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 :
by John Stark Last month I gave a keynote presentation at the PLM Strategy & Vision 08 Conference in Stockholm. The title was "Enabling Scandinavia's Global Products: 10 Key Technical and Organizational Requirements for Successful PLM". During discussions in the coffee and lunch breaks, several delegates said they were having problems getting their PLM projects off the ground, and asked about the best way to get started. This is not an issue specific to Scandinavia; I have also seen it in companies in North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. Once people get involved with PLM, it becomes very clear to them that PLM is necessary, but it's less clear how to proceed. They can see possibilities for major benefits, but find it difficult to know where and how to achieve them. They see the need for, and opportunities of, PLM but get very mixed feedback from the rest of the company. On one hand, some people in the company think PLM should be implemented as:
With PLM looking strategic, but without clear support from business executives, PLM Managers face a dilemma. Should they set out, without high-level support, to achieve the holistic 21st Century vision of PLM, or should they wait until they get the OK from above, and run the risk that important projects may not happen? Usually there is nobody nearby in a similar position with whom they can sit down and discuss these issues. However, it would be helpful for them to work together with their peers from other companies to find answers to their questions and identify solutions they can implement. A PLM User Forum offers them the opportunity to get together with people with similar interests who they would probably never meet otherwise, to share experience, to learn how other managers are addressing PLM, and to look for ways and methods to move forward. 
* Building on User Experience * by Roger Tempest I was asked an interesting question this week by the Global PDM Manager of a $600m US corporation. He wanted to know how PLM collaboration would work in the more technical areas of PDM, master data, commonisation and interfaces with other enterprise systems such as ERP and CRM. This is an extremely complex area, and the real subject matter experts are within the PLM teams of user companies. To make progress with these issues, those with the technical expertise should do the collaboration - which means that the PLM teams of major user companies need a platform or framework to be able to collaborate in detail and over an extended period of time. The PLMIG aims to provide this framework in 2009 by managing a User Initiative in which companies' PLM teams collaborate with each other on features of their ongoing implementations. The technical expertise will be shared directly between those who have it (the PLM experts on each team). The PLMIG will provide the documentation and support mechanism that enables them to work together. By enabling users to share their experience directly, it will be possible to build a much greater PLM understanding than by working separately. New methods and tools can be developed which, in turn, can be used within the implementations to generate even better results. This was the underlying rationale for setting up the two User Forum events. They are working meetings in their own right, and they may also be a stepping-stone for more integrated co-operation in the future. The principle of building on experience applies to the two User Forum meetings themselves. Participants at the European event have a mode average sales value of more than $3bn, so they will bring the full range of PLM issues to the Reading meeting. Their discussions will go forward to form the basis of the Cleveland meeting on 18-19 November, so US delegates will have the benefit of their ideas as starting material. This means that the US event will take the debate further forward, and their results in turn will be fed back to the Reading delegates. The User Forums therefore offer a self-contained, productive environment for working on your current, real PLM problems, and also provide an opportunity to get to know other PLM managers who might take part in longer-term collaboration over the course of the coming year. Roger Tempest is co-founder of the PLMIG. You can find out more information about the User Forum events at userforum@plmig.com. 
* PLM North America 2008 Summit on a CD * Laurence Allen The PLM North American Summit 2008 took place earlier this month at the World Golf Village, Florida as the continent's only independent conference and networking event for product lifecycle management. It saw record attendance from companies including BAE Systems, Black & Decker, Cummins Inc, Johnson & Johnson and Rolls Royce as a variety of cross-industry specialists revealed their experiences at the various stages of the PLM adoption process. If you could not attend the summit, this is your opportunity to purchase a copy of the PLM North America Virtual Conference CD and catch up on the presentations you missed for only US$755. This includes the speaker notes and audio from a number of presentations and is an invaluable record which can be referred to time and time again by you and your colleagues. Secure your copy today quoting JSCD1. Each year our conference program is carefully researched ensuring that our speakers present original ideas that address the current business critical issues you are facing today or in the near future. We give our attendees relevant real-time solutions that can be taken straight from the Summit and implemented on their return. Discover the latest thought leadership from some of the industry's most respected speakers :
* Aircraft Development News * Dreamliner Boeing announced the delay of the first flight of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft until 2009. According to the BBC, a company spokesman said that inspections had found that about 3% of the fasteners on the four test jets had been incorrectly installed by suppliers, being either too far apart or too close together. Details A380 Airbus celebrated the first anniversary of the A380's entry into service. The first A380 was handed over to Singapore Airlines on 15th October 2007 and entered service on 25th October 2007. A total of nine aircraft have been delivered to date, with six in operation with Singapore Airlines, one with Qantas and two with Emirates. To date, total orders and commitments for the A380 are 202 from 17 customers. Details The A380 production ramp-up was revisited in May 2008. Airbus then planned for 12 (instead of 13) deliveries in 2008 and 21 (instead of 25) in 2009. Details A400M Airbus announced that the first flight of the A400M until now planned before the end of 2008 will be postponed, because of the unavailability of the propulsion system. Details |
