Clarity on PLM

I had the chance to talk with … Prashant Jagtap, CEO of Trayak, about designing products for sustainability. Prashant is a veteran of the PLM industry, and he and I had a great discussion about how design for sustainability fits into PLM. This post will share a bit of that discussion as well as a bit about Trayak.

Why is PLM the Place for Sustainable Design?

First, I want to share some of my discussion with Prashant on a general basis. I am a big proponent of getting compliance and sustainability right during product design. Why? Because like so many other product attributes, sustainability is really hard to accomplish once the design is locked in. Material choices and manufacturing process decisions clearly have a significant influence on the environmental impact of a product. They are also very difficult to change after a product has bee designed because late product changes often sub-optimize a lot of previous design decisions which can increase cost, degrade product performance, or at a minimum cause a lot of disruption through engineering changes (ECOs).

So earlier is better. But why in PLM?  Simply put, PLM is where the product data is. PLM has the bill of material (BOM) early in the product lifecycle. As PLM has matured it has extended to capture the manufacturing processes in a bill of process (BOP) as well. That is the right core of information required to conduct an effective lifecycle analysis (LCA). As the Tech-Clarity compliance/sustainability diagram above shows, making the right decisions requires a combination of product information and impact data. To me, this is an obvious extension of PLM. In fact, environmental compliance and sustainability is the example I use most frequently when I discuss the four dimensions of PLM expansion.

What does Trayak Do?

So other than sharing some common philosophy about how manufacturers can design more sustainable products, Prashant was excited to tell me about the progress Trayak is making. Their goal is to “make sustainable product design mainstream.” The idea is to put the right tools and information into engineers’ hands (or at least their desktops) so they can understand the environmental impact of their design decisions. Trayak believes that the current LCA tools are too complex, too expensive, require experts, and are too separated from the design process. I believe changing that could have a profound effect. Engineers would love to make more eco-friendly products, but face a myriad of tradeoffs and typically don’t have the right information at hand. How can you optimize what you don’t understand? How can you design for sustainability when you don’t know the impact of your decisions until after the fact? To me, solving those problems is the value Trayak has to offer.

What do they Offer?

Trayak offers three products:

• EcoDesigner – helping engineers design for compliance using LCA techniques
• EcoLabel – a tool to help grade BOMs and provide labeling information for compliance (for EPEAT regulations)
• EcoScore – a broader solution that collects a wide range of factors/criteria about environmental impact (which could include LCA results) which could also be used to create scoring mechanisms to rate their product portfolio as they evaluate greener design options

Who do they Work with?

Here, to me, are two valuable facts about Trayak:

• They understand CAD and PLM, and have integrated into Siemens PLM tools (including Teamcenter and Solid Edge) – Prashant’s history and experience play a big role here
• They are LCA agnostic – Trayak does not believe that there is one right way to do LCA. In fact, they believe that some companies may already have a source of LCA information. Trayak is partnering with EcoInvent for data, but is built with the expectation that they will work with multiple sources of information. A very interesting approach. As more OEMs start to demand LCA information, what are the chances that suppliers will have to support more than one set of LCA calculations? Pretty good, I bet.

So that’s what I hear from Trayak, I hope you found it useful. What do you think? What else should I have asked them? Do you think the open approach to LCA will make a difference?

One of my favorite parts of going to conferences is learning what cool projects, products, and other cool accomplishments manufacturers have leveraged PLM for. In addition to sharing some very positive news on the market (see PLM Keeping up Momentum: Siemens PLM Analyst Conference 2011)  the recent Siemens PLM analyst event showcased a number of Siemens’ customers getting real business value from PLM. I thought I would share a few examples with you. And if you want, you can hear for yourself how excited I was in this interview with Dora Smith of Siemens PLM.

