Clarity on PLM

Hear Jim Brown share his views on … mobile PLM applications in engineering, product management, and program management.
The main topics covered include:

• The advantages of mobile PLM to Engineering
• How mobile PLM helps in product and program management
• Key considerations every CIO should know when taking PLM mobile

Let us know what you think. Do you agree? Disagree? Have a great example to share?

Please see the related posts PLM Hits the Road – and the Plant – and the Service Depot… and Mobile PLM – What the CIO Should Know or download the underlying reports, PLM Goes Mobile, Product and Program Management Goes Mobile, and Enabling Mobile PLM for free to learn more. Please also feel free to review more free research and white papers about PLM and other enterprise software for manufacturers from Tech-Clarity.

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A quick peek into some research on … how companies design their products to meet product environmental compliance, sustainability, and product cost targets. The report, Understanding Product Development Trade-offs: Designing Products for Compliance, Cost, and Sustainability, discusses how engineers and product developers can address these important aspects of their products early in the product lifecycle when designs are still flexible. Survey results and interviews show that while the market understanding of compliance and sustainability has matured, manufacturers are still facing the same challenges – and it has not gotten any easier.

The Research Findings

The report first talks about the challenges and the impacts that manufacturers face. By comparing to results in our 2009 report on Product Environmental Compliance, we were able to characterize some trends. From a compliance perspective, the regulations facing companies are relatively unchanged. The EU’s REACH and RoHS still top the list. To be clear, the regulations that companies are focusing on are the same regulations – but the regulations themselves have grown more challenging as they grow in scope and cover more substances.

One interesting finding is that more companies reported significant business impacts from these requirements. The table below, in fact, is a clear indication that more companies are suffering. One of the most interesting facts is that the only category that shows fewer people in it is “None” – which is down by 70%. Not a good sign!

So what is making this challenging for manufacturers? I will try to summarize the findings here:

• About one-half (51%) have difficulty understanding design tradeoffs
• Companies have a hard time collecting information on compliance, sustainability, and cost
• Survey respondents had difficulty making the right information available to decision makers in a timely manner

There is more detail on each of the individual areas in the report, it is worth a read (or at least a skim to look at the charts and callouts).

Implications for Manufacturers

So what does this mean for today’s manufacturer? The job is getting more difficult, and gathering and sharing information so people can make good design decisions is a huge challenge. But there is hope. As the report says, only 11% of the companies surveyed have information on cost, compliance, and sustainability in a single system. In fact, 41% have disconnected systems for each. No wonder companies have difficulty making tradeoffs. As you have heard me say before, there is a significant opportunity for manufacturers to address compliance as a part of their PLM implementation. This is also true for other product analytics and “design for” processes such as cost and sustainability that rely on good product data.

So that was a quick peek into some recent research on designing products for compliance, cost, and sustainability. 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. In particular, you might be interested in my views on designing for product cost and product cost management (PCM) or my post on the need to reduce the compliance tax on product innovation.

I had the chance to talk with … Dassault Systemes recently about acquiring process PLM vendor Enginuity PLM, see the announcement here. As soon as I saw my friend Dr. John Sottery‘s name on the webcast along with Enovia CEO Mich Tellier, I had a pretty good guess about what they were going to tell me. DS made an investment in taking their PLM solution for recipe-based industries like CPG, food & beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical to the next level. This move combines strength on strength, because Enovia and Enginuity PLM serve very different roles in the R&D and product development process.

What did they do Before the Acquisition?

CPG, recipes, and formulas are not new to Dassault Systemes. DS acquired MatrixOne in 2006, and the MatrixOne platform is now the architecture behind Enovia V6. MatrixOne enjoyed some significant success in the CPG industry, and include specification management capabilities that are running in a number of CPG companies, most notably P&G. As an interesting note, P&G is also an Enginuity customer so they have already been running both solutions. DS was already competitive in the CPG industry, and frankly didn’t have much to offer in the way of formulation or recipe design. This acquisition changes that.

Now what do they Offer?

When a big company like Dassault Systems buys a smaller company like Enginuity, there is typically instant synergy. That is true in this case because:

• Enginuity provides deep domain expertise to DS.
• DS provides scale and market access that Enginuity could not achieve.

