Jim Brown

The Path to PLM: Why Adopt a PLM Program Approach?
September 19, 2007

PLM is big. No, PLM is huge. The potential for PLM processes and solutions to improve product development is enormous, but it also consists of a lot of different options. In fact, very few PLM definitions – unless they are so vague as to be pointless – are the same. PLM can include everything from improving the product investment process with Portfolio Management solutions, to better organizing and protecting data with Product Data Management (PDM), to simulating new products and manufacturing facilities in a virtual factory using Digital Manufacturing. PLM can help solve regulatory compliance issues, enable concurrent design processes in a global design chain, or it can simply help improve the efficiency of engineers finding the right version of a design to modify. With so many options, a company has to choose what problems they want to solve.

But at the same time, companies shouldn’t just focus on solving a single point problem in isolation. If a company wants to enable themselves for Digital Manufacturing at some point in the future, for example, they may want to develop the infrastructure to support it by starting small and placing manufacturing processes under configuration management and change control. More importantly, if a company has a specific business strategy (such as to be a "fast follower" or a "product innovation leader"), then they should have a view for how to support that strategy from the outset, before starting to put a lot of infrastructure in place.

Next time, we will discuss some research that validates the PLM Program approach. In meantime, feel free to download the Aberdeen Group report on PLM Programs.

I look forward to your comments.

Posted by Jim Brown on September 19, 2007 | Comments (0)