Aerojet

One of the great things about PLM is that it can solve a wide variety of problems. In Aerojet‘s case, PLM is helping improve product quality. I blogged about Siemens Dimensional Planning and Validation (DPV) solution in Circling Back on Quality with Siemens PLM and more generally about the significant benefits available from integrating Quality Lifecycle Management (QLM) in PLM. It was great to hear a first hand example of how a company is bringing quality and engineering together, or “closing the loop on quality.” One of the really cool things – which unfortunately we didn’t actually see an example of because Aerojet serves the defense industry – is that they now display quality information (SPC data) in the context of the product – in this case graphically displaying it against a JT model of the product. John Hodur, Principle Quality Engineer explained how Aerojet is integrating inspection results with tolerance results to develop tolerance stackups using actual data. A great example of how PLM is expanding into new areas, and integrating new people and processes into Engineering.

Edison2

Sometimes at conferences you not only get to hear about cool projects, you get to hear from really cool people. Yes, this is a conference focused on the intersection of engineering and software and I said cool. Really cool. The presenter was not only an engineer that worked on a really cool project to design a ground-breaking, record setting light car, but also a race car driver. So we have gone from rocket scientists to race car drivers in one post. He explained how Edison2 won the Progressive Insurance X Prize contest to build the most fuel-efficient and  safe car that can carry four passengers and luggage. The results were impressive. What was also impressive was how excited he was at the toolset he used, Solid Edge. He explained how the new Synchronous  Technology in Solid Edge helped them rapidly design (and more importantly redesign) the car as they went through multiple design iterations.

Rolls Royce

Another great PLM facet highlighted at the conference was integration of PLM into other systems and the positive impact it has on quality. Gordon McKechnie expressed that Rolls Royce is critical to their customers and that its products “work in industries where if a product fails it is no OK.” What an understatement! He explained that to pursue high quality – yet still maintain a very competitive cost – Rolls Royce wants to have one system managing the product across the enterprise. He explained that they have lots of point systems, but are driving to a single source of data. This is not just for PLM as most people think of it – they believe in “totally integrated PLM” that expands from product design all the way into manufacturing. In his words, “integration is key, and integration is a problem today.” A problem that Rolls Royce is leading the charge to overcome. To that end, Rolls Royce is on the leading edge of ERP-MES integration and uses both Siemens’ Teamcenter PLM and Simatic IT MES solutions. Oh and just so you don’t think we went from rockets to cars and didn’t include anything else cool, Rolls Royce makes aircraft engines – another pretty cool (and highly complex) product. Just in case you thought they made cars…

So that’s what I hear from Siemens PLM’s customers. There were other stories as well, but these were the ones that I decided to share. What do you think? Pretty cool stuff? What have you done with PLM?

I had the opportunity to talk with the team at Siemens PLM at their recent analyst conference in Boston. Every time I attend one of these events, I come back and ask myself “what can I share with people that will help them understand all that I learned in two days of presentations, demonstrations, interviews, and side conversations?” There is so much to share and so much detail it is hard to know where to start and there is not enough time to share it all. So I am going to share my key takeaways from the event in regards to the PLM Market, Cool Things Manufacturers are Doing with PLM, and My Take on how Siemens PLM is doing in furthering the PLM vision and roadmap. Fair enough? I hope so.

Note: Part 2 Cool Customer Tricks – Presenting Business Value from PLM at Siemens Conference is up now

The PLM Market

In short, the PLM market is alive and well. PLM, and Siemens PLM in particular, has made it through the economic downturn and is enjoying recovering spend. Interestingly, even with the current uneasiness in the market, PLM license revenues continue to grow. As Siemens reported at the conference, Siemens PLM has:

• Had 6 quarters of steady growth
• Enjoyed double-digit license growth
• Exceeded all of their profitability and cash flow targets

Other recent news from Siemens’ competitors also point towards a strong recovery for PLM software. Siemens PLM also gave some strong competitive updates including significant wins in automotive and claim to be having great success against the competition (although I am sure we will hear dissenting opinions from said competitors shortly).

Another important takeaway from the conference (and an indicator of PLM market health in my mind) is continued industry specialization. As I have been saying for years, including my soapbox on PLM is an Industry Affair, or Is It? going back to 2003 and revisited in 2010 with Mythbusting PLM is an Industry Affair – different industries need different things from PLM. But, and this is important, they also have common needs that transcend industry. I have seen PLM follow ERP in verticalizing offerings as it matures. At this point, Siemens PLM has re-aligned their organization to put greater industry-specific emphasis on their business. I think this is an important change, and was impressed at the well thought-out strategy that provides industry-focused solutions while still maintaining commonality across the industry offerings. This is an important balancing act so industry solutions can still leverage all of the core enhancements being added to the products. Well done.

