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FROM BIRTH TO BURIAL:Product Lifecycle Management

Challenges and Solutions

2From Birth to Burial: Product Lifecycle Management Challenges and Solutions

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a business strategy or overall approach to new product development. It describes the engineering aspects of a product and automates the process in the chain, connecting individual or all stages of a product through its planning, design, development, manufacturing, useful life, service, and disposal. PLM systems are software tools that integrate data, methods, people, and processes in a centralized repository, allowing cross-functional collaboration to a consistent set of data through the entire lifecycle. PLM is important as more companies develop complex new products in quickly growing markets and in instances where market share depends on being first, time to market may be a top strategic concern, value engineering with supply chain partners is critical, and non-value added operations that increase lead time need to be eliminated. It is especially helpful for companies when designers need to create a new part from scratch (rather than re-use or find existing parts or components), when multiple materials management systems, parts or engineering document databases may be created, and when manual phone calls, faxes, file downloads, and other symptoms of non-electronic engineering change management (ECM) cause mistakes or excessive scrap that prevents smooth production volume ramp-up. This report delves into PLM and describes the best options for businesses to successfully manage communications and information with their customers, suppliers, and supply chain resources. In addition, it covers product planning and development, all while efficiently handling descriptions and properties of each product through its development and full lifecycle.

In the mid-1980s, American Motors Corporation created the first centralized systems to manage engineering and product data for more efficient development of its Jeep Grand Cherokee. Putting CAD drawings and documents in a central place allowed everything from engineering changes to design errors. Product Data Management (PDM) software tools soon arose from the need to con-trol the large complex data from CAD/CAM/CAE (CAx) systems. From there things expanded to include document management, revision control, bill of ma-terials (BOM) and config-uration management, and workflow management. The term PLM arose in the late 1990s as traditional server-based on-premise systems were created with an expanded scope. Those products were aimed at bringing new products to market first, shortening the time between idea and sales, reducing the costs of development and manufacturing, improv-ing product quality, and ramping up production volumes. Today, PLM does not include authoring tools, such as CAx, CASE, Office Tools, etc., or other enterprise systems, such as ERP, CRM or MES, but has a wide scope of strategic, extended, and foundational capabilities. Current cloud-based PLM systems allow access to a wide variety of centralized data. Employees, vendors and even customers can access this data—from computers or mobile devices. Configurable and customizable workflow environments allow the correct people to access, provide approvals, track progress, and receive notifications in real-time. Rather than relying on emails or customized spreadsheets located on employees’ computers, PLM systems offer wider access to much more product data, speeding decision-making, reducing errors, and ultimately shortening product devel-opment time.

FROM THEN TO NOW: MORE ACCESS AND INTEGRATION


In the mid-1980s, American Motors Corporation created the first centralized systems to manage engineering and product data for more efficient development of its Jeep Grand Cherokee.

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“A good PLM system today is cloud-based and doesn’t require a large IT staff to develop or main-tain,” says Bryan Rensel, Product Marketing Manager for PLM Solutions at Autodesk. “The best sys-tems are browser-based, connected with APIs, and integrate with other design tools and business systems a company already has. They provide easy ways to upload, configure, and map data from, say, a traditional BOM that pulls data from a local or a supplier’s CAD tool.” “Traditionally, large companies in automotive, electronics, medical devices, and aerospace indus-tries and large Fortune 1000 Companies used customized PLM systems. But now, cloud PLM tools that can be quickly implemented and tailored are finding their ways into many smaller- and me-dium-sized companies and even government agencies that are seeking flexible ways to track new products and interact with product development cycles,” Rensel says PLM has also moved from engineering-intensive, traditional manufacturing industries, which were hit hard during the recession of 2008 to 2009, into more process-based industries with high growth rates, such as energy, food and beverage, consumer goods, and shipbuilding, according to a PLM Technology Study produced by the ARC Advisory Group from July, 2016.

PLM tools are typically accessed by users that need to interact with product development cycles, in-cluding everyone from research and development engineering teams executive staff and customers. Anyone needing access to company data—product workflows, BOM, quality reports, compliance data, component information, engineering changes and revisions, part and IP management, design tools, and stage-gate approvals would potentially be affected by a company’s PLM tools. There is no “one-size-fits-all” PLM strategy or framework for every company. Nor is there a single PLM vendor that spans all of the PLM capability areas. Rather than look at PLM as a short-term IT project expecting a quick ROI, company executives should be involved, recognizing that PLM as an enterprise-lev-el system that can be used to solve many different problems. According to a PLM report by Accenture, a company should develop a corporate strategy that links PLM capabilities with key product or corporate priorities and create ongoing PLM invest-ment plans that update with the corporate roadmap managed by a dedicated PLM group.

