The PLM Perspective Blog - 360 e-Soft

PLM Fundamentals: PLM’s Role in the 5 Phases of the Product Lifecycle

This is the fourth post in the PLM Fundamentals series. The goal of this series is to share knowledge and ideas about fundamental topics concerning PLM. Most definitions of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) mention that PLM manages product-related data throughout the entire lifecycle of the product from its initial idea to retirement. Let’s go over all the phases that make up the entire lifecycle of a product and then try to come up with instances of how PLM can help organizations at each phase.

If you try to do research into the phases of a product’s lifecycle, you will find a variety of names, number and activities for each phase. Different names, for example, have been used for the first phase of the product lifecycle (e.g., plan, imagine, concept, and conceive) even though the main activities during this first stage are similar (e.g., generating ideas, defining specifications, requirement analysis and planning). So, to give you a better idea of the various terms you may encounter, I grouped together some of the names that you might find for each phase in the table below. 

5 Phases of a Product’s Lifecycle
Phase  No.	Variety of Names for Each Phase	Variety of Activities for Each Phase
1	Plan Concept/Conceive Imagine	Requirements analysis and planning Specification and concept design Generating ideas and concepts
2	Design Define	Converting ideas into detailed description Detailed design Validation Analysis (simulation) Product engineering
3	Realize Production Build	Manufacturing engineering Create/Produce/Manufacture physical parts/products Build, assemble, test (quality check)
4	Support Service	Sales and distribution Service/Support the product
5	Retire Dispose/Recycle	Product is retired by the company Physical product is disposed/recycled by the user

In the Planning phase, data from brainstorming sessions, collaborations, and meetings during all activities at this stage can be stored in PLM applications and associated to the relevant product(s) for quick and easy retrieval. Retaining such information can prove useful for developing the current and future product lines.

In the second phase, Design, the requirements and specifications generated from the previous phase can be easily retrieved and be used to further define the product. The product may be modeled in a computer-aided design (CAD) software and the 3D computer models built in CAD can be stored in a data management application (e.g., PDM) that is part of the overall PLM software solution. Any authorized person (e.g., product designer, engineer, project leader, structural engineer, etc) requiring access to view, comment on, modify, or analyse the design can do so in a controlled and secure environment.

During the third phase of the product lifecycle, Realize, manufacturing engineers, machine shop floor managers, fixture designers, quality engineers, etc will use CAD data stored in the company’s PLM software solution to perform their duties, such as determining how to build the product.

The fourth phase, Support/Service, allows marketing and sales to use any product information to promote and further describe the product. Screen shots and videos, for example, of the 3D CAD model can be taken and be directly used in marketing and sales materials, including computer simulated demonstrations to customers. When salespeople need information about a product quickly, they can turn to PLM’s collaboration tools to get in touch with the necessary and available product experts through an impromptu chat or discussion online. Also, technical support and service technicians can refer to product data stored in the company’s PLM applications to help resolve any issues that may arise, as well as possibly connect with other product specialists to discuss potential solutions using PLM collaboration tools. In addition, all product issues, complaints, and suggestions can be stored in a PLM application to ensure that they are managed and dealt with appropriately. Some fixes and upgrades will be incorporated into the current product, while others may be postponed until the next generation of products is designed; regardless, that valuable information can be retained for present and future use all within the company’s PLM applications.

 

Finally, in the last phase, Retire/Dispose, information about the material composition of a product, for example, can be stored and retrieved in a company’s PLM software to help determine how the physical product can be safely disposed of and possibly recycled.

Although I only gave a small number of examples of how PLM can help organizations throughout a product’s lifecycle, hopefully it provided a glimpse of the great potential PLM has to offer. And, more importantly, hopefully it stirs up even more examples of how PLM could improve your company and how to make it even better than it already is now.

Sources:

Product Lifecycle Management by Michael Grieves

Product Lifecycle Management: 21st Century Paradigm for Product Realisation, 2nd Ed. by John Stark.

Product Lifecycle Management 2^nd Ed. by Antti Saaksvuori & Anselmi Immonen

Leveraging PLM Solutions for Complexity and Compliance

In the present state of the economy, getting back to, as well as, maintaining profitability is the main idea that many companies are centering their focus around and the best way to do this is to reduce costs and increase sales. Product lifecycle management or PLM, simply put, is the management of the entire lifecycle of any given product from the moment of its conception all of the way through its disposal or recycling. By bringing together all product related processes, into one easily manageable software suite. PLM can also be leveraged in making environments less complex and more compliant.

A crucial step for any business that is trying to launch a new product is complying with all government and industry regulations. One such regulation was put in place in 2007 by the European Union called End of life Vehicles (ELV) requiring automotive manufacturers to supply all necessary information for dismantling the vehicles. Other government regulations that PLM software could resolve compliance issues for include the RoHS directive which the European Union adopted in 2003. The RoHS directive prohibits certain hazardous materials from being used in the production of electrical and electronic equipment in the manufacture of automobiles.

