November 23 2009
2PLM

John Stark Associates


Volume 12
Number 18




Page 1
- Welcome
Page 2
- News
Page 3
- Brief lines

* Welcome *
Welcome to 2PLM, an e-zine distributed about every two weeks. This issue includes :
  • PLM Planning and Company Strategy
  • Trust and Security
* PLM Planning and Company Strategy *
by Roger Tempest

Having covered the two different project management methodologies for PLM and PDM in the November 09 issue and the October 26 issue, it is time to join them together. And joined-up thinking requires that all project plans fit with the Company Strategy.

This is where many PLM teams claim 'force majeure' - that although they want to do their best, they are not empowered to achieve it. After all, they would say, the Company Strategy is outside their control, and probably does not even mention PLM; the people who set the Company Strategy do not understand PLM; and there is no senior management commitment to support the PLM point of view.

Unfortunately, even if all of the above are true, the buck still stops with the PLM team. The reason is that senior directors and VPs, whose support is so earnestly desired, do not have time to understand PLM in sufficient depth to take decisions about it. So the PLM team must present them with concise, relevant and accurate information about PLM, together with the 'short list' of possible options. Then the VPs can do their work.

A PLM team with a supportive CEO, Board and Steering Group must work just as hard as a disempowered team on upward management. They need to involve the same people, produce the same working material, and generate the same milestones and metrics - they just do so in a climate of easier acceptance.

Thus all PLM teams face the same challenges, and to overcome them they need a standard methodology that works. The methodology depends on three things:-
  • maintaining clear strategic and tactical direction in PLM thinking
  • controlling the Steering Group so that they come to the correct decisions
  • creating a 'positive virus' of project activity
The PLM team achieves the first by producing a published and agreed PLM Vision and PLM Strategy that integrate with the plans, and that are understood by all levels of management (as covered in 2PLM May 25 and June 22). If there is a clear PLM Strategy, then it is much easier to relate PLM to the Company Strategy; and to set the Strategy you need the Vision.

Controlling the Steering Group is achieved by having consistently good working material and a positive, rather than subservient, attitude. The Steering Group is there to provide guidance and direction, and it is up to the PLM team to ensure that it does so. (Note that the "correct decisions" are not necessarily those that the PLM team wants, but those that are the best for the business. The Steering Group, after all, is meant to provide a high-level viewpoint and a cross-check for the PLM team's ideas.)

Even with a clear Vision and Strategy and the best working material, PLM can be sidelined if people discount it, or ignore it completely. To avoid this, PLM must be seen to be directly relevant to everyone in the business. This can be achieved by documenting actual examples of how the company is wasting effort or resources, and presenting these at the appropriate level for those concerned. Because all businesses are imperfect, every PLM project will uncover areas of under-performance that could be improved.

The third part of the methodology captures these areas of under-performance and channels them into the team's proposals and documentation. The 'positive virus', therefore, is an embedded framework of vertical, work-oriented, war-story reporting based on existing and planned PLM projects, combined with relevant local metrics.

The whole methodology is covered in detail in the Q3 issue of the PLM Journal. The long-term aim of integrating the PLM Vision, Strategy and Planning with the overall Company Strategy is to achieve 'PLM Traction', where PLM is so deeply embedded within business operations that a given increase or decrease in PLM performance results in a corresponding increase or decrease in company performance.

Roger Tempest is co-founder of the PLMIG. You can send your comments or input via strategy@plmig.com




* Trust and Security *
by Lion Benjamins

At an invitation-only event, a priest and a prominent lawyer are discussing the importance of trust and security. The priest indicates that trust is a fundamental building stone in our society. He has heard confessions of thousands of people and, to this day, he is proud that he has never broken that trust, although there were many that caused him moral dilemmas. As an example, he tells of the very first confession he ever took in this very parish, a young man who confessed to having murdered someone. The priest had followed the case on TV and in the papers and the murderer had never been caught. As a priest, he was unable to break the trust and security of the confession.

At that moment, a man greets the priest by name, introduces himself to the lawyer, and adds proudly that the very first confession the priest had ever taken was his.

The man is later arrested, convicted and sent to jail.

Did the priest break the trust placed in him? Is it moral for the priest to allow a murderer to run loose? To whom did the information belong and what could he do with it? Where is the line between morality and ethics?

Where is this article leading and, you may well ask, what is it doing in a newsletter that has its focus on PLM?

The modern enterprise is a blend of players that fulfil different tasks. These players can be part of the 'company' or part of the 'corporation' or part of the 'Extended Enterprise'. The days of the fully integrated organisation are long gone.

PLM systems need to communicate with each other, and with other enterprise systems. The technical solutions such as firewalls and data encryption appear to enable systems to pass data across organisational boundaries with some success.

But what will happen when the product information being generated by the products themselves - such as bearing wear statistics, or turbine breakdown frequency, or temperature fluctuations within generators - which all impact the product lifecycle - needs to get back to the people responsible for their service, manufacture or design?

To whom does that information belong? Who is allowed to access what information? Who is allowed to use information, who can just pass it along?

Should we address these issues? Should we ignore them? Or do we just keep everything to ourselves and not share anything?

What do you think? Your opinion is important.
Would you like to leave a comment?

Lion Benjamins is the Chairman of Promise Innovation International Oy.




Page 2
News
* Corporate *
Oce N.V.and Canon Inc. announced a public cash offer by Canon for all the shares of Oce. Details

* Financial *
Autodesk, Inc. reported financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2010. Revenue was $417 million. Details

Avatech Solutions, Inc. reported total revenues of $7.8 million for its first fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2009. Details

AVEVA Group plc announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 September 2009. Revenue was £69.9 million. Details

CENIT announced Q3 results with total sales of 63.4 m EUR. Details

Cimatron Limited announced financial results for Q3 2009. Revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were $7.2 million. Details

* People *
Infor announced that Robert Humphrey has joined Infor as chief marketing officer. Details

Lascom announced the appointment of Jean-Marc Kuhlmann as General Director. Details

Lawson Software announced that Jeff Comport has joined the company as senior vice president of product management. Details

* Implementations *
ANSYS, Inc. announced that Ferrari uses software from ANSYS. Details

Dassault Systemes announced that Panasonic's Kitchen Appliance BU uses CATIA software. Details

Dassault Systemes announced that Andreas Stihl AG & Co. KG selected DELMIA Process Engineer. Details

EON Reality announced installation of EON Professional for Ashok Leyland. Details

Jotne EPM Technology announced an agreement with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics to expand the development and deployment of a System for Simulation Data Management using the STEP/PLCS standards, ISO 10303. Details

Technia announced an extended agreement with OKG. Details

TradeStone Software announced Le Chateau Inc will utilize TradeStone's PLM. Details

VIRTALIS announced it installed an immersive visualisation suite at Case New Holland in Modena, Italy. Details

VISTAGY, Inc. announced it has been selected by Bombardier Aerospace to provide FiberSIM software. Details

Zuken announced that Terex Corporation has named Zuken as its preferred supplier of electrical design software. Details

* Developments *
ANSYS, Inc. announced the release of ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager. Details

CD-adapco announced the release of STAR-CCM+ V4.06. Details

Contex announced an update to Nextimage software - version 1.6.1. Details

Dassault Systemes announced the launch of V6R2010x. Details

Delcam announced the launch of its integrated CAM system for SolidWorks. Details

Eurostep announced the release of version 7 of Share-A-space. Details

Geomagic announced it added parametric CAD model creation to its standard Geomagic Studio software. Details

Informative Graphics Corp. announced the release of its new Brava! Flash Viewer. Details

InnovMetric Software Inc. announced the latest intermediate release of PolyWorks V11. Details

IronCAD, LLC announced the release of IRONCAD Version 2009, branded as IRONCAD Next Generation. Details

Kineo Cam announced the release of KCD V2.05. Details

Lantek announced innovations to Lantek Expert Punch. Details

Lawson Software announced Service Pack updates and enhancements for Lawson Fashion PLM. Details

LEDAS Ltd. announced version 2.0 of its LGS 3D geometric constraint solver. Details

NGC introduced ARMS (Analytics and Report Management Software). Details

Nikon Metrology announced the XT V 130 X-ray inspection system. Details

The ODA announced the production release of DWGdirect version 3.2. Details

Omnify Software announced the RapidStart PLM Suite for the Empower PLM 4.5 solution. Details

Quantapoint announced the release of PRISM 3D / QuantaCAD 10.0. Details

Schott Systeme announced their latest Pictures by PC 3.4 CAD/CAM software. Details

SDL announced the new release of SDL MultiTerm Server 2009. Details

SpaceClaim announced the release of SpaceClaim 2009+. Details

* Relationships *
Aras announced that Automated Product Development (Pty) Ltd has joined the Aras Partner Program. Details

Autodesk, Inc. announced an OEM licensing agreement with Intergraph to embed ISOGEN technology in AutoCAD Plant 3D. Details

Dassault Systemes announced that it is subcontracting to artizone the development and support of its ENOVIA SmarTeam V5 technology. Details

Dassault Systemes and Novell Inc. announced a partnership to offer Dassault Systemes V6 PLM solutions on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Details

Dassault Systemes announced that DASBAT has become a Dassault Systemes VAR. Details

Gerber Technology announced it has attained Gold Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program. Details

Hexagon Metrology, Inc. and Morris Group, Inc. announced a strategic partnership. Details

Hexagon Metrology, Inc. and Hartwig, Inc. announced an agreement to form a strategic partnership. Details

Invention Machine announced the expansion of its reseller program. Details

Right Hemisphere announced a partnership whereby Mecanica has embedded Right Hemisphere's technology into its PLM360 solution. Details

Vistagy, Inc. and BETA CAE Systems S.A. announced a technology partnership. Details

Yunique Solutions Inc. announced it was presented an Exceptional Partnership Award at The Bon-Ton Stores 2009 Strategic Vendor Meetings. Details

Zuken announced the first U.S. distributor for the E3.WireWorks product family. Details

Zuken announced the appointment of five new Sales Agents. Details

* Other *
ANSYS, Inc. announced that it has been named to the Software Top 100. Details

Brown & Sharpe announced it will debut the ONE Shop Floor CMM outfitted with the ScanShark 4Vix laser line scanning probe. Details

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced an extended relationship with Toshiba Corporation. Details

Dassault Systemes announced the Collaborative Business Processes Initiative for CPG. Details

Dassault Systemes and Khalifa University announced a partnership. Details

Dimension 3D Printing announced its uPrint Personal 3D Printer received two awards at the SEMA show. Details

EMC Corp. announced commitment to MoReq2 certification of EMC Documentum Records Manager. Details

EMC Corp. announced it was positioned by Gartner, Inc. as a "Leader" in its newest "Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management" report. Details

IHS Inc. announced that it has been selected as recipient of the 2009 Green Supply Chain Award. Details

Metris announced it rebranded to Nikon Metrology. Details

MFG.com announced advancements to its online platform. Details


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Brief lines


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