That is a typical scenario that happens when a suite provider like DS buys a specialist like Enginuity. But the synergy here is even more pronounced because:

• Enovia brings specification management, collaboration, and other PLM capabilities.
• Enginuity brings R&D tools to the chemists, and was built to fit into a broader PLM environment.

As a bonus, other DS brands have a lot to offer to the CPG industry as well. This includes 3DVIA with their shopper solutions and CATIA and SolidWorks for packaging design. I believe this provides a pretty unique and compelling offer.

So Where Does Enginuity Fit in DS?

One of the interesting implications of the acquisition is considering what type of solution Enginuity really is. DS is adding Enginuity to the Enovia brand, which makes sense. I know Enginuity has been labeled a PLM system. But I have known Enginuity for years, and I will be the first to tell you that I believe Enginuity is much stronger as a design tool than a PLM system. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is more like “CATIA for chemists.” But that is good news, because Enovia already has the PLM capabilities and Enginuity fills the design gap. Not to mention that Enginuity adds compliance capabilities to help formulators develop products that not only match product performance specifications but also meet regulatory needs as well. Read more about how compliance puts a “hidden tax” on innovation in the process industries here, in fact I interviewed a number of Enginuity customers for this research.

Why is it important to look at Enginuity as a design tool? Partially because it makes it clear that it is a complementary solution, but more importantly because it opens up the possibility that they will build even more advanced tools for formulators . Enginuity already handles more complex design functions than any other formulation system I have seen. On the phone, Dr. Sottery mentioned simulation and predictive modeling as well. Those kinds of sophisticated design tools are more like a specialty design solution in CATIA than what PLM can already offer (collaboration, change management, IP protection, etc.). With the resources of DS, Enginuity has the opportunity to explore those potential capabilities more deeply.

The key that makes this acquisition a good move is that the Enginuity solution is built based on strong formulation knowledge, and helps chemists develop the recipe in the first place. That is the part that has been missing from the major PLM systems. PLM can manage the specs well enough, but provided little value to the innovators at the bench level. Enginuity changes that. So I agree with DS for including the offering in Enovia, but for clarification I think that it is much more of a design tool that now fits in well with the existing specification management / PLM capabilities already in Enovia (again, from MatrixOne). To me, this adds to the synergy that DS and Enginuity gain from being a part of the same business.

Implications for Manufacturers

Some of you may know I spent quite a bit of time working with software for the formula-based industries, so this is an area that is near and dear to my heart. I have long been a proponent that recipe-based manufacturing (processing, dare I say) requires different solutions than discrete PLM offers. This move by DS opens up the opportunity for those that produce from a recipe or formula to arm their chemists and formulators with tools they need to innovate along with the PLM solution to support the enterprise in bringing the product to market. This is what we had the vision for ten years ago when I was with Sequencia (sold a decade ago), and I am happy to see that the solution is available from a major PLM brand.

So that’s what I hear from Dassault Systemes and Enginuity, I hope you found it useful. What do you think? What else should I have asked them?

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 … how mobile devices like the iPad can extend PLM value. Tech-Clarity recently published two papers, PLM Goes Mobile and Product and Program Management Goes Mobile. These papers explore the ways that using mobile PLM applications and devices can extend the opportunity for engineers and others in the product lifecycle to contribute, decide, act, and innovate with PLM.

UPDATE: For the IT perspective, please see this post about What the CIO Should Know about Mobile PLM

The Research Findings

Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 are revolutionizing the way people access media and information. About a year ago, I decided to buy one of the first iPads available as a birthday present (yes, for myself). I never regretted the decision until I saw how much more elegant and functional the iPad 2 is. Now I am envious. But as new as the iPad is, mobile devices and applications are not new. I researched business uses of mobile devices in papers such as SLM Goes Mobile which discusses taking field service applications into the field. But up to this point, the value of PLM hasn’t been widely available in a mobile setting. Things are changing. As these reports say, “Devices like the iPad are well suited for the intersection of business and mobility.”

