Tech-Clarity Insight - Consolidating CAD - The Benefits of a Unified CADRead Kalypso founding partner George Young and Tech-Clarity President Jim Brown discuss their perspectives on enabling software for NPDI in Consumer Goods Technology’s 2014 Readers Choice Awards for New Product Development and Introduction Software.
- Executive Overview
- Lean IT Overhead
- Reuse
- Collaboration
- Enabling the Bigger Product Development Picture
- The Corporate Advantage
- The IT Advantage
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
- About the Research
Executive Overview
Manufacturers must remain vigilant about managing cost in today’s uncertain economic times. Lean IT organizations and budgets lead many to consider the benefits of rationalizing their software systems. One system that manufacturers should consider standardizing is Computer Aided Design (CAD). Even in the best of times, manufacturers should consider standardizing on a single CAD solution. Cost savings are attractive and are certainly attainable through consolidation. Beyond cost savings, though, are even greater strategic benefits. At the workgroup level, manufacturers can take advantage of better design collaboration and CAD model reuse. Broader benefits include the ability to share best practices across teams. The ability to unify product development processes and data across the enterprise is even more strategic. Common processes and centralized data are particularly advantageous as a part of a full system for product design and development that supports design, analysis, data management, product compliance, documentation, and other related innovation tools. At the highest level, standardizing CAD software offers corporate benefits. For example, a single CAD environment can enable a “design anywhere – build anywhere” strategy. This approach allows companies to rapidly adjust to market changes and resource shortages by offering the ability to transfer design or production to new facilities without concern for incompatible design data, tools, or processes. From the IT perspective, consolidation provides the ability to focus resources on a smaller number of solutions. This reduces workload and cost and allows IT to provide a higher level of business support with today’s lean organizations. Of course not all businesses have the opportunity to unify their CAD solutions due to customer and supplier constraints, but there are multiple advantages for those that can. [post_title] => Consolidating CAD - Benefits of a Unified CAD Strategy [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => consolidating-cad-2 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-11-14 22:27:37 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-11-15 03:27:37 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tech-clarity.com/?p=3566 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3501 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2013-12-24 12:35:11 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-12-24 17:35:11 [post_content] =>
Tony Lockwood of Desktop Engineering shared his thoughts on Tech-Clarity's Consolidating Design Software, Extending Value Beyond 3D CAD Consolidation. I like his description of "working in a multi-CAD environment with multiple disconnected tools and multiple money pits bleeding you dry at every junction of your process."
Read the short article by Tony on Desktop Engineering.
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Product Cost Management - A Knowledge Based Approach to Optimizing Product Cost explains how manufacturers can design products for optimal cost in order to improve profitability. The research shares interviews with three industrial manufacturers on the way they work with their supply chains to reduce cost using an analytical, fact-based methodology to drive out unnecessary cost and negotiate fair pricing. The interviews also point out the value of enterprise-class software to enable PCM.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report or title to download the full PDF (free of charge, no registration required).
For more information on PCM from our sponsor please visit Siemens PLM's Teamcenter Product Cost Management page.