At this point, I realize that this is going to be a long post even though I am summarizing. I think it’s time to take a break. Look for more on Cool Things Manufacturers are Doing with PLM and My Take on Siemens PLM’s Progress shortly.

Implications for Manufacturers

A healthy PLM market and Siemens PLM business is a good sign for manufacturers. This will ensure that Siemens will continue to invest in their PLM products to maintain growth. Interestingly, Siemens PLM President Chuck Grindstaff pointed out during the conference that Siemens does not believe in cutting R&D in a downturn anyway to ensure innovation, which is welcome news for customers I am sure.

So that’s what I hear from Siemens PLM, I hope you found it useful. What do you think?

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.
  Register

• 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.
  Register

• 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.
  Register

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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.

What I learned this week … came after reflecting on this video on social computing in PLM I ran across on PTC’s website. I spent a significant amount of my time and energy last year trying to understand the implications of the social networking explosion on product innovation, product development, and engineering. It was interesting to listen to the podcast with the benefit of time moving on a bit to reassess the situation and see what will likely happen in 2011. So what happens next?

Brief Background and Views

Take a look at the video, but my viewpoint in a nutshell is:

• Social networking and social media have ramped up significantly in our personal lives (Facebook, YouTube, etc.)
• Social computing is continuing to gain ground in work environments and applications (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)
• Product innovation is a team sport (inherently requiring collaboration and cross-functional participation)
• Facebook and similar tools aren’t appropriate for new product development (NPD), but the concepts are (see Facebook fail post)
• The content for the social interaction around product development and engineering is the product (making it a natural to integrate it with PLM)
• Early adopters are on the move and gaining benefits (see early results from the Spike research I worked on with Kalypso)

My Crystal Ball Says 2011 Will Bring…

First, I don’t have a crystal ball and I can’t see the future. All I can do is tell you that this is one of the most obvious directions companies will take. This is as close to a “no-brainer” as they come. I do believe that social computing is happening in product innovation and NPD and will continue to expand. The tie to product data is also intuitive to me, although it will take more time and work. So here are my thoughts:

• Collaboration – This will happen sooner rather than later, it is the proverbial “low hanging fruit.” Companies will leverage generalized applications like Microsoft SharePoint, as well as specialty applications like Vuuch. The PLM vendors are actively working here as well, including PTC with SocialLink and Dassault Systemes with SwYm, and Siemens PLM. Integration to product data and existing PLM process will take longer, but the direction has been set. With so many companies still trying to get the basics in place (let’s face it, there are a lot of product data management (PDM) projects still in the works to put the foundation in place) I don’t think that this will cross into the majority this year, but there will be a lot of projects going on.
• Discovery - Finding ideas, people, and information internally is coming. While collaboration is typically within the known product development or engineering team, discovery extends this to a broader group. I think we will see progress on this in 2011. This can start relatively easy with discussion groups and innovation portals. I see a lot of companies experimenting with this. I believe a lot of this will be internally focused, however, which doesn’t stretch business models or existing processes but enhances them.
• Product Knowledge Management -This is an interesting one, and I think it will take longer. The promise here is not only to collaborate and discover, but to capture that interaction for future reference. This requires integrating the interactions back into the product record and storing them. The value is there, but it has to be done in a coordinated, integrated fashion so will take longer (in my opinion).
• Community, VOC, New IP -Developing external communities and gathering ideas from the outside is something I have always said will take longer. I am rethinking that. It requires people to think differently and develop new business models. But I have seen innovative companies get behind this.  For example, Kimberly-Clark talks about an innovative program in this interview. My opinion has changed as I view this as a standalone initiative. Full integration to innovation processes and NPD (and particularly engineering) will likely take longer, but a good idea that doesn’t require a huge investment is not going to wait in an innovative company. I see vendors like Brightidea, Congistreamer, Imaginatik, Spigit, and a host of others making an impact here in addition to the traditional companies.

