"CAE Data Management", authored by Alhad Joshi of Altair Engineering for Product Lifecycle Management e-zine - 2PLM - Volume 7, Number 16, published by John Stark Associates
Making Progress With PLM In 2005 :
Making Progress With PLM In 2005 : Q&As, Vision, Achieving The Next Level is a Manual developed to help companies in 2005 as they launch PLM Initiatives, develop PLM visions and strategies, and implement PLM plans. It supports PLM VPs, PLM Project Leaders, PDM Managers, IS Managers, CAD Managers and others currently faced with the many questions, problems, challenges and opportunities of PLM - and looking for the best way forward.
Making Progress in 2005 answers frequent questions about PLM, builds a generic, customizable PLM Vision, and identifies typical activities in a PLM Initiative. It is based on a thorough understanding of the current situation in manufacturing companies, and recent trends in PLM development and use.
In its current version, Making Progress in 2005 is available as a PDF file, a PowerPoint presentation, and telephone support. It's full of knowledge, experience and advice that will help project teams make fast progress with PLM, and enable them to avoid wasting time and effort looking for, or reinventing, information that is already available.
Chapter 1 describes the typical PLM situation in many companies in 2005. In the middle of the first decade of the new century, companies of all sizes are realizing that PLM can bring them great benefits, helping to solve problems and seize opportunities. However, although many people in these organizations are aware of the need for PLM, for one reason or another, there may not be a clear strategy or plan for PLM. The next steps may not be clear, or they may not be agreed, and it is not clear how to make progress. Meanwhile, many independent improvement projects are launched in PLM areas to achieve specific benefits. However, without a coherent PLM Vision, they are likely to lead to additional Islands of Automation.
Chapter 2 is in the form of Questions & Answers. It answers more than 60 questions about PLM and a PLM project such as: What is PLM? ; Why is PLM so important? ; What are the functions and features of PLM applications? ; What are the metrics and targets of PLM success? (This Chapter is also available separately.)
Chapter 3 presents a "Vision of PLM in a Manufacturing Company in 2010". This Big Picture helps explain what PLM, the business activity of managing products across their lifecycles, from cradle to grave, will look like in the future.
PLM is holistic, focused on the product, and brings together many components such as products, processes, people, applications, data, etc. The Vision addresses all of these components, showing people "this is where we're going".
The objective of the PLM business activity is to increase a company's revenues and the value of its product portfolio. This is a powerful Vision, putting PLM on the corporate agenda as a clearly defined business activity, complementary to ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Whereas ERP is focused on achieving best use of enterprise resources, PLM is focused on maximizing the value of current and future products. Getting this message across to executives is important as it leads to business benefits at a much higher level, and of much greater interest to business managers, than those of individual areas such as Product Data Management.
Chapter 4 introduces a PLM Capability and Maturity Model (PLM-CMM). The seven levels of the model help a company position its PLM status against a neutral standard.
Chapter 5, "Launching a PLM Initiative", shows how the model helps identify and understand what will have to be done to achieve the Vision. The components identified in Chapter 3 are brought together in six main groups. For each group, potential PLM project activities are identified.
The Appendix includes more than 150 PowerPoint slides from which executive presentations can be put together for a variety of objectives such as getting agreement to move forward and, for example, develop a PLM S
About the Author
John Stark is an independent management and technology consultant. Prior to launching John Stark Associates in 1991 he worked with developers and providers of systems and consulting services for product development, engineering management, CAD, PDM, process definition and process control. In his long consulting career he has worked with many companies including ABB, BMW, Braun, Coca-Cola, Eaton, Ford Motor Company, HP, IBM, Kodak, Legrand, Nestle, PSA, Renault, Saab, Schindler, Sikorsky, Valeo and Xerox.