Failing to comply with these regulations can result in losing market opportunities, recalls and quite possibly major fines, which obviously will negatively impact your bottom line. With the government's ever increasing focus on reducing pollution and increasing fuel economy the automotive industry is hit with an overwhelming number of government regulations.With the proper PLM software in place, a business with a vast global product network is able to manage and document compliance with various countries' diverse and often complex regulations. A PLM allows your business to control these aspects of production, turning regulatory compliance into a competitive advantage. This technology lets you establish efficient, auditable processes for the lifecycle of your products, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

Businesses that operate on a worldwide market must contend with a multitude of environmental compliance issues. This especially holds true for complex industries such as high tech and automotive manufacturing companies who are held to a higher regulatory standards by government agencies. The right PLM software can help these businesses with regulatory compliance management solutions, which can verify and integrate the many various compliance regulations throughout all phases of the development and production processes. Companies can also devise a variety of different ways of improving the design of their products, avoiding changes later in the development process without violating any compliance regulations. This is also a cost effective way of retrieving proof of regulatory compliance for the most demanding regulatory requirements.

PLM allows professionals to upgrade from their traditional highly manual, hands-on compliance and product governance methods, into easily auditable, repeatable processes that can become the standard for your business and reduce any chance of interruption in the operation of your businesses practices.

Another feature of PLM software, is compliance with product quality control standards. Integration of product quality, customer and regulation information, within a correctable system allows you to work collaboratively across your entire business enterprise and your full line of suppliers securely. This enables you to deliver a higher quality of product and increase customer satisfaction. Closely linked common product records and information about quality allows the PLM to eliminate problems with product quality at the source all but eliminating the need for on site service and warranty costs, improving visibility into product performance, lowering business risks, increasing product reliability and ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction.

With its wide array of tools PLM allows companies to collaborate across the entire enterprise, bringing together all aspects of your products lifecycle saving you time and money.

Benefits of PLM: The Central Source for Product Data

Welcome to our first post on the Benefits of PLM. This series is meant to open a dialog on the advantages of employing Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) strategies so that your business can grow and thrive.

At the core of a PLM solution is its document management component, which handles the storage, management, and retrieval of any product and process definition data throughout the entire product lifecycle. Product data (documents, models, drawings, pictures, process information) is first saved or imported into a secure electronic vault by any authorized user from any functional area. Different permission levels can be defined for each user or group of users, ranging from full access (adding, copying, modifying, deleting and managing data) to limited access (only being able to view some of the data). Users can be anyone inside the company, such as those in marketing, manufacturing, sales, engineering, finance, technical support, administration, and management. Users can also include those outside of the organization such as; suppliers, partners, investors, and customers.

In addition to managing the security, storage and access of product data, document management systems also automate the versioning of documents and revision control. These capabilities ensure that all modifications are fully traceable back to the original version of a document, and they manage the data to allow people to collaboratively work together without overwriting each other’s work. User-friendly search functionality is also included to help users find the necessary information in the database quickly and easily. Finally, some document management (or PDM) systems inherently include a workflow or business process application within the application. For the purpose of this series, we will discuss the document management system separately from the workflow or business process application.

 

The benefits that come from having a document management solution include:

• Central Point of Reference for Product Data: Product data is saved in the document management system by all departments so that any authorized user can access that information at any time. If an authorized user needs information related to a product, he or she can log in to the document management system, enter a search query, scan the search results, and access (view, locally save, or print) the necessary data. By saving time and frustration in searching for and finding the information they need, employees will have more time to focus on their primary tasks and responsibilities, which will increase overall productivity.
• Eliminate Confusion: When a document has been modified several times by different people and it is saved in several different directories, it can get confusing as to which document is the latest version. When documents are stored in the system, however, a full history of all versions of the document are kept and the latest version is clearly marked. The result of having a document management system in this case includes a cost savings in time and materials for avoiding rework or scrap parts.  
• Automated Control: User permissions and document standards can be centrally controlled. Regular backups and archiving of data can be automated. Data and actions on that data are automatically managed to allow people to collaboratively work on the same project without overwriting each other’s work. Versioning and revision control are automated and centrally defined. These and the other capabilities of document management systems reduce overhead costs because fewer people are needed to manage, clean up, and carry out the more centralized and automated tasks.
• Secure Environment: There is an added layer of security for all product data via a login dedicated to the document management system. Also, records of who have made changes to and deleted any document are kept indefinitely to ensure full traceability.
• Better Utilize Key Historical Data: By storing all product history in one place, companies can more easily review past successes and challenges, and better capitalize on that valuable experience and knowledge to improve future products and processes. Doing so will help you reduce future costs by avoiding past mistakes, reducing costly rework, and streamlining design processes. In addition, the improvements in product development and cycle times can result in increased revenues.
• Compliance Advantages: Document management systems aid regulatory compliance by ensuring that all product materials, manufacturing, and handling information are kept indefinitely so that any of that information can be verified at any point along the product's lifecycle. In addition, by storing all applicable standards, rules, and regulations in one place, you can save time looking for them and more easily verify that they are being followed.

There are many advantages, including the ones mentioned above, to having a document management system. And by combining this PLM component with the other ones applicable to your organization and industry, your company will be better equipped for success in today's complex business environment.

