Agile, IBM, others take PLM in green direction
Jim Brown, contributing editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 1/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
Recent regulations—such as those for Waste of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE), and Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electronics—increase manufacturers' responsibilities for product-related environmental impact. Companies are scrambling to meet this new level of scrutiny, and product life-cycle management (PLM) software vendors—given that their systems are the source for clean, rationalized product data—are stepping in to help.
PLM vendor Agile Software recently announced Agile Environmental Compliance as part of the release of Agile 9, which allows users to reduce the burden and risk of increased regulation by helping designers evaluate the environmental impact of design decisions in advance. Agile promotes compliant designs by extending the product record with automated environmental impact analysis, collaborative supplier declarations to gather specification data, and environmental attribute management to enable risk reporting and analysis.
"The issue is primarily one of risk management," says Chris Wong, Agile's EVP of Corporate Strategy and Development. "It is critical for manufacturers to understand and control their risk associated with compliance."
Loichi Kunimasa, chief innovation officer for Japanese electronics giant Hitachi—who spoke at Agile's conference last fall—says Hitachi doesn't see the new regulations as simply a burden. As he put it, "Managing hazardous materials throughout the product life cycle is both a regulatory issue and a corporate responsibility."
Other PLM vendors address green requirements in different ways. IBM, for example, is not only helping customers deal with the compliance challenge, but also must comply as a manufacturer. IBM PLM, in partnership with Dassault Systemes, delivers templates to address environmental compliance using the SMARTEAM PLM solution and CATIA, a CAD package.
