PLM Book 2nd Edition, PLM Dashboarding, Value of PLM/ERP Integration and Collaboration (1), Efficiency & Effectiveness
2PLM NewsletterJohn Stark Associates November 8, 2010 - Vol13 #16 |
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Welcome to the 2PLM e-zine This issue includes :
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| 2nd Edition of PLM Book by John Stark |
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2PLM readers were asked in the July 6 2009 issue for their suggestions for the second edition of Product Lifecycle Management: Paradigm for 21st Century Product Realisation.
The two most frequent suggestions from readers were to help get a better understanding of their PLM environment, and to help them with their PLM projects. The suggestions, the "Voice of the Customer", were very useful.
Some of those who replied had worked in PLM for many years. They asked for the book to include details of areas they should address next, approaches they could use to decide in which order they should address future PLM topics, and reasons to help convince management to invest further in PLM.
Most who replied, though, hadn't worked in PLM for many years, and hadn't participated in many PLM projects. |
They wanted basic information to help them understand what PLM could mean in their company, and how they should run a PLM project.
The final draft of the resulting book was finished yesterday. It's in three parts. Part 2 aims to help understand the scope of the PLM environment. It will be useful both for those in the early stages of PLM and for those with more experience of PLM. Part 3 aims to help readers with their PLM projects. It's structured so that it will be usable both for a company's initial PLM project and for subsequent PLM expansion projects.
2PLM readers will be informed as soon as the publication date is announced.
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| PLM Dashboarding by Roger Tempest |
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| PLM is well-known for having no common metrics, and for being a subject where much of its progress is unquantifiable. It may therefore seem very ambitious to aim for an on-line 'management dashboard' that tells everyone in the extended enterprise everything they need to know about PLM.
Some proprietary PLM systems have dashboarding functionality for the data that they maintain, but in the real world the whole of PLM does not sit neatly on a single computer platform. You may be implementing PLM in a comparatively modest corporation of, say, Euro 5bn turnover with 15,000 employees in 70 countries. There may be four or five divisions, serving several different industries, each with its own range of products and services; all supported by a complex mix of current and legacy PLM systems and applications. As well as the mass of hard data associated with all of this, there are issues such as conformance to strategy, rate of innovation, rate of product introduction, product harmonisation, and DASAMASA, all of which should be measured in some way. So how can you create a PLM Dashboard for the whole corporation that will show the CEO, product development, operations, field support, finance, and also the external customer and supply chains, exactly what is the current PLM status - and enable them to drill down and run "what if?" queries so that they can decide what should happen next?
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The answer is not: "Wave a magic wand". The mechanism and material to create this PLM Dashboard already exists. It's simply a matter of utilising the standard methods and tools.
The first step is to envisage the scope and content of this "dashboard of the future", to set the target. A project is then formed to create a Current Dashboard, using existing metrics and data; and evolved into the Future Dashboard using Generative Project Planning. Quantifiable metrics are formalised, and qualitative metrics are made quantifiable by the use of scorecards and PLM Self-Assessment.
A PLM Dashboard creates order out of chaos. It creates structure, visibility, involvement and interaction for the PLM environment; and does so at all levels from the board through operations and out to customers and suppliers. It becomes a major focus for PLM improvement and a driver of beneficial change. The Dashboard is not just for large corporations. Any organisation that implements PLM can generate its own dashboard by following the same steps. The better your existing metrics and reporting, the shorter the path, but the benefits to be gained are just the same. The full methodology for creating the Current and Future Dashboards is contained in the Q2 2010 issue of the PLM Journal.
Roger Tempest is co-founder of the PLMIG. You can comment or request more information via standards@plmig.com |
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| Maximizing the Value of PLM/ERP Integration and Collaboration (1) by Dick Bourke |
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Introduction to the Series
As the economy recovers from the recent tough and turbulent economic climate, manufacturers of complex products, in industries such as Industrial Manufacturing and High Tech, are still coping with many unrelenting challenges, such as increasingly complex supply chains; numerous regulatory and compliance directives; and heightened customer demands. Some companies have been in a "survival mode," often seeking immediate, short-term cost reduction, possibly sacrificing product innovation in the frantic quest to save money. Yet, as the economy improves, longer-term product innovation initiatives are crucial to ensure future competitiveness. Cost reduction alone cannot ensure a competitive market posture. Recent survey evidence shows that companies are willing to invest in Information Technology (IT) and this is likely to increase as the future brightens. Some of the motivation for IT expenditures, however, appears to be cost containment, particularly, personnel. My discussion is based on the decades-old, classic paradigm stated by Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005), "Efficiency is doing things right and Effectiveness is doing right things." For our purposes, my interpretation is:
The following two systems are the essential foundation for manufacturing and supply chain systems:
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One of the common dimensions in these systems is Time: the verbal qualifiers, cut, shrink, slash and compress. Successful users of PLM systems cite "Time-to-Market" as a strategic value for implementing PLM. However, achieving "Time-to-Volume" and "Time-to-Profitability" highlights the need for effective PLM/ERP integration and collaboration. The time dimension must also be present in any discussion of Lean.
Lean for manufacturing has long been a proven strategy. Now, some companies and several product development (PD) consultants recognize that it is essential to apply lean principles to the PD activities of PLM. The values of lean, such as "eliminate waste," "improve flow," and many more apply. Yet, the application of lean must accommodate the differences in the PD environment (less structured) as compared to manufacturing and supply chain activities (more structured). Thus, the proven philosophy and techniques of lean manufacturing cannot be applied "as-is" to lean product development (LPD); rethinking the application of the methods is an absolute necessity. For instance, the role of Six Sigma to reduce variability in manufacturing processes is vital. In product development, conversely, not so, a different matter, accommodating variability in the processes is more important. Furthermore, the respective LPD consultants tout different emphasis of the various methods. Practitioners and LPD consultants are re-examining older systems to manage PD, such as Stage-Gate. For example, at a recent conference, a recurring theme was "the best results come, Nevertheless, properly applied and effectively used, lean concepts and methods have proven to increase the value of PLM and ERP systems. The subsequent articles in this series will focus on maximizing the value of the integration of two foundation systems in a collaborative environment: PLM and ERP. In addition, for complex environments requiring detailed work-in-process management and reporting, manufacturing execution systems (MES) are an essential building block of the foundation. You can contact Dick Bourke at dickb@bourkeconsulting.com
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| PDT Europe 2010 Conference |
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| Eurostep announced the PDT Europe 2010 conference to be held November 16-17 at the Microsoft Campus in Reading, UK. This year's theme is "Standards based PLM for Global Innovation and Collaboration". Two weeks before the conference there were attendees from 11 different countries! The mix of organizations is great with users, software and service providers and analysts. |
Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Carraro Spa, CIMdata, Costvision, Corena, DNV, Ferroday Ltd, Gartner, EADS, Eurostep, Logica, Microsoft, NDLO, NIST, Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, LASCOM, Metso Power, Siemens Industrial Turbines, Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, Syntell, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, UK MoD, US Army LOGSA, US Navy and more. To view the agenda please visit www.pdteurope.com
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