. Unwilling to be seen to do nothing, they
make superficial changes such as announcing that their existing products, such as CAD
and PDM systems, are PLM systems. But this is doubly risky. CAD was the vision of the 70's
and 80's, PDM that of the 90's. In 2004, it's going to be tough to
convince business managers that, rather than aiming for the stars with PLM, they should
invest in the unfulfilled dreams of their predecessors.
The PLM market is in its early days, but with analysts predicting that, in time, it
may be of the same order of magnitude as the ERP market, the leading players
could have annual sales of $5 billion. With such a figure in view, it's not surprising
that investments and acquisitions by leaders in the PLM segment are rising. It will be
interesting to see how the PLM relabellers react.
GGI 2004 Product Development Metrics Survey
In the April 12, 2004
issue of 2PLM
we mentioned that
completed Product Development Metrics survey forms were due back to GGI
in Needham by June 1, 2004.
Please note that the deadline for returning surveys has been extended
to July 1.
Download a free PDF copy of the Product Development Metrics Survey questionnaire
here. For
more information, please contact Anne Schwartz at +1 781/444-5400 x204 or by
mail.
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