The reports highlight the issues that traditional PLM-capable devices put on mobile workers. The report discusses two distinct sets of users, each with their own challenges:

• Users that are extending the reach of their enterprise systems outside of the office, such as in a plane, doctor’s office, or meeting
• Those that use mobile applications as their primary device, such as service technicians or manufacturing supervisors

The reports point out a wide variety of locations and scenarios where mobile applications can help with PLM (see Mobile PLM Framework diagram). They also point out the limitations of current devices in mobile scenarios. For example, one of the biggest differentiations (you know what I mean if you have an iPad) is that laptops are not mobile devices, they are portable devices. They are of very little use until you get from point A to point B and set them down on a flat surface. And for all of us that struggle with trying to type on a PC in coach airplane seats, you know that even that is a challenge. Compare that to the challenges faced by someone climbing up and down a piece of equipment or an aircraft in the hangar! The report also points out why smart phones fall short. Although the iPad will not be the only device that will be capable of running PLM applications, it will set the trend because it is the first one ready.

The reports also highlight mobile scenarios for different functions in the business. In fact, the papers were designed to address different perspectives:

• For engineers and engineering managers, the issue is a lot of decision-making and innovation goes uncaptured or gets put on hold when an engineer is mobile.
• For manufacturing personnel in the plant or service technicians at the service depot (or in the field), they simply don’t have convenient access to the product information they need to do their jobs.
• For product and program managers, the issue is that mobile team members need to decide, approve, and contribute to their projects and programs in real-time regardless of whether they are sitting in front of a computer.

Please feel free to download the reports, there is far too much to go into in a blog post. But I hope this gives you some idea of what to expect in the reports.

Implications for Manufacturers

So what can manufacturers do to take advantage of the mobile PLM opportunity? The first thing they should do is recognize the limitations that they currently face from their devices. They should also recognize that the challenges for mobile PLM are not limited to devices, but also the applications. Simply running an existing PLM application in a web browser will fall short of expectations (and likely not get used). Mobile users need mobile apps, not PLM applications built for desktops or laptops (with a mouse, keyboard, and one or more large monitors). Mobile PLM applications should be built for mobile scenarios and use visual navigation. The iPad has great graphics and is very capable of showing high resolution product graphics, but work their best when they are running “apps” specifically designed for their form factor. The opportunity to extend PLM information and decision-making to mobile scenarios is in reach with the iPad (and other devices to come) and the availability of mobile PLM apps.

So that was a quick peek into some recent research on how mobile technology can have a positive impact on 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.

I had the chance to talk with … Dassault Systemes about their acquisition of MES provider Intercim. The acquisition of Intercim is a strategic move, and represents Dassault’s confirmation of the importance of linking engineering intent and manufacturing process planning to manufacturing operations (and vice versa).

What do they Do?

Dassault Systemes is one of the premier providers of PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions. Dassault has a very broad suite ranging from CAD (Catia and Solidworks) and simulation (Simulia) all the way through technical communications (3DVia) and enterprise systems (Enovia PLM). In the past year or so they have also added search (Exalead) and social computing (SwYm). Dassault Systemes has been redefining the boundaries of PLM and pursuing a strategy to bring “lifelike experience” to digital representations of the world. For more of my thoughts on DS, please see Reflections on Dassault Systemes Business, Strategy, and Progress at DSCC. Perhaps one of the most important assets pertaining to this announcement is DS’ digital manufacturing solution (Delmia) for manufacturing process planning.

Intercim is an MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) software company with emphasis on complex and highly regulated manufacturing companies. Intercim helps companies execute the plans from engineering in the plant. They also focus on tracking what they call “emergent processes” when execution deviates from the plan.  The goal is to manage non-conformance and exceptions in in the same platform as normal operations. They also handle plant operations such as scheduling, task management, and shop floor reporting. One of the differentiators that Intercim claims is “operations intelligence” which enables their customers to analyze manufacturing results to identify areas of concern or opportunities for improvement. For example,  a manufacturer may identify an operation that is running significantly differently than the digital process definition it is based on.

What do they Offer?

DS plans to offer a deeply integrated PLM-MES system. They describe an environment of “digital continuity” that delivers digitizing work instructions to the plant floor, but goes beyond to close the loop to provide feedback to Engineering on defects and other issues. Intercim will become a part of the Delmia brand within DS, giving DS an integrated digital manufacturing – MES solution.

The integration of PLM and MES has the potential to provide significant business value, as described in The Roles of ERP and PLM in Manufacturing – now with MES!  The post links to a report on PLM and MES called Tech-Clarity Insight: Integrating PLM and MES – Realizing the Digital Factory, which addresses:

• Integrating the product and production lifecycle
• Automating the integrated product and production lifecycle
• Closing the Loop between designs and products

Who do they Work with?

