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The proposed PLM Interest Group


Introduction
The following text provides a basis for the Charter Meeting at which there will be an open discussion to collectively decide on the most appropriate name, shape and activities for the Group.

Reasons for a PLM Interest Group
It is now generally agreed that Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) - the management of a product across its lifecycle - will become one of the most important business activities for manufacturing companies in coming years.

Investments in PLM are expected to rank alongside, or even exceed, those for ERP, SCM and CRM. In future years, many major investments will be made in PLM around the world, in both time and money, by both manufacturing companies and vendors of PLM technologies.

Currently however, there is little agreement as to :
  • the definition of PLM
  • its scope and value
  • how it will develop
  • how it should be implemented and used
In addition there is:
  • no focal point for PLM
  • no entity that allows PLM players from different organizations to collaboratively work together for the common good of manufacturing companies and technology developers
  • no forum that enables all of the interested parties to meet and discuss future progress
  • no industry-agreed language, framework or approach for PLM
  • no common way to learn from the experience of PLM pioneers. Those who follow reinvent the wheel
As a result, PLM development, implementation and use are not as efficient or effective as possible :
  • vendors are faced with long sales cycles
  • users can't benefit from industry-agreed best practices for implementation and use. It takes them a long time to implement anything beyond the most basic PLM functions.
  • academics are not sure if the PLM courses they offer and the research they carry out correspond to industry needs
It is proposed that an independent, neutral, non-profit, international PLM Interest Group be created to help overcome these and similar problems, and to promote widespread, effective use of PLM.

Mission
The overarching mission of the PLM Interest Group would be to :
  • Bring together industry, academic and government partners to collaboratively work together to support and strengthen PLM development, implementation and use
The mission may be extended to :
  • Provide a common business language for PLM
  • Provide a common PLM knowledge repository of benefit to all members
Structure of the PLM Interest Group
The PLM Interest Group :
  • will be an Open organization
  • will be open to manufacturers ; technology developers, vendors and distributors ; consultants ; and academics
  • will be open to engineering and manufacturing organizations from all sectors
  • will be a non-profit organization
  • will be international and global, avoiding duplication of work in different countries
  • will use English as its primary language, but may also use other languages
  • will have sub-groups focusing on particular subjects
Name of the PLM Interest Group
The provisional name of this organization is "PLM Interest Group". This may change after discussion with interested parties.

Potential Activities
  • Promote effective use of PLM
  • Promote the development of PLM
  • Organize workshops, seminars, conferences
  • Carry out PLM benchmarking activities
  • Provide a coherent PLM vision, definition and roadmap
  • Define, support and promote PLM reference processes, models and metrics
  • Define, support and promote PLM best practices
  • Map solutions and services against reference models and best practices
  • Promote co-operation in the area of PLM between manufacturers, technology developers and vendors, consultants, and academics
  • Establish consensus in the area of PLM between manufacturers, technology developers and vendors, consultants, and academics
  • Monitor PLM developments and use
  • Provide PLM support material to users
  • Provide a coordinated voice for PLM vendors and consultants
  • Provide a coordinated voice for SMEs using PLM
  • Organize PLM-oriented visits
  • Promote PLM to governments
Members of the PLM Interest Group
Membership of the PLM Interest Group is open to individuals and organizations such as :
  • companies in engineering, and discrete and process manufacturing (Note 1)
  • developers of PLM and related technology
  • vendors and distributors of PLM and related technology
  • universities, polytechnics and technical schools
  • research institutes
  • industry associations
  • standardization bodies
  • government agencies
Types of Membership
There are two types of Membership:
  • Individual Membership
  • Corporate Membership
Individual Memberhip includes the standard PLMIG services :
  • access to the PLMIG portal with case studies, forums, FAQs, etc.
  • subscription to the monthly Product Lifecycle Management Journal
  • site visits and PLMIG events
  • annual PLMIG Conference
Corporate Memberhip includes :
  • multiple Individual Memberships
  • the right to propose and lead joint PLMIG initiatives in areas such as PLM benchmarking, user/business benefits framework, metrics, standards, implementation guidelines, capability model, security, etc.
Potential Benefits of Membership
  • Influence the future of PLM
  • Improve your company's understanding of PLM and the related benefits
  • Expand your industry relationships
  • Get know-how
  • Get results of Group activities
  • Gain competitive advantage
  • Make sure your PLM needs are understood
  • Participate in PLM benchmarking
  • Participate in the activities of the Interest Group
  • Participate in workshops, conferences, meetings and seminars
  • Free subscription to the Product Lifecycle Management Journal
Background to start-up of the PLM Interest Group
During 2002 and 2003 a Consortium of organizations was created to propose research projects in the area of PLM to the European Commission. The focus of the research is "Implementing CPD and PLM Technologies for 35,000 Manufacturing Companies" and the project acronym is ICP-35K. There are 67 organizations in the Consortium. Demonstrating the widespread interest in PLM, about 150 organizations from more than 25 countries showed interest in participating in the project. Many of these organizations expressed interest in participating in a collaborative effort to help further the development and use of PLM. This has led to the proposed PLM Interest Group.

Note
(1) Industries using PLM include aerospace, automotive, chemical, consumer goods, clothing, electronics, furniture, machine tool, mechanical engineering, medical equipment, pharmaceutical, plant engineering, plastics, rubber, turbine and watch. These industries make products such as cars, telephones, power plants and offshore structures - and software and services related to these products.

Product Lifecycle Management is the activity of managing the complete product lifecycle - "from cradle to grave", "from sunrise to sunset". The range of PLM includes product screening, customer requirement definition, product development (including DFA/DFM/DFSS, CAD, CAM, CAE, modeling, simulation, Virtual Prototyping, Rapid Prototyping, QFD, Concurrent Engineering, product sourcing, NC, working with customers and suppliers over the Web, etc.), sales configuration, manufacture, configuration management, product use, maintenance and recycling.

For more details, please contact us.






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Copyright 2003 by John Stark