Please also see the related Tech-Clarity TV Episode - Optimizing Product Cost with PCM
Executive Overview
Many things factor into the profitability of a product. Innovation, satisfying customer wishes, and product performance drive sales, command price premiums, and boost top-line results. These get a lot of attention and engineers focus passionately on the form, fit, and function of their designs. But engineers don’t have the ability to evaluate the product cost impacts of their decisions to drive profitability from the expense perspective. Too few companies include a thorough “design for cost” analysis in their product development process to optimize profits. Engineers must optimize cost and make design tradeoffs early in the lifecycle when there is still design flexibility. “You need to have the right concept early on,” advises the Manager of Cost Engineering for a major automotive OEM. “The leverage you have is much higher when you start.” It’s critical to get the cost right as early as possible, particularly for high-volume parts. Most engineers don’t have visibility to the impact their decisions have on cost. They can’t optimize cost with other design parameters because they don’t have the right information. Product Cost Management (PCM) processes and software enable manufactures to design for cost by providing early visibility to the cost implications of design decisions. PCM allows companies to simulate and evaluate different manufacturing scenarios to develop an ideal “should cost” model based on detailed knowledge of materials, manufacturing processes, and supply chain costs. PCM benefits go beyond design. Most sourcing efforts result in suboptimal pricing because they aren’t based on how much a part should cost. Predicting manufacturing and supply costs confidently helps companies negotiate better prices based on facts and enables transparent, open discussion with suppliers. “We tell suppliers we aren’t looking for a cost reduction,” explains the Manager of Design Costing and Analysis for an agricultural machinery producer. “We want to improve their process and decrease their work so they can reduce the cost. It’s critical to start the discussion this way.” Beyond savings from one-time negotiations, PCM helps educate suppliers on how to get closer to an ideal should cost model. This win-win approach sets up continuous improvement with vendors to improve prices without putting unrealistic pressure on suppliers to blindly reduce cost. In the end, PCM changes negotiations to a battle of knowledge versus a battle of will and drives more sustainable cost reduction over time. [post_title] => Product Cost Management - A Knowledge Based Approach to Optimizing Product Cost [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => pcm-wp [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-11-14 22:27:37 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-11-15 03:27:37 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tech-clarity.com/?p=3491 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3394 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2013-10-28 12:15:36 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-10-28 16:15:36 [post_content] =>
The Business Value of Product Data Management - Achieving Rapid and Extendable Benefits with Preconfigured PDM shares the perspectives of three small to midsize manufacturers on the value they receive from PDM software. The report also offers Tech-Clarity's views on the business value of PDM and explains how preconfigured PDM solutions can help companies gain value quickly and cost effectively.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report to download a PDF overview (free of charge, no registration required).
For the full report, please visit the Teamcenter Rapid Start page on the Siemens PLM website (free of charge, registration required).
Table of Contents
- Executive Overview
- The Business Value of PDM – Controlling Product Data
- The Business Value of PDM – Making Product Data Accessible
- The Business Value of PDM – Sharing Product Data
- Achieving Value Quickly with Preconfigured PDM
- Getting Started
- Taking Advantage of (and Extending) the Benefits
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
- About the Research
Executive Overview
Manufacturers today face challenging markets and an uncertain global economy. To survive they are trying to improve the speed of product development despite reduced headcount and budgets. One positive note is that many manufacturers are gaining significant value by implementing product data management (PDM) solutions. Tech-Clarity interviewed several small to midsize manufacturers (Table 1) to understand their experiences. Each of these companies implemented PDM for different business reasons, although several common themes were repeated. These themes are consistent with previous research on the topic, and include:- Control and secure product-related data
- Improve the ability to quickly find and reuse information
- Share product knowledge and collaborate with other departments
| Company | Description |
| Veeraja Industries | Total solutions provider of coolant filtration, chip removal and coolant management |
| Flovel Energy | Fully integrated hydro power equipment supplier |
| Weir Valves & Controls | End-to-end whole plant solutions to nuclear, fossil-fired and renewable power stations |
Tech-Clarity Insight - PLM's Role in Enabling Design for Environment discusses the tremendous challenges manufacturers face from sustainability demands and regulations. The report discusses how companies can adopt a strategy and culture that helps them address sustainability and compliance needs early in design and how PLM software provides a platform of capabilities that can be applied to today's - and tomorrow's - DFE needs. The report also introduces the Tech-Clarity Sustainability Maturity Framework to help companies determine how advanced their processes are and how they can be improved.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report to download a PDF overview (free of charge, no registration required).
For the full report, please visit the Teamcenter Sustainability and Environmental Compliance page on the Siemens PLM website (free of charge, registration required).
Table of Contents
- Executive Overview
- Understand the Sustainability Imperative
- Address Today’s Reality of Regulation
- Recognize the Breadth of Regulatory Demands
- Assess Your Sustainability Maturity
- Target a Level of Maturity Appropriate for your Industry
- Develop a Design for the Environment Strategy and Culture
- Understand Barriers to the Design for the Environment Process
- Adopt a Proven DFE Process
- Enable Design for the Environment with a Platform Approach
- Extend the Value of the Platform
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
Executive Overview
Today’s manufacturers face severe social and business sustainability pressure as the environmental impacts of industry become more visible and concerning to customers and investors. The spectrum of sustainability challenges is extensive, although manufacturers typically prioritize compliance with regulations focused on eliminating hazardous and restricted substances in products. These regulations put the business at tangible risk today, carrying the potential for market exclusion, fines, and brand damage. Addressing environmental compliance regulations is now a critical capability to maintain profitability in the manufacturing industry. “Environmental compliance is just good business,” explains Brian Martin, Senior Director of Corporate Product Environmental Compliance for electronics company Seagate. “It’s about making sure we can sell our products across the world without any impediments.” Despite the potential impacts to top and bottom line performance, today’s manufacturing companies are at very different levels of maturity with their sustainability practices. At a minimum, however, they must comply with a myriad of complex regulations including RoHS, REACH, and the Dodd-Frank Act governing conflict minerals. Addressing current environmental compliance regulations can be a time-consuming and expensive undertaking. Manufacturers need to approach sustainability with a proactive, holistic approach to get products right the first time if they hope to address compliance efficiently. This “design for the environment” (DFE) approach addresses product-oriented requirements early in design. It allows engineers to make sustainable choices based on timely feedback as the design evolves. This allows them to make optimal choices at the time materials and components are selected, before windows of opportunity close and make these decisions more costly and disruptive Better practices and enabling technology are the keys to effective and affordable DFE. An integrated, platform approach based on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) meets sustainability demands at much lower cost. In fact, Tech-Clarity and Aberdeen research indicate that better compliance practices yield better results, yet actually cost less. The capabilities, data, and processes put in place for environmental regulatory compliance can also serve as the foundation for manufacturers to extend up the sustainability maturity curve by adding additional requirements including improved recyclability and reduced energy consumption. They can even go beyond sustainability to improve their ability to design for optimal cost, quality, supply chain risk, and more as the world economy and the business strategy dictate. [post_title] => PLM's Role in Enabling Design for Environment [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => plm-dfe [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-11-14 22:27:36 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-11-15 03:27:36 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tech-clarity.com/?p=3372 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [6] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3359 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2013-10-16 09:47:24 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-10-16 13:47:24 [post_content] =>
Tech-Clarity Insight - Top 5 Misconceptions about Innovation Management Software - Busting Myths to Improve Innovation, Time to Market, and Profitability discusses common misconceptions related to innovation, ideation, portfolio management, and project management software suites. These myths cause confusion and prevent companies from moving forward with important process improvements that innovation management software enables.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report to download a PDF overview (free of charge, no registration required). For the full report, please visit the Planview website (free or charge, registration required).
Table of Contents
- Executive Overview
- Why Innovate?
- Why Enable Innovation?
- The Five Myths about Innovation Management Software
- Myth 1 – Process and Software Will Stifle Innovation
- Myth 2 – Innovation Begins and Ends with an Idea
- Myth 3 – PPM is Only for New Products
- Myth 4 – Innovation Management Software Will Slow Us Down
- Myth 5 – We Don’t Have Time and Resources to Implement
- Getting Started, Practical First Steps
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
Executive Overview
Product innovation is critical to differentiate and remain competitive in today’s fast-paced, global markets. Bolstering innovation to a core competency helps manufacturers drive higher revenue, lower cost, and mitigate risk. So why is it so hard for companies to improve innovation performance and drive meaningful business value? Innovation management software helps drive this new business value. Enabling technology helps companies improve agility, productivity, and time to market by improving decision-making, visibility, and commercialization efficiency across the product lifecycle. “I am a huge proponent of tools that help innovation,” explains Erik Greenfield, Senior Director of Program Management at Immucor. “They are cost effective and help improve time to market.” The benefits available are compelling. As Tech-Clarity’s The ROI of Product Portfolio Management explains, the financial value comes from “a combination of increased revenue from higher sales volume and margin lift alongside reduced costs from better resource utilization, avoiding spending on low-value projects, and improved efficiency.” Despite the proven value of innovation management software, companies are often held back due to misconceptions. Tech-Clarity has identified five common myths that prevent or slow companies from using software technology to improve innovation performance:- Process and software will stifle innovation
- Innovation begins and ends with an idea
- Product portfolio management (PPM) is only for new products
- Innovation management software will slow us down
- We don’t have the time and resources to implement a system
Tech-Clarity Insight - Managing Design Data with SharePoint - Improving Product Design and Development using Low Overhead Collaboration Infrastructure explains how general document management and collaboration infrastructure can be extended to manage product designs. The report reviews the business benefits of controlling, accessing, and sharing design data and the challenges manufacturers face in unmanaged environments. It then shares the experiences of four small to midsize manufacturers, Eurotech Benelux, FPEE, Teledyne, and Theebo Tech, in various levels of maturity using SharePoint for design data.