Collaborative Functionality is a must in PLM Software

Building collaborative workspaces is an integral part of any efficient PLM platform. While PLM applications are not expressly created to increase collaboration, they can become conduits for creating an open and productive environment that promotes information sharing. Remember that any application you bring into your workplace should be intuitive and easily understood so that the adoption process is quick.

Uncomplicated tools, like chat functions, can help teams in different locations work in harmony on specific files. The following short clip provides a brief glimpse into how such features can be applied to real work scenarios.

Collaborative Functions you should look for in a PLM include:

• real-time link to your environment
• ability to manipulate data and information including; taking cross-sections of data, taking dimensions and red-lining

 

 

Fast and easy collaboration is essential in today’s global competitive marketplace. PLM
enables you to connect with the appropriate subject matter experts inside and outside of the
organization. One can also gather valuable business intelligence from targeted end users/
clients. For example, marketing can leverage PLM to survey prospect clients on product functionality before and during the design phase to ensure the best and most innovative products.

Doing this proactively will reduce product development costs and, ultimately, increase
sales. PLM’s visualization tools will help you better communicate ideas, analyze problem
areas, and discuss solutions.

 

360 Semantic Solutions Inc. Releases PLM Whitepaper

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a way of doing business that can be truly transformative. It empowers decision makers, enables progressive innovation and and enhances efficiencies in very complex environments. In a nutshell, it is an enabler that facilitates more prolific project management and leads to increased returns.

While the benefits are plenty, application engineers at 360 Semantic Solutions Inc. have put together the Top 10 Benefits of PLM. From increased communication to increased productivity, infrastructures that embrace PLM can truly become game changers.

 

PLM Fundamentals Series: The Essential Components of PLM

What’s In a PLM Solution?

This is the third post in the PLM Fundamentals series. The goal of this series is to share knowledge and ideas about fundamental topics concerning PLM.

After having covered some definitions of PLM and the benefits of PLM in the previous posts, let’s dig deeper and take a more practical look at what PLM entails. Let’s go over the core components of PLM that most product-oriented organizations should have as part of its PLM solution.

Essential Components of PLM

Capability	Description
Data Vault, Security and Administration	Provides the electronic file repository for product data and processes, manages security privileges, and manages system settings
Document Management	Enables the storage, control, and retrieval of product data
BOM Management	Enables the creation, modification, and maintenance of the various Bills of Materials (e.g., EBOM, MBOM, and SBOM) that are required over the course of a product’s lifecycle
Change Management	Tracks and controls changes that need to be made on products
Collaboration Tools	Enable geographically-dispersed individuals and groups (inside and outside of the company) to communicate and work together on a product
Visualization Tools	Enable product-related information to be viewed, shared, and envisioned
Workflow Management (or Business Process Management)	Automates business processes and manages notifications to the necessary participants
Configuration Management	Enables the creation, modification, and maintenance of various configurations of the same or similar product
Application Integrations	Enables exchange of product information between PLM (or PLM-related) applications, as well as between a PLM application and other enterprise applications
(Multi-CAD Data Management)	Enables product data from multiple CAD packages (mechanical and electrical), as well as legacy data, to be managed and used together to define products

 

Depending on a company’s industry, specialties, and goals, additional PLM capabilities may be necessary. Below is a list of some of the additional components of PLM you can include in your PLM solution. Keep in mind that these capabilities do not need to all exist in one software package; a PLM solution for a company can include applications from different software and vendors.

 

Some Additional Components of PLM

• Project/Program/Portfolio Management
• Idea Management
• Requirements Management
• Compliance Management
• Quality Management
• Manufacturing Process Management
• Supplier and Sourcing Management
• Maintenance Management
• Reporting and Analytics

Although authoring tools, such as CAD/CAM/CAE packages and MS Word, are not included as a component of PLM, it is important that your core PLM infrastructure and applicable applications can handle data from the authoring tools that are used to develop your products.

Get Organized: How Document Management can help Project Management

Document management...  Document management protocol...  Although a topic potentially mind-numbing for its lack of general appeal, every business should focus its attention on a document management system carefully conceived, competently implemented and diligently managed.  Doing so can actually spare you the type of excitement that comes from a lack of organization, out-of-control costs, missed deadlines and a sagging bottom line.  So consider this a warning, epiphany, guide and pep-talk all wrapped in one. It’s time to Get Organized! And find out how document management can help your project management.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATION

Organization.  Without it a company can not and will not succeed.  Which is why, in today's economic climate more than ever, an effective document management system is crucial to your business success, if not actual survival.   In a world where a daily edition of the New York Times contains more information than someone living in the 16th century absorbed in an entire lifetime, the sheer volume of data obtained and produced by your company dictates that you adopt a management system that can coordinate it all.

Gone are the days when having a system of files on your desktop was considered the cutting edge of record-keeping.  It is no longer sufficient to simply have an organized filing system, regularly scheduled reports or to merely maintain production logs for analysis at some future point in time. The costs associated with archiving that data, storing the data at recovery sites and loss of data (or simