Page 1 - Welcome Page 2 - Update Page 3 - News Page 4 - Brief lines |
* Welcome * Welcome to 2PLM, an e-zine distributed about every two weeks. This issue includes :
(1.1 Global Products and You) Some companies have already benefited from the opportunities of Global Products, and many more will benefit in the future, but not everyone will be a winner. Airbus sales grew in a market against competition from aircraft such as the Boeing 747, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and MD-11, and the Lockheed L-1011. In 1997 McDonnell Douglas became part of The Boeing Company. MD-11 production stopped in 2001. The L-1011 was the last large civil aircraft built by Lockheed. In 1995, Lockheed became part of Lockheed Martin. Boeing is now the only US producer of large civil aircraft. Sales of BMW and Toyota vehicles more or less doubled in a decade. Ford Motor Company's worldwide vehicle unit sales of cars and trucks stood at 6.6 million in 1995, 6.8 million in 2005. The opportunities of Global Products are similar for all companies. The achievements of different companies will be very different, ranging from great success to the opposite. * 1.8 Global Products: Good News, Bad News and Best News * Global Product: Strategy, Product Lifecycle Management and the Billion Customer Question 
* 1.5 Responsibility for PLM * (1.4 Implementing PLM) The concept of PLM is easy to understand. PLM brings together everything to do with the product, including product development. In the global environment, products are becoming increasingly important. People everywhere - whether in Shanghai, New York or London - often want the same product. It's part of their lifestyle. A company's products are at its heart. There is little in a company more important than the long-term vision of its products, and the way that they will be developed and used. Without those products, there will be no customers and no revenues. PLM is a management issue. PLM is important as it underlies everything about a product. Managers know how much they need successful products. But they also know how difficult it is to develop new products and to support products. They know how difficult it is to judge a product's future. They remember that Thomas Watson, IBM's chief executive is quoted as saying in 1943, "I foresee a world market for maybe 5 computers". Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corp., is quoted as saying in 1977, "there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home". A topic as important as the future of a company's products falls in the area of responsibility of the CEO. PLM isn't the responsibility of just one function or department. PLM can't be the responsibility of an Engineering department, because Engineering isn't responsible for the product all the way across the lifecycle, for example, when it is in the field. Similarly, PLM can't be the responsibility of the Service department, because Service isn't responsible for the product all the way across the lifecycle, for example, when it is under development. PLM can't be the responsibility of the Information Systems Department, because IS isn't responsible for a company's products at any time. PLM can't be the responsibility of the Finance Department, because Finance isn't responsible for a company's products at any time. Ultimately, responsibility for PLM lies with the CEO, who is usually the only person "above" all the individual functional and/or departmental participants. Enterprise-wide PLM changes organizational structures and responsibilities. Again, the person who has the corresponding responsibility and authority is the CEO. Of course, the CEO may decide to delegate this authority, or address PLM collegially with other top managers. The CEO may delegate most, if not all, of the tasks related to the identification of the response to PLM, and will definitely delegate the detailed implementation of the chosen approach to others. However, the CEO must be closely involved in the process, providing important inputs and reviewing the results of implementation. * 1.6 A New Way of Thinking * Product Lifecycle Management: Paradigm for 21st Century Product Realisation |