To be clear, this is not a new relationship. Dassault and Intercim have been working together for some time as partners. They have a number of joint customers already, and will continue to penetrate the highly regulated, complex manufacturing industries such as aerospace.

So that’s what I hear from DS and Intercim, I hope you found it useful. What do you think? What else should I have asked them?

Join me this week or a quick peek into some of my research in one (or more) of several PLM-related webcasts this week. I will be joined by some great speakers that will share their views as well. I am not sure why this week is so densely packed with web presentations, but it should give everyone an opportunity to tune in and get a perspective on a few different interesting topics! We have product innovation, product development, product documentation, engineering, and more. Last week a podcast on the business value of PLM, now a handful of webcasts – Mom I have gone multimedia!

The Topics

• Tuesday (2:00 PM, Eastern US) – The Five Dimensions of Product Complexity – Jim Brown of Tech-Clarity will present with Matt Greene of Siemens PLM on the trend towards increased product complexity, how it has made developing profitable products more difficult, and how Product Lifecycle Management solutions can help.
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• Wednesday (11:00 AM, Eastern US) – Transforming PLM for the Economic Recovery - Jim Brown will present with Chip Perry of Kalypso on this Aras ACE Innovation Series webcast on how to leverage PLM to take advantage of the upturn in the manufacturing industries, including innovation to increase revenue, decrease product cost, and reduce product development cost.
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• Thursday (2:00 PM, Eastern US) – Streamlining Product Documentation and Raising the Bar with 3D Communication - Jim Brown will present with Garth Coleman of Dassault Systemes on this IndustryWeek webinar on how to use 3D product communications to improve efficiency, time to market, quality, cost, and customer experience.
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So that is a quick peek into some recent research I will be presenting, I hope you find it interesting and helps bring the research to life for you. Please feel free to look for more PLM-related webcasts (upcoming and archived) from Tech-Clarity.

What I learned this week … came from a great conversation with Sankar from Younomy. I have been in a number of conversations recently that make me realize that the world of social computing is looking into social product development and social innovation as much as the PLM and manufacturing communities are looking into the social computing world. Still with me? Sorry, that was a mouthful. You can read Sankar’s interview of Jim Brown (me) on social computing and product development on Younomy here and learn more by reading this collection of social computing in PLM posts on my site.

Who is Looking at Who?

What I realized is that we are all trying to learn from each other. Manufacturers are trying to learn from what other companies are doing, and other companies are interested in some of the early initiatives from manufacturers. To me, this is just another reminder of how new social computing is. I am fortunate to sit in both camps – the advancement of social computing in business and the maturation of PLM. That is why the intersection of social computing and PLM is so interesting to me.

Implications for Manufacturers
One of the key points that I made in the interview was that I see the greatest value not from one side or the other (social computing or PLM). I believe that the most significant improvements to product innovation, product development, and engineering performance will come from linking social interactions with product data. That’s why I pay so much attention to what PTC, Siemens, Dassault Systemes, Vuuch, Sopheon, and others are doing in this space. That is the where the real power is unleashed. Generic tools will be helpful, but by connecting the two we get:

• A product-focused discussion that directly helps develop better products
• A source of product knowledge (the discussion itself) that can be captured and reused into the future

It was great to have an opportunity to discuss this with Sankar to remind me how passionate I am about the potential of taking the concepts of things like Facebook and applying them to product development. I hope you found the discussion (and the interview) interesting.

I had the chance to talk with … PTC about the important role that PLM plays in ensuring product quality. PTC shared their views on quality and reliability and followed up by giving me some detailed insight into their Relex reliability management solution and how it fits into the PLM ecosystem. It turns out PTC is doing quite a bit to bring a comprehensive Quality Management System (QMS) to their PLM community.

Putting the Q in PLM

The discussion was a follow up to some of my past posts (rants?) on expanding PLM to include quality management. Addressing quality early in the product lifecycle offers significant advantages by designing quality into the product up front. I have written in the past about the importance of Quality Lifecycle Management (QLM) and Quality Risk Management (QRM), and proposed that Quality Risk Management might be the missing link in PLM. My belief is that quality is inherently a product lifecycle issue and that integrating quality management into PLM helps companies design for quality and then close the loop between Engineering and product quality in the field.