The report concludes that manufacturers can get significant value from SharePoint-based solutions, but that SharePoint requires some important extensions in order to be effective. With these modifications, however, companies can take advantage of relatively low-cost infrastructure software from Microsoft that requires few IT resources to manage.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report to download a PDF overview (free of charge, no registration required).
For the full report, please visit Siemens PLM's Solid Edge SP page (free of charge, registration required).
With special thanks to Siemens PLM, you can also download the full Managing Design Data with SharePoint paper in French (Gérer les donné de conception avec SharePoint) or download a French summary of Managing Design Data with SharePoint (free of charge, no registration required).
Table of Contents
- The Business Value of Effective Design Data Management
- Control, Access, and Share Design Data
- Avoid the Pitfalls of Unmanaged Data
- Leverage Existing Infrastructure to Centralize and Collaborate
- Pros of Managing Designs and Projects with SharePoint
- Cons of Managing Designs and Projects with SharePoint
- Explore SharePoint-based Design Management Solutions
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
Executive Overview
Tech-Clarity research shows that effectively managing design data offers tangible business value. It helps manufacturers grow their business, respond rapidly to market changes, and control cost to improve profitability. Data management does this by helping companies better control, access, and share their designs and related product information. Unfortunately, data management solutions have been out of reach for some companies due to cost and lack of IT resources, forcing them to rely on less effective approaches like storing data on shared drives and folders. These unmanaged approaches are risky and lead to inefficiency and errors, often relying on designers to follow confusing naming standards and file storage processes. One alternative to an unmanaged environment is to use a collaboration and document management platform such as Microsoft SharePoint to manage designs. This helps organize files and make information easier for designers to access. SharePoint is an attractive collaboration platform for manufacturers because it has a very low total cost of ownership (TCO), leverages existing investments, and requires very little user training. Although SharePoint offers some level of control and collaboration, it does not natively support the complexity of product development and engineering data. But SharePoint is more than a tool. It is designed as a development platform that can be extended for special needs like engineering. Software vendors with expertise in product development and engineering have taken advantage of this, extending SharePoint to handle the unique needs of managing CAD files and their complex relationships.
SharePoint-based design management solutions allow engineers to simplify data management so they can focus on designing products. They help designers view and make sense of the relationships between CAD files, specifications, BOMs, and other product-related information. “With our SharePoint-based design management system we clearly see the links and inter-relationships between all of our designs and parts, we have more clarity, and it’s easier to see where things are used and the effect of design changes,” says Theodore Turner of Theebo Tech, “We can see the whole ball of twine.”
Although they may not offer all of the advanced capabilities and scalability found in purpose-built PDM/PLM systems, SharePoint-based solutions can offer the best of both worlds by combining the business value of better design data management with lower cost and less demand for IT resources.
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[post_content] => Tech-Clarity's Jim Brown will present his views on product innovation and innovation management software on the Separating Fact from Fiction to Power Product Innovation webcast. Jim will join Carrie Nauyalis of Planview to share findings from his upcoming Top 5 Misconceptions about Innovation Management Software report and Carrie's provocative views on companies that "fake innovation." It should be an interesting discussion!
Webcast Details:
Want to increase the upsides and ROI from product innovation? For many this includes taking a new approach to innovation - one which incorporates best practice processes and technology. For fast moving organizations, the challenges can seem daunting – and some are concerned about stifling innovation. But is that fact or fiction?
Attend this webinar and be among the first to learn the highlights and findings contained in the latest white paper from industry expert Jim Brown of Tech-Clarity. Joined by Planview’s New Product Development Evangelist, Carrie Nauyalis, Brown will cover the top five innovation management myths found in manufacturers today, as well as practical tips and recommendations for disproving them and moving forward. All attendees will receive a free copy of the white paper.
[post_title] => Webcast - Separating Innovation Fact from Fiction
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[post_content] => Elisabeth Eitel of Machine Design covered Tech-Clarity's Best Practices for Factory Adaptability report. 
