Comments on: Choosing an ERP to Fit PLM?

By: Prashant

Prashant — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:57:04 +0000

Hi Jim ,

Good analysis – what I would like to add is that cost of having integrations through third party tools – Sometimes cost of having third party tools over longer run can prove to be expensive over the applications which have inbuilt intrgrations.plus it adds one more level of applications in enterprise architecture.
Although we can’t have seamless integrations between PLM and ERP its good to have check atleast technical compatability between two on some parameters like what level of numbering flexibilty does ERP supports , what can be maximum length of decription it can support.

Enjoy,
Prashant

By: Jos Voskuil

Jos Voskuil — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:17:07 +0000

Jim,

An answer to your question related to exisitng OOTB exchanges.

The SmarTeam Express offering contains a cinfigurable XML Import/Export function targeted to work with an ERP exchange. As a Proof of Concept I was involved in an integration with Axapta, which with the right modules on the Axapta side completed the solution without customization. More configuration and deciding on the bi-directional scenario

Regarding SAP there is a Bussiness Process Accelerator (BPA) which comes as an add-on on the SmarTeam environment and which has been implemented successful in many mid-market companies around the world

Other ERP integrations are mostly done through point-to-point integrations by the implementer unless the company has a middleware strategy. In that case the gateway adapter is used with commercial available adapters on the ERP side (Orcale, JD Edwards, SAP)

Best regards

Jos

By: Jim Brown

Jim Brown — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:07:56 +0000

Satish,
Ideally the integration is more real-time such as web services, but depending on the needs a file transfer approach may suffice as well. From my research, I have seen everything from “swivel chair” integration (manually rekeying) to some very sophisticated hub-and-spoke approaches. Regardless of the integration approach, I couldn’t agree more about selecting the ERP based on business value.

Thank you,
Jim

By: Jim Brown

Jim Brown — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:03:37 +0000

Thank you Jos for your comments. Your point about a PLM strategy is a good one. Regardless of whether the software is up to the task, if the business looks at PLM as a module of ERP they are likely missing the point by a long distance.

And thanks for the feedback on integrating with SmarTeam. Are there any particular ERPs that have packaged integration to SmarTeam (out of the box, or close to it?)

Best,
Jim

By: satish

satish — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:41:21 +0000

I agree with you 100% that ERP selection should be based on the value addition to the company rather than integration to the PLM system. With the wide variety of integration technologies available today it is possible to integrate systems much more easily. I would recommend any ERP system that fits their business needs and have the capability of hosting web services. I know Enovia offer webservices capabilities and there are lot of middleware software in the market that could be used to integrate the two systems. If not there is always the “file drop” integration!

By: Jos Voskuil

Jos Voskuil — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:40:27 +0000

Good analysis and to the point. I fully agree your ERP should be focussed on your business needs and using the PLM module from this ERP vendor (if they provide one) is not a natural choice for me.

When I look to the major ERP vendors most of them have PLM as an add-on in their portfolio, not always with the strategic focus on PLM. The module is their to be able to have a tick in the RFQ. Main question I am always asking customers who want to implement a PLM module coming from the ERP vendor is: Do they have a PLM vision also in execution ? Are there in the top managment of these ERP companies executives that can push PLM as a strategey. If not, the PLM module will be probably an add-on with no real focus

I also understand it is hard to answer the question about which ERP system integrates well with SmarTeam and CATIA. Although I can change the question . In fact we are talking about can SmarTeam and CATIA handle complex EBOM-MBOM structures – an option to be investigated customer specific and can SmarTeam connect to specific ERPs. The last question is probable for most ERP systems YES WE CAN.

In several posts in my blog I wrote about what I believe should be a proper connection to ERP and handling of the MBOM

Best regards

Jos