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Ten Step Approach to PLM
It's widely recognized that Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) brings benefits in four main
areas:
- Financial Performance - for example, PLM should lead to
increased revenue from earlier market introduction of products, and to reduced product
development costs
- Time Reduction - PLM should, for example, reduce
project overrun time, and reduce engineering change time
- Quality Improvement - PLM should help, for example, to reduce
manufacturing process defects, reduce the number of returns and recalls, and reduce the number of
customer complaints
- Business Improvement - for example, PLM can lead to an increase
in the innovation rate, increase the part reuse factor, increase product traceability,
and ensure 100% configuration conformity
As a result, many companies are now looking to implement PLM, or to extend or
improve their existing PLM implementation. However, experience shows that
it can take longer to make progress than expected. The reasons for this often
include:
- A need to broaden the understanding of PLM
issues among business executives
- The difficulty of identifying the best approach
to PLM and justifying the business case
To overcome these issues and enable faster PLM progress, John Stark Associates developed
the Ten Step Approach to PLM to help companies:
- Build a business case for PLM to
gain management buy-in to proceed
- Uncover hidden needs and
opportunities for PLM beyond the obvious
- Identify the best PLM approach in
close alignment to business objectives
- Gain clearer understanding of the
ROI potential of PLM
- Define and prioritize a clear PLM
roadmap
- Implement PLM most readily and cost
effectively, preventing false starts and setbacks
- Improve overall PLM success
There are a number of situations where the Ten Step Approach to PLM
may be warranted. A company may for example be:
Looking at PLM for the first time..
- How and where do we start?
- How can we improve the chances for success?
- What should be in our PLM concept?
- Where does PLM fit with other enterprise initiatives?
- The vendor of our CAD system suggests one PLM
concept; the vendor of our ERP system proposes a completely different concept, which is right?
Creating a PLM Business Case..
- What should we include?
- What figures are realistic?
Expanding PLM from workgroup to enterprise..
- What do we do next?
- Where can we gain the biggest benefit?
Struggling with multiple CAD, PLM, ERP or other
enterprise applications..
- How do we handle multiple systems
resulting from globalization or acquisitions?
- How can we get our support costs
under control?
- What is the optimal solution?
Facing challenging business drivers demanding much
greater effectiveness and efficiency..
- How do we outsmart the competition this time?
- How can we produce more great products ? faster?
The Ten Step Approach to PLM is applicable in companies of all sizes in almost any industry and can be
beneficial at all stages of PLM investigation and use. It is as applicable during the initial introduction of
PLM as when extending an existing PDM implementation. It can be used to review current PLM
performance, to clarify PLM concepts, to choose between different options, or to gain a deep
understanding of an individual option.
The Ten Step Approach to PLM includes the following ten activities:
- PLM Status Review, Data Gathering
- Executive PLM Education and Awareness
- Best Practice Positioning
- PLM Concept Generation and Analysis
- PLM Roadmap and Plan Generation
- Business Benefits and Business Case Development
- ROI Calculation
- Management Report Preparation
- Executive Presentation
- Executive Decision Support
Experience shows that these ten steps help in understanding where PLM can be applied to a
business most effectively. They help to get that all-important executive approval for the PLM
initiative to proceed. The Ten Step Approach is a tried-and-tested methodology that has
been used in many companies, at different stages of PLM progress, in many industries.
The ten steps make it clear to everyone involved what has to be done, with clear
deliverables at each step to show what has been achieved.
For more information about the Ten Step Approach to PLM Progress in your
company, please contact
John Stark Associates.
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