Hear her views on the results in Machine Design article Survey results: Manufacturers tell how they implement change.
[post_title] => Tech-Clarity Change Survey Covered in Machine Design
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Tech-Clarity Perspective: Best Practices for Factory Adaptability - Top Performers Implement Change Faster and More Confidently shares survey results from over 250 manufacturers examining how they implement change in their factories. The study reviews the practices of the "top performers," those that implement change more effectively in their plants, to determine best practice processes and technology for engineering change management.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report to download a PDF overview (free of charge, no registration required).
For the full report, please visit Autodesk's Factory Design Software Page (free of charge, no registration required). Note: The link isn't instantly evident, look for the "become a top performer" section that looks like the thumbnail below.
Table of Contents
- Executive Overview
- Adapt or Die: The Change Imperative
- The Constancy of Change
- Challenges Managing Change in the Factory
- Business Impacts Encountered during Factory Change
- Identifying the Top Performers
- Top Performers Demonstrate Advantages in Adaptability
- Top Performers Adhere to more Formal Change Processes
- Best Practices followed by the Top Performers
- Top Performers Demonstrate better Operational Capabilities
- Top Performer Software Capabilities
- Top Performer Software Enablers
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
- About the Research
Executive Overview
Manufacturers must adapt quickly to compete in today’s fast-moving, competitive, global markets. They must be agile to take advantage of opportunities and sidestep competitive threats. They have to be able to confidently implement quality, efficiency, and cost improvements resulting from Lean Manufacturing initiatives. There are a multitude of business drivers that demand change in the factory, ranging from tactical “tweaks” to strategic, market-facing overhauls like introducing new products or product lines. Unfortunately, the old adage that “change is hard” is very true in the factory. Manufacturers face numerous challenges adapting to change. These difficulties result in significant, negative business impacts, including:- Project impacts including cost overruns, unplanned labor, and missed due dates
- Outcome-related impacts including poor product quality and low productivity
- Top Performers are much better at understanding the full scope and impact of changes during the planning phase. To achieve this, they leverage processes and technologies that allow them to determine the impact of planned changes, simulate changes before they are implemented, and use some emerging capabilities including reality capture and electronically visualizing changes in the context of the existing factory
- Top Performers communicate and collaborate more effectively, sharing processes and information across departments. They accomplish this through organizational approaches such as cross-functional teams and change control boards (CCB), processes to share status and information, and technologies that provide online collaboration and a central repository for manufacturing and project information including BIM, PLM, and project management
- Top performers adhere to more formal processes, including formal change management processes, six sigma for change, and formal requirements and impact analysis
Issue in Focus: Designing Products for Performance, Risk, and Compliance - Leveraging Product Analytics to Optimize Design Decisions and Tradeoffs shares the importance of proactively providing designers with insight into the many impacts of their design decisions. Product analytics is critical to help companies design and develop products with optimal cost, compliance, weight, performance, and other characteristics. This paper extends Tech-Clarity's earlier research on Making Design Tradeoffs and introduces product analytics as an important part of the engineering / PLM software suite.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report or title to download the full PDF (free of charge, no registration required).
Table of Contents
- Introducing the Issue
- A New Addition to the Enterprise Ecosystem for Manufacturers
- Leverage a Product Analytics Platform
- Develop Requirements
- Access Product Data
- Collect and Manage Supply Chain Data
- Analyze and Compare to Targets
- Optimize Designs and Tradeoffs
- Validate and Document Results
- Monitor for Risk
- Applying the Product Analytics Framework
- Apply Analytics to Mitigate Supply Risk
- Manage Commercial Risk
- Measure Attainment of Technical Targets
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
Introducing the Issue
What do product weight, environmental compliance, part obsolescence, and product cost have in common? These, among other product attributes, are important factors that impact the revenue and profitability of a product. In addition:- They result from a series of design decisions including component, material, and supplier choices
- They are very difficult to change late in the design process
- Designers rarely have the right data to make optimal choices (or even understand the impact of their decisions) to influence them during design
Conclusion
Product Analytics is becoming an important competency for today’s manufacturers. Effective and timely product analytics helps manufactures design products right the first time, hit their targets, and mitigate risk. Following the product analytics framework of processes offers manufacturers the opportunity to transition design validation from an ineffective, expensive, ad-hoc approach to a proactive, enterprise methodology. It helps designers make tradeoffs and optimize design decisions when they are most flexible and can make the most positive impact.