Implications for Manufacturers

Things are happening. The world is changing the way we communicate, and the leaders will find a way to be more innovative and drive higher levels of profitability. Innovation has started and will continue. When? That is the big question. My crystal ball only works backwards (researching what has already happened). But I think we will see a lot of progress this year. Check back with me in 2012 when my crystal ball (aka rearview mirror) is working.

So those are my thoughts for 2011, I hope you found it interesting. Let me know what you think, or more importantly what you are planning to do about it!

A quick peek into some research on … how effectively managing engineering data can improve engineering efficiency. Beyond just efficiency, the study looks at how solutions that manage engineering data – whether you call them PLM, PDM, cPDM, EDM, or any other acronym – can play a critical role in helping manufacturers realize their business strategies.

The Research Findings

Past Tech-Clarity research, including Tech-Clarity Insight: Innovating Through an Economic Downturn and Tech-Clarity Insight: Engineering’s Role in Surviving a Down Economy, make it clear that manufacturers are facing difficult times. Although there are positive signs about the recovery, there are lingering impacts on today’s manufacturing business including:

• Companies have to innovate to capture their share of a smaller market (some say they have to increase market share just to stay still due to lower overall sales volume)
• They need to bring products to market faster in today’s competitive, global environment (even before the downturn)
• They are running lean (and recent studies including one from Aberdeen Group indicate that they plan to add resources back in slowly)

What does that mean? As the recently published report Tech-Clarity Insight: Managing Engineering Data – The Role of Product Data Management in Improving Engineering Efficiency says, “manufacturers need to be able to design and develop products extremely efficiently to get the most out of their engineering efforts.” Perhaps that’s always true, and somewhat obvious. But what can they do about it? The report reviews the experience of three manufacturers, including AMETEK (rotary and linear motion control products and electronic instruments), SchuF-Fetterolf (industrial valve company specializing in the design and manufacture of process critical valves), and Visa Lighting (manufacturer of performance decorative lighting). The research finds that managing engineering data has a positive impact on:

• Gaining control of product data
• Collaborating across sites and sharing information
• Automating (and streamlining) product-related processes
• Leveraging PDM beyond engineering data

In turn, these improvements drive business level results including increased engineering efficiency and faster time to market. Looking back at the challenges companies face in a tough economy, these are important benefits!

Implications for Manufacturers

The research indicates that solutions to manage engineering data drive important business benefits. Product Data Management (PDM) is an important discipline and software enabler in manufacturing companies today. Regardless of whether the PDM is a part of a larger Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution or a simpler solution that focuses only on the PDM aspects, it is a must for manufacturers today. Manufacturers that haven’t invested in these solutions have a choice to make. They can choose a PLM solution from vendors like Dassault Systemes, PTC, or Siemens PLM. They could choose to get PLM from an ERP vendor such as Oracle or SAP. Others will choose a more focused PDM solution. Which is right? It depends on the business strategy and what the company wants to accomplish – now and in the future.

PLM is expanding to cover a lot more than data management, as I discuss in What I Learned: PLM Please Take 3 Giant Steps Forward. For some companies that fits their strategy well. For others (including some interviewed for this paper) that seems like too much for them. Instead of investing in PLM and using a subset, they chose to work with a simpler solution. Solutions from companies like Arena Solutions or Synergis Software can offer a lighter weight solution for these companies to meet their PDM needs. To be fair, some of the large PLM vendors also offer a simpler solution (although that is too much to get into here). They may not have all of the capabilities that the larger PLM systems do, but if the business isn’t ready for PLM they can offer a long-term PDM solution or a stepping stone to get data in order on the path towards a more broad PLM strategy. Regardless of what path they choose, the study is further evidence that manufacturers are getting real value from PDM.

So that was a quick peek into some recent research on the importance of managing engineering data well, 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 … the Siemens PLM team earlier this week at their PLM Connection user’s conference. There are more announcements than I can cover here in one post, so I will concentrate on one major announcement – HD-PLM (High Definition PLM). Siemens is making a significant investment in modernizing the PLM experience with HD PLM. How will it help manufacturers get more from their PLM investment? And from a users’ perspective, can it give the PLM experience a boost to help this valuable corporate tool become a little more fun to work with?