WHO SHOULD BE CONCERNED WITH PLM

When a company’s value chain comes from fifty different suppliers around the world, having a centralized source of data enables it to behave as a single company. The centralized system becomes known as the “Source of Truth” from which collaboration begins. This system replaces manual spreadsheets, which previously needed to be synchronized, and multiple systems that provided only a fragment of the story, making communication more efficient. In a successful PLM system, product design notes are saved and archived with data files so others can see the conversations. Reports, graphs, and dashboards allow executives, engineering or oper-

ations directors to see how many projects are in progress, as well as their status. They can then provide feedback or approval. Notifica-tions alert people to logins, as well as changes that need to be made. Communication with anyone logged in to the system—employees, suppliers, customers—is tracked, archived, and available, replacing the need for emails or chasing down paper-based approvals. Modern PLM tools also offer more advanced capabilities that allow businesses to manage communi-cations with their customers in powerful new ways. Linking CAE data with 3D simulations allows manufacturers to test products in

virtual environments and perform training with users. New PLM suites integrate with social media to obtain customer feedback and collaborate on product designs.

Different PLM tools target different lifecycle stages. If a company is taking orders for configurations that can’t be made, there may be broken links between sales or catalog information and engineering BOMs. Or, if changes were missed in the BOMs, production may be completed but at much higher costs than normal. If a company is releasing new products, it may want to track time to market. Companies should ask diagnostic questions to understand their major and minor pain points to determine whether or when in a product’s lifecycle PLM is appropriate. Executives may not have insight into what’s going on because spreadsheets are on hard drives they cannot access, they are not looking at the latest version or a job jacket hasn’t made it to a desk yet for approval. They may want to consider a better way to manage processes.


SUCCESSFULLY MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION

WHEN PLM COMES INTO PLAY

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Modern, cloud-based PLM tools don’t have to be implemented at all stages or built from the ground up. PLM modules can be added and configured on the fly to work with additional teams as they are needed. They allow even small companies to implement and solve specific problems, such as not having a good process for BOM management, and can be implemented within around three months.

In addition to looking at the costs and benefits of a PLM system, risks and challenges should also be considered. Having a PLM system with an integrated BOM but no change order management system may seem like a step in the right direction, but it will not provide notifications about engineering change requests (ECR) and engineering change orders (ECO) from engineers that could be located anywhere in the company. Executives may have the mentality of serving one functional area or there may be barriers between engineering and manufacturing groups. One solution is to facilitate the conversation about who manages the changes and processes so executives are aware where the pain points are and can adopt the mindset that product design is no longer in a department; it has enterprise-wide visibility. Security, compliance, and industry-specific requirements may require updates to PLM systems or prevent certain types from being used. “Most tools are hosted through major cloud-providing services. When sharing data with other locations that need access, even with on-premise solutions, providers constantly monitor security and perform objection handling from the customers we work with,” Rensel says. “Some aerospace and government contracts that are concerned with security prohibit their use, so cloud-based PLM systems are not the perfect solution for everyone.” Storing large CAx files in the cloud and transferring them over the Internet is one of the biggest

challenges with cloud-based PLM systems. One strategy PLM vendors take to get around this limitation is to store the files on-premise and manage only the metadata in the cloud.


CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS FOR MANAGING PLM SYSTEMS

Storing large CAx files in the cloud and transferring them over

the Internet is one of the biggest challenges with cloud-based PLM

systems.


Another challenge with online PLM systems is creating a culture of sharing. Discussing new product designs or getting feedback on social media may be the norm for younger users, but older users may be resistant to change. It’s also difficult to manage a PLM system on an ad-hoc basis when a company doesn’t realize how it operates, what its process workflow is or who receives permissions as approvers. It is important that companies think these points through and have well-defined and understood knowledge about their processes, data, and people. PLM systems may be complex, and the capital investment may be hard to justify. But, PLM can help companies reduce product development costs, eliminate wasted time and effort, improve efficiency, spend more time on innovations, and earn more revenue from new products. The question is, can a company afford not to deploy a modern PLM system?

Advantage Business Media is a data-driven marketing solutions company leveraging content, technology, and business intelligence to match its audience’s job perfor-mance needs with its clients’ solutions. With a diversified portfolio of highly focused websites, e-newsletters, print publications, specialized directories, vertical search databases, conferences, ancillary media vehicles, and associated web-based services, ABM serves more than one million industry professionals in the manufacturing, science, and design engineering markets. For more information visit www.advantagemedia.com.

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