An effective product analytics platform enables the processes of the product analytics framework. This platform supports the “must do” need to design products for product environmental compliance and extends those capabilities to a class of issues ranging from technical requirements to supply chain characteristics. An effective solution makes DFX feasible by providing transparency and timely feedback to designers. At the same time, the solution can improve efficiency by reducing the overall cost of compliance and design. The product analytics platform is rapidly becoming an indispensable part of the enterprise systems ecosystem for manufacturers.
Recommendations
Based on industry experience and research for this report, Tech-Clarity offers the following recommendations:- Manage product requirements centrally and net out requirements, recognizing that many will compete and require tradeoffs
- Analyze the impact of design choices in the context of the BOM by leveraging product data – configurations, BOMs, components – as it is developed
- Provide feedback during design, before it is too late and while flexibility is at its highest
- Validate against requirements and generate product documentation with efficiency and confidence, supporting audits and inquiries
- Extend compliance processes to support supply risk, commercial risk, and attainment of technical targets in a consistent, cohesive methodology
- Monitor adherence to requirements over the lifecycle of products as designs and requirements change
- Leverage a platform approach to product analytics to enable efficient, consistent processes integrated around shared data
- A repeatable reference architecture for innovation
- In introduction to the five sub-process for innovation - Envision, Engage, Evolve, Evaluate, Execute
- A compilation of best practice processes and technologies to effectively implement an innovation strategy
- Lessons learned from Microsoft's own innovation efforts
- A case study sharing Ericsson's successful innovation management efforts
- A reference guide to Microsoft technology and implementation partners focused on innovation management
- 3M
- Avanade
- Capgemini
- Ericsson
- Business Strategy Innovation
- Microsoft
- Pcubed
- PTC
- Quantum PM
- Siemens PLM
- Sopheon
- Tech-Clarity
- UMT
- United Healthcare
- Wolters Kluwer
PDM Buyer's Guide - Ensuring Maximum Value from Product Data Management is an educational tool to help manufacturers evaluate and select the right data management solution to improve design, product development, and engineering performance. PDM helps companies control, access, and share information. This guide offers advice and requirements related to:
- Software functionality
- Implementation
- User adoption
- Support
- Vendor characteristics / attributes
- Special needs for smaller or larger companies
- Industry needs
Table of Contents
- Introducing the PDM Buyer’s Guide
- The Product Data Management Imperative
- Analyze PDM Capabilities
- Service Requirements
- Consider Vendor Requirements
- Identify Unique Company Needs
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
Introducing the PDM Buyer's Guide
Product Data Management (PDM) is an important tool to help manufacturers overcome the complexities of designing, developing, producing, and supporting today’s products. Manual and ad-hoc approaches such as shared folders, FTP, Dropbox, and hard drives are simply not good solutions to manage critical, complex product information. These approaches may work for very small organizations, but quickly falter as organizations grow and people need to share information outside of a few core engineers. These techniques also fail to manage data relationships and complex file structures common to 3D CAD systems. PDM systems are purpose-built to address these issues. PDM is a structured, collaborative solution that helps manufacturers control, access, and share crucial product data. Selecting the right PDM system for your business has a large impact on productivity, product success, and profitability.
- Getting files under control so people can find the right revision with confidence
- Making sure concurrent updates don’t overwrite each other to avoid “the last save wins” syndrome
- Making information available outside of engineering
- Ensuring Intellectual Property (IP) is captured and accessible regardless of who stored it
- Getting away from complicated shared drive structures that lead to errors
- Making sure people don’t manufacture or purchase against the wrong drawing
- Provide “one version of the truth” versus multiple copies of designs
Jim will present on the Visual Design Management for Faster Project Completion webcast, a part of the Engineering.com Product Design Webinar Series.
Register for the Visual Design Management webcast.
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Jim Brown of Tech-Clarity published an article, 7 Tips to Speed Time to Market, on Innovation Management as a part of the Planview Learning Series. In the article, Jim overview some recent research on time to market and identifies a number of time-proven methods that help get products to market faster.
You can also download the underlying research, Issue in Focus: Meeting Fixed Product Launch Windows for more information, Provided courtesy of Planview, Registration Required.