The Announcement

To start, HD-PLM is more than just user experience. It is a new technology framework designed to unify the PLM experience across all of Siemens PLM’s products. In fact, it is planned to be the common client for all solutions. The interface is ( dare I say) cool, and looks like something anyone would be happy to work with. Think Web 2.0 meets PLM. Some examples:

• Highly graphical interface and navigation paradigm – let’s face it, this is how engineers and product developer think
• Cover flow – think iTunes-like interface to browse products)
• Role-based workspace
• Knowledge drill-down – think embedded visual reporting and business intelligence (BI)
• Proactive alerts

Bust Siemens is not just focusing on user experience. “High Definition” means more than what you see. They are are also investing heavily in a more rich definition (and validation) of products, particularly around systems engineering and mechatronics. Siemens will be making a lot more of the vast information in their systems available in an easily accessible, visual way. This is no small project for Siemens, and will provide significant value to Siemens PLM customers.

Implications for Manufacturers

What does this mean to manufacturers? To keep this short and simple:

• PLM will get more fun (and cool)
• Siemens PLM customers can feel comfortable that Siemens is still investing significantly in the future, and will enjoy the benefits of that investment over time as the new technology is released in upgrades of the products they already own
• Non-Siemens customers will have another reason to look at Siemens PLM products

So that’s what I hear from Siemens PLM, I hope you found it useful. What do you think? What else should I have asked them? I expect to hear a lot more about this in the future, I look forward to sharing it here.

What I learned this week … is that product cost is not getting the attention it deserves in PLM. I was presenting on the future of PLM in a PLM-focused event last week in Helsinki. My topic was the future of PLM, and I based my discussion on the four dimensions of PLM expansion (recently updated past post). I got a great question from one of the participants. He wanted to know “why I hadn’t included cost in the future of PLM?“ My response? Good question!

Product Cost in PLM

Product Cost Management (PCM) in PLM is something that I used to bring up on a regular basis. Design for cost is an important initiatives. Particularly as companies are trying to remain lean in uncertain economic times, controlling cost is critical. Even in good times, designing products with optimal cost structures is hugely important to driving high profit margins. So why has this dropped off of my radar? Is the problem being addressed? Is the problem solved? No.

The problem still lingers, but I haven’t seen as many companies willing to try to address it. Perhaps this complicates the roles of ERP and PLM, and companies don’t want to deal with a hard decision on which system supports which part of the process. ERP and PLM both have the potential to help, and should be a part of the solution. But neither ERP nor PLM are ready to take on the PCM challenge fully.

• ERP
  • Has historic costs
  • Understands multi-currency, locations, volumes, other sourcing factors
  • Generally handles cost for the execution of procurement and manufacturing
• PLM
  • Has new parts
  • Understands product content early when costs are locked into designs
  • Generally handles product development decisions in the innovation lifecycle

So each system has some thing to offer. So why instead of addressing this properly with the right combination of ERP and PLM, do companies continue to use masses of disconnected spreadsheets to solve the problem? At least I can hope that they are managing the spreadsheets in PLM so it is readily available and can be reused. But that is only a partial solution. We need a better answer.

Challenges

ERP and PLM both bring value as seen above, but both fall short. Here are some of the issues:

• New purchased parts - ERP is not involved in the early parts of design, and doesn’t help with estimating costs of new parts. PLM (for the most part) doesn’t have a rich enough model for sourcing. I have seen “cost” as a single field too many times, without any concept that the cost will change based on volumes, locations, currencies, etc.
• Newly engineered parts – For brand new parts, there is not historic data to work from. Costs need to be developed based on product characteristics like materials and manufacturing complexity. Comparisons can help, but ERP typically doesn’t know enough to determine which parts are similar in their construction

Who will step up?

Are vendors ready for this? Agile has had a cost model for some time. Siemens partnered with ATK. Dassault Systemes invested in this area. PTC just announced that their InSight product analytics product will address cost. So there is hope. There are also specialty vendors like Akoya and aPriori that help engineers estimate cost based on product attributes. Why haven’t SAP PLM and Oracle (with Agile and ERP) done something about it?

More importantly, are manufacturers ready? Adidas CIO mentioned Design for Cost at a PLM user conference (PTCuser) yesterday. But I don’t hear it often enough. I haven’t seen the momentum that something as important to profitability as cost deserves.

Implications for Manufacturers

If manufacturers aren’t willing to integrate cost into their design processes (and PLM), they will be stuck with spreadsheets. And actually, the question was broader. The question also addressed other financials in addition to cost. For example, is PLM addressing product pricing? Product forecasting? While I think that it makes sense for PLM to address this, I have seen little activity in this area to this point. What a shame. What a great opportunity for someone to step up.

So that is my rant for today, I hope you found it interesting. Why did this fall off of my radar? Did it fall off of yours? Have you done something to address this? If you did let us know about it!

I had the chance to talk with … Siemens (the manufacturer) and Siemens PLM (their PLM software group) last week as a participant in an PLM industry analysts meeting. The meeting was full of interesting updates on their PLM products, but one thing that really struck me was Siemens talking about Siemens. As many people know, Siemens was a big user of Siemens PLM solutions prior to acquiring them (back when they were known as UGS). When Siemens acquired UGS I saw some real promise and some real potential problems, it was interesting to get an update and a new perspective.

Recapping my Earlier Thoughts on the Acquisition

I shared my public thoughts on the Siemens-UGS acquisition in my blog, and shared some more thoughts directly with the UGS and Siemens teams. In short, I believed:

• It was a positive move to have a more stable “home” for UGS, although they were doing well on their own
• There was a tremendous opportunity for the newly joined company to integrate engineering and manufacturing execution
• There was a real risk (in my mind at least) that Siemens would start touting a fully integrated PLM-MES-Plant Equipment model before many of their customers were ready to think about it, let alone have the maturity to take advantage of it

Looking back at my blog from May, 2008 I see comments like “too much vision?” and “too big to fit in people’s heads.” It looks like I didn’t pull many punches in my public blog, I guess I should be thankful I am still asked to the meetings…

Siemens (the PLM Vendor) on Siemens (the Manufacturer)

Fast forward to the present time, and I am pleased to say that Siemens PLM is selling … drum roll please … PLM. The Siemens leadership has taken a very pragmatic approach to integrating the companies, and (from what I can see from the outside at least) let Siemens lead the way. Most of the UGS leadership is still in place, and Siemens seems to respect the former UGS organization’s knowledge of the software industry. From the product updates it is clear that they have not taken their eye off of other PLM opportunities or overemphasized the integration initiative, as the PLM solution is being enhanced in ways that the PLM market demands, not the parent company. Of course, that is what is in the best interest of Siemens as a whole, but sometimes acquiring companies lose perspective on things like that.

Having said that, the larger opportunity has not been lost. It just hasn’t been pushed into places where it is too much to handle. The teams talked about some real examples of joint opportunities where they have worked together, and are moving in a practical way towards integrated offerings. What was even more interesting to me as to listen to Helmuth Ludwig talk about Siemens as a corporation. He talks about the ability to team with his manufacturing counterparts to help move towards greater integration of innovation and manufacturing. He used the term “laboratory” to explain how they can learn internally from their more advanced manufacturing businesses. Siemens (and other PLM vendors) often team with their more advanced customers to experiment and co-develop solutions, but few have the advantage of having the PLM vendor, the manufacturer, the MES vendor, and the plant equipment/controls vendor all within the same company.

Siemens (the Manufacturer) on Siemens (the PLM Vendor)

The other perspective that was shared at the meeting was from a Siemens manufacturing plant. This was not one of the “laboratory” opportunities, but one that was still maturing in their use of PLM. My key takeaways from that presentation are:

• They were using Siemens PLM solutions before the acquisition
• They are continuing to use Siemens PLM solutions now
• They are running at their own PLM maturity level, and not overwhelmed with having to adopt the fully integrated model (which they aren’t organizationally ready for)

In short, they are free to move up the PLM maturity curve at their own pace, and Siemens PLM is there to support them. The goods news is that Siemens seems to be able to support the majority of the market that is early in PLM maturity, at the same time they are pushing the limits on the more advanced end of a fully integrated innovation-production model.

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