PLM is for Metal Benders, Right?

PLM “grew up” in complex, discrete manufacturing
industries - the “metal benders.” Automotive, A&D, Industrial
Equipment and other heavy industrial manufacturing companies have a
heavy engineering component to their product development process.
Before I lose credibility with everybody reading this - I recognize
that plastics, composites, electronics, fabrics and other
non-bent-metal components (I almost forgot software!) are a big
part of the equation here as well, but work with me if you can
because I like the sound of “metal benders” and it sets them apart
from other non-bending industries.

Are the Metal Benders done
Yet?
Historically, PLM was developed for these industries. Lots of
engineering, lots of parts, big supply chains - lots of complexity
overall. So has everybody in these industries adopted PLM yet? And
aren’t they done? Let’s take a look at the top 3 types of metal
benders. In a
recent Aberdeen study, when asked if they used PLM (defined for
the survey as PDM extended by integrated business processes), the
metal benders still show room for improvement - and plans to do
just that:

The Plans of the Metal Benders
The first obvious observation is that there is a lot of activity
planned for the next two years (hence the report title, Product
Innovation Agenda 2010). The next is that if you fast forward a
couple of years (and assume that everybody with plans for PLM will
actually pull them off, which is a stretch) then 4/5 of aerospace,
3/4 of auto, and 2/3 of industrial equipment manufacturers will
have PLM implemented (or at least be trying).

The first obvious question is “why is automotive
so low?” I have two theories on that. The first is that
“automotive” does not translate to “automotive OEM.” The survey
includes multiple tiers of the automotive supply chain, which
includes a lot of lower tier companies that may lack the
sophistication (or maybe even the need for sophistication) of the
automotive designers and assemblers. The next is compliance.
Aerospace has mandates for specific deliverables to regulatory
agencies and other governmental bodies. This makes PLM a higher
requirement. Particularly given the project-oriented nature of many
A&D activities, organizing and collecting the information is
important.

We’ll look at some other industry segments next,
to see how PLM has extended beyond the metal benders. In the
meantime, I would love your comments, questions, or thoughts - what
do you think? And let me know if you are a metal
bender…