What do they Do?

So where does PTC, one of the leading PLM vendors, come into play when we start talking about quality management? Well, PTC has been busy. They acquired Relex in 2009 and NetRegulus in 2007. With this combination PTC covers a large spectrum of the quality management systems spectrum. PTC helps companies develop quality requirements, and then trace them through design FMEAs to process FMEAs and all the way to control plans (including test procedures). This ensures that those criteria that are critical to quality are both designed into the product and designed into the quality assurance processes. At this point, the quality plans are ready to be passed on to execution systems (as shown in this diagram on integrating PLM, ERP, and MES).

Beyond planning, PTC also offers tools to help improve quality and reliability by capturing failures, documenting test data, developing non-conformance reports, and analyzing trends. PTC supports quality management processes such as FRACAS, 8D, and CAPA that are designed to help companies learn from failures and observations to improve quality. With these processes, PTC is executing on a vision to close the loop on product quality.

What don’t they do? I think it is important that PTC recognizes their role in the product lifecycle. Another main portion of QMS supports the execution side of manufacturing. This involves shop floor data collection and statistical process control (SPC) among other capabilities. PTC is sticking to the planning side of quality and design for quality, along with capabilities to provide feedback on quality performance to engineers. A good move on their part, because the execution side is crowded and more integrated to manufacturing execution systems (MES) than PLM.

What do they Offer?

Relex is PTC’s suite of solutions targeted at improving quality, reliability, safety, and risk management. NetRegulus is now a part of Windchill QMS which covers complaints, CAPA, non-conformance, and supports quality audits. Windchill QMS helps companies show due diligence and comply with industry standards for quality. Together, PTC has developed a suite of quality solutions that covers a broad spectrum of quality management needs that complement and integrate with their other products. PTC has clearly made a statement that quality management is a big part of PLM. Expect more from PTC, including increased integration of QMS into Windchill and PLM workflows. Integration will be a key value driver for PTC’s offering in a market where QMS systems themselves are frequently built of a collection of standalone tools. PTC has the opportunity to offer not just an integrated application that allows integration, communication, and data flow between QMS applications but also links into Windchill BOMs, ECRs, ECOs, and other product data. Pretty compelling.

So that’s what I hear from PTC, I hope you found it useful. What do you think? What else should I have asked them?

Taking a look around at the engineering software market there are a few things that are clear and a lot of unanswered questions. One clear fact is that 2010 was a lot better than 2009 for most manufacturers and the engineering software vendors that serve them. From early indications, 2011 is looking even better. But there is still trepidation and a sense that things are still not settled. So what will happen to the market? What are companies doing about the uptick? How will they react, and what will the impacts be?

The Research Findings – 2009-2010

Tech-Clarity, Cyon Research, and Design Insight presented survey findings at last two COFES (Congress for the Future of Engineering Software) gatherings. These events bring together a great collection of people that are passionate about CAD, CAE, CAM, PLM, BIM, and other related topics. The research always generates some very interesting discussion. For example, in 2009 a discussion on the impact of the economy on smaller PLM and engineering software vendors sparked some hot debate between large and smaller vendors. In 2010 we reported that the smaller vendors who predicted they would “struggle but survive” were right. We also reported that the channels and VARs were hurt the most in 2009, and were the least optimistic about 2010. Follow the links above for some more insight. Looking back I am pleased at the job the collective wisdom of the survey participants has done in predicting the future of the market. After all, we are the market!

Research for 2011 – Share your Views!

Now, the time has come to gather data for COFES 2011 coming up in April of this year. This is where you come in. Please take the 2011 survey on the engineering software market to share your perspective. We want to hear from manufacturers, engineering firms, vendors, VARs, consultants, bloggers, other analysts, press, and anyone else that plays a role in this market. Help us find out if the channels and VARs were right to be concerned about 2010, and what strategies companies are adopting that may impact them further in 2011. We will share the results at COFES and then I will share my thoughts with you here.

So that was a quick peek into some past research, I hope you found it interesting. More importantly, I hope you participate in this year’s research. And I hope to see you at COFES in April to share some more lively discourse on the future of the engineering software market.