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Tech-Clarity Insight: Modernizing Manufacturing Systems with the Cloud - Leveraging Cloud ERP to Improve Systems and Business Performance shares insights from three manufacturers and Tech-Clarity's research into cloud enterprise systems to assess the cloud opportunity for ERP. The report discusses how the cloud ERP business model helps overcome financial and IT resource contraints that keep manufacturers in the Old ERP Trap.
Please enjoy the summary below, or click the report or title to download the full PDF (free of charge, no registration required).
Table of Contents
- Executive Overview
- Understanding the Old ERP Trap
- Living with the Implications of the Old ERP Trap
- Cloud Overcomes the Financial Obstacles to Better Systems
- Cloud Breaks the IT Resource Barriers
- Cloud Keeps you Out of the Old ERP Trap
- Understand Myths and Realities of Cloud
- Take Advantage of Better Information and Decision-Making
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- About the Author
Executive Overview
Tech-Clarity recently evaluated the benefits, requirements, and considerations of cloud-based enterprise software for manufacturers. Two recent reports, Assessing the Cloud PLM Opportunity and Integrating Cloud PLM, discussed the potential value of transitioning to cloud solutions. They also addressed a number of important factors manufacturers should examine before making the transition. This report extends those findings to help manufacturers determine if cloud ERP can help solve a far-too-common problem, companies stuck running insufficient, outdated manufacturing systems. Manufacturing appears to be on the verge of a rebirth and a period of opportunity not seen in our industry for many years. Unfortunately, most companies will not be able to take full advantage of this macroeconomic trend because they are stuck in one of two dead-end situations - the “Old ERP Trap” or the “No ERP Trap.” In these scenarios companies are bound to either legacy ERP applications running on outdated infrastructure or a hodgepodge of homegrown and/or informal systems. There are multiple disadvantages to running these antiquated systems. The primary reason identified by this research was not technical in nature. Manufactures will simply not be able to take full advantage of the economic revival without improving their ability to rapidly identify opportunities and adapt their business. Cloud ERP offers a potential new path to modernize manufacturing systems and helps companies overcome financial and resource barriers to change. But many manufacturers are concerned about the potential pitfalls of cloud-based solutions. Most of the concerns, as the previous reports discusses, are unfounded and easily mitigated. In fact, interviews for this report indicate that despite concerns, cloud ERP results in a better, lower risk implementation than most companies could support inhouse, offering web class performance and reliability. “People think they have better control and security with onsite software, but based on what I’ve seen that’s not the case,” observes Randy Copperman, VP Support Services for piezoelectric ceramics manufacturer Channeltech. “It’s not our business to build big data centers and protect information, someone else will do that better than I ever will. That’s the whole concept of outsourcing, that’s what the cloud vendors do.” Clearly there are some important factors to keep in mind. Not all cloud vendors are created equal. It’s important to evaluate the cloud ERP vendors’ capabilities for backup, recovery, support, performance, reliability, and security. Industry certifications such as SSAE 16 Type 2 are a good place to start. Most companies will find that their concerns are quickly alleviated and that cloud providers offer a higher level of service than they could provide internally. Once the misunderstandings about “going to the cloud” are clarified, cloud ERP offers a new path to modernizing systems that is worth serious consideration. [post_title] => Modernizing Manufacturing Systems with the Cloud [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => cloud-erp [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-11-14 22:27:32 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-11-15 03:27:32 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tech-clarity.com/?p=3171 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 1 [filter] => raw ) [19] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3164 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2013-05-13 08:03:24 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-05-13 12:03:24 [post_content] => Hear Jim Brown discuss the myths and realities of Cloud ERP and how cloud-based systems can help manufacturers get out of the Old ERP Trap. Hear how cloud ERP helps overcome financial and IT resource constraints that keep companies stuck on outdated ERP systems that don't provide the information they need to make good, timely business decisions. Sponsored by Plex Systems.
Learn more about this webcast by visiting the online registration page on the Plex Systems' website.
- or -
Register here for the May 16 event or the reply directly.
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[post_content] => Read Kalypso founding partner George Young and Tech-Clarity President Jim Brown discuss their perspectives on enabling software for NPDI in Consumer Goods Technology's 2014 Readers Choice Awards for New Product Development and Introduction Software.
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