PLM Moves Forward, PLM World Cup 2011, Value of PLM/ERP Integration and Collaboration (2), Managing Change
2PLM NewsletterJohn Stark Associates November 22, 2010 - Vol13 #17 |
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Welcome to the 2PLM e-zine This issue includes :
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| PLM Moves Forward in Thought and Practice by John Stark |
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| The second edition of Product Lifecycle Management: Paradigm for 21st Century Product Realisation is now complete and with the publisher. Writing it in parallel with consulting assignments took more than a year and didn't leave time for much else.
Once the book was finished, the first priority was to update LinkedIn and Xing profiles. This underlined how PLM has moved forward in both theory (the book) and in practice (consulting).
The second part of the second edition of the book addresses the "components of PLM" - products, processes, product data, PDM, PLM applications, people, methods, facilities and equipment, metrics, organisation. There's a chapter for each of these. In the first edition of the book, published in 2004, some of these components weren't even identified, and the others were addressed together in one chapter.
When the first edition of the book was written, PLM consulting assignments typically addressed one component of PLM, such as helping a company implement a PDM application.
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Now they address several components together:
Looking back, it can be seen how PLM theory and practice have progressed. Looking forward to 2011, there are new opportunities. Whether a company is starting out in PLM, or expanding existing capabilities, it can build on the advancing theory and practice to improve PLM performance. If you're interested in more details of how to achieve the benefits, contact John Stark at pdm@2pdm.com. |
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| PLM World Cup 2011 by Roger Tempest |
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| Every four years the nations of the world come together and contest the football World Cup. Although the players on view are well supported when they play for their clubs, the World Cup format of national teams generates a far higher level of enthusiasm and support. PLM also spans the world, so why not raise the same level of enthusiasm in the business world by running a PLM World Cup in 2011?
This is not as fanciful as it sounds. If careful thought is applied, the analogy goes a long way. If we accept that PLM is a business activity and not a sport, then the details fall into place. The 'tournament structure' has to be global, and the PLM Benefits Reference Model and PLM Standards initiatives will provide this. PLM standards, for example, are international, but people would prefer that meetings to develop them were held in their own country. This naturally gives rise to collected results for workshops in one country that can be compared to the results from another - and the start of national interest to see which good results each country can produce. As this is PLM, some of the teams may be regions rather than nations. This is a very interesting point that was raised in the recent PLM in the USA series. Where exactly are the regions with most PLM success? The USA would obviously enter, as would Germany and the Nordic region. These are recognised areas with extensive PLM activity and many advanced user companies. But where else in Europe? The UK, or France, or Italy? Would Asia enter one team, or several; or would they watch from the stands? And are there enough user companies to make a team from the Southern Hemisphere? Football competitions usually have a pool stage followed by a knock-out stage. The PLM World Cup will also have a 'pool stage', but instead of 'matches' there will be a series of working visits to the 'players' (companies) in the respective teams. The aim is not to have a competitive scoring system, with one nation emerging victorious after beating all the others. PLM is about collaboration, and the 'goals' will be contributions to the common body of PLM knowledge. The second stage will therefore be international consolidation of the regional results. No-one gets to lift a cup, but everyone gains from the new PLM metrics and standards, and the participants can take pride in the contribution they have made with their national or regional colleagues. |
Perhaps surprisingly, national football teams actually have to enter for the World Cup. If Brazil forgot to do this, for example, they wouldn't be in the competition. In PLM the same is true - in order to be part of the regional PLM development you will need to let the PLMIG know that you are interested. The more companies that participate, the greater the groundswell of results as information is shared.
Beyond the football analogy, this kind of international collaboration will have benefits for everyone in PLM. Many large companies have done extensive work on their internal PLM standards, and will be able to see them incorporated into standards that apply to the whole industry. Regional work on PLM benefits will showcase the successes that have been achieved, and recreate the kind of user group relationships that once thrived. The international consolidation will lead to a common framework for PLM metrics that is truly independent of supplier. The growing wave of publicity as the year progresses will reach outside the narrow PLM world into the business mainstream because of its impact on so many manufacturing companies. The greatest prize of all may be the discovery process that shows how the best PLM is being applied. If you think your company might like to be involved in some way, then get in touch. The first meetings will be arranged via invitations, so we need to know who would like to receive them. It is important to hear from companies in America, because we may need a greater number to cover the logistics; and also, in general, from PLM managers who feel their countries are under-represented in PLM. These initiatives are a very good way of becoming actively involved with the global PLM community. We will only know where the 'teams' will come from when we have the response, and we would like to exceed the 15 countries that were involved when the PLMIG was first formed.
Roger Tempest is co-founder of the PLMIG. You can register your interest and find out more information via plmworldcup@plmig.com |
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| Maximizing the Value of PLM/ERP Integration and Collaboration (2) by Dick Bourke |
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| Preface Our basic premise: Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) are both powerful systems with unique purposes and functions. Both systems are required to manage the total lifecycle of a product. Thus, the first step to maximizing the value of integration and collaboration is to understand the basics of each system. That is the focus of this part of the series. Comments on "how" and "when" will be discussed in later parts of this series. Product Lifecycle Management PLM systems have two basic purposes: (with the functions to support them):
Several major organizational entities - in addition to product development - rely on PLM applications for accurate product knowledge:
The base PLM application is Product Data Management (PDM), which includes capabilities to store, secure, share and distribute all electronic forms of product knowledge for new and existing products. PDM application share and distribute product knowledge with electronic workflow tools with capabilities for eliminating paper documents. A key function of PDM is to manage the engineering bill of material (eBOM) and related change information in a timely, accurate and properly structured manner for use by other systems, including ERP and MES. (More on this subject later in this series).
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Definitions abound. My definition: A PLM system is an astute blend of processes (best practices), people (roles and responsibilities) and programs (PLM application elements) to facilitate product development and to manage product knowledge. In other words, as stated earlier - software is just an enabler.
When forging a company's tailored definition, potential users should consider:
Enterprise Resource Planning The functions of ERP span an extensive range of applications for master scheduling, material and resource planning, order entry, shop floor scheduling, costing and financial reporting. Most ERP systems provide some of the product definition functions for the management of mBOMs, Routings/Work Centers and Engineering Change. ERP systems, however, may not provide adequate detail to manage work-in-process, thus fueling interest in MES systems for more detailed information for managing work-in-process, including detailed reporting of activity. ERP's definitions are more mature compared with PLM; however, ERP is occasionally incorrectly postured as a financial system. Not so, though most ERP systems include substantial accounting and financial management capabilities.
Differences and Objectives Understanding the differences between PLM and ERP systems brings out why dealing with the cultural aspects may be as important as the technicalities, i.e., diverse users' attitudes and values.
Nevertheless, companies must accommodate the unique functions and processes of PLM and ERP and the individual needs of users as they progress into the integration scene. For more detail, see Additional Sources of Information
Contact Dick at dickb@bourkeconsulting.com.
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