Clarity on PLM

A quick peek into some research on … on what IT leaders need to know about implementing PLM on mobile devices such as the iPad.  This is a follow up to my PLM Hits the Road – and the Plant – and the Service Depot… post and the underlying reports, PLM Goes Mobile and Product and Program Management Goes Mobile. I think it is important to provide the technical perspective to complement the business perspective in those reports, so the last paper in the series, Enabling Mobile PLM, is intended to point out some very practical considerations that IT leaders must take into account when taking PLM mobile.

The Research Findings

The two reports aimed at the line of business uses of mobile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) point out the limitations of current devices that support PLM (laptops, desktops, workstations, and smartphones running web browsers) in mobile environments. One of the key “aha” moments I had while researching the report was that laptops are not really “mobile” devices – they are “portable” devices that can be readily moved from one stationary location (like the office) to another (like a plane or hotel). The reports point out scenarios including traveling engineers and managers accessing PLM when standard devices aren’t practical. It also shares scenarios where plant personnel and service technicians need access to product data but work in non-conducive locations such as the plant, the field, or for that matter on (or in) a piece of equipment. See my views on different devices in common mobile PLM scenarios (below).

The report starts with the premise that using mobile devices such as tablets to access PLM is compelling to the business. If you are not on board with that already, please read the reports (or at least the executive summaries).  If you are with me on the value, then, it is important for IT to recognize some factors that need to be taken into account for mobile PLM. The factors I touch on in the report include:

• Leveraging existing PLM infrastructure
• Device considerations
• Application considerations
• Process considerations
• People considerations
• Management considerations

I think one of the most important conclusions has to do with the applications themselves. While it’s important to leverage as much of the existing PLM infrastructure as possible, existing PLM solutions don’t count as “an app for that.” As the report says, “Purpose-built mobile apps are fundamentally different than web applications intended for desktop use.” While the functionality, security, processes, users, and other entities in PLM are reusable, a mobile application is not designed in the same way as an application designed for use with a keyboard, mouse, and a nice big monitor (or for engineers, perhaps two or three of them).

Implications for Manufacturers

So that was a quick peek into some recent research on the information technology implications of mobile PLM, I hope you found it interesting. Does the research reflect your experiences? Do you see it differently? Let us know what it looks like from your perspective.

Please feel free to review more free research and white papers about PLM and other enterprise software for manufacturers from Tech-Clarity.

A quick peek into some research on … the benefits and savings available from consolidating onto a common CAD package in your business. Tech-Clarity Insight: Consolidating CAD – Benefits of a Unified CAD Strategy explores the strategic and operational benefits of leveraging a single package. As the research concludes, “… not all businesses have the opportunity to unify their CAD solutions … but there are multiple advantages for those that can.”

The Research Findings

The paper addresses benefits including enabling strategic initiatives and simple cost reduction. Strategically, a single tool can help support business strategies like a “design anywhere – build anywhere” approach. The report also explain how utilizing a single tool can help promote design reuse and simplify collaboration. Of course the biggest benefit may come from the ability to enable a more strategic, integrated PLM environment. These solutions typically involve a suite of pre-integrated solutions that are tailor-made for each other. 

The report also details the very tangible reductions in total cost of ownership for the CAD solution. By evaluating a multitude of cost drivers, the report suggests a framework and a sample set of calculations to quantify the cost savings available from consolidation. Some of the cost drivers are obvious, while others may be more subtle. For example:

• Removal of redundant CAD licenses (ok, no surprise yet)
• Reduce cost of upgrading software tools (maybe less obvious?)
• Eliminate need to develop training for redundant solution (maybe you wouldn’t have thought of this?)

See the report for a more complete listing and an educated (and conservative) example of the cost savings available. While the strategic benefits are compelling, many companies today may consider this strategy simply to achieve leaner IT overhead for their engineering software.

Implications for Manufacturers

What does this mean for manufacturers? I discussed that question with Paul Hoch, Team Leader of Product Engineering Services for lighting solutions manufacturer Zumtobel AG. He echoed a number of the benefits in the report, including cost savings and explaining that they “don’t get the full benefit from <their> 3D CAD models” without PLM. But the most strategic benefit Paul discussed was corporate flexibility, which is critical as companies try to survive in difficult, global markets.

“Our common tool is the basic infrastructure that allows us to make quick decisions on product and plant locations, it provides management with the flexibility and agility they need.“

I am not sure I can add anything more to the power of that statement, other than to suggest again that many companies may pursue consolidation for much more tactical reasons.

So that was a quick peek into some recent research on consolidating CAD, I hope you found it interesting. Does the research reflect your experiences? Do you see it differently? Let us know what it looks like from your perspective.

Please feel free to review more free research and white papers about PLM and other enterprise software for manufacturers from Tech-Clarity.

A quick peek into some research on … the technology behind PLM applications, and what today’s CIO needs to know to support it. The research from Tech-Clarity, Enabling Product Lifecycle Management: The CIO’s Guide to Supporting a PLM Initiative,  points out unique implementation and support challenges the CIO and their team must be aware of in order to get the most business value out of PLM.

The Research Findings

The CIO’s organization is getting more involved in PLM implementations. While many Engineering IT teams have managed CAD and other engineering software and supporting infrastructure, PLM is getting more attention from the enterprise IT team because it has become – (wait for it) – an enterprise application. I know, it only makes sense. Implementing enterprise class applications has different considerations than installing design tools, and enterprise IT typically has more experience with systems that span the organization and the supply chain.

Having said that, PLM is not ERP. Nor is it CRM, SCM, or any host of other business-oriented enterprise applications. PLM, by the nature of the processes and data it addresses, comes with some unique information technology challenges. Here are some of the considerations discussed in the report:

• Protecting IP – PLM data is concurrently highly confidential, and much more valuable when shared broadly. Intellectual property is more likely to be shared as collaboration expands, and a lot of that collaboration is outside of the control of the corporate firewall.
• Huge Files – Engineering and product development data is different than large volumes of transactional data. There are some potentially significant issues arising from managing and collaborating on large files in order to support PLM.
• Scalability – PLM is expanding to more people, a broader view of the product, to more of the product lifecycle, and supports more processes. Implementations needs to plan for expansion along multiple dimensions, which could potentially create an exponential demand on IT infrastructure.
• Architecture - PLM vendors are moving to enterprise architecture, providing support for the challenges above but also introducing new challenges. The good news, though, is that these challenges are ones that the many corporate IT groups have already addressed.

PLM also brings about integration challenges. Companies have to be ready to support frequent, bi-directional, real-time integration between PLM. If not in the first phase, potentially sooner than they think. See more on ERP-PLM integration in the Evolving Roles of ERP and PLM report and Mythbusting ERP-PLM Integration post. PLM integration with ERP and the rest of the manufacturing systems ecosystem is becoming more important and more prevalent.

Implications for Manufacturers

The good news? The PLM industry has learned from large scale PLM deployments, and has developed technology and best practices to address these issues. IT professionals today are not blazing the trail when they implement PLM. PLM is becoming much more mainstream. But it is also evolving to more of an enterprise application than just product data management (PDM), and moving into the enterprise realm. There is help available, from peer manufacturers that have undergone the transiiton and experienced consultants alike.

So that was a quick peek into some recent research on getting PLM technology right, I hope you found it interesting. Does the research reflect your experiences? Do you see it differently? Let us know what it looks like from your perspective.

Please feel free to review more free research and white papers about PLM and other enterprise software for manufacturers from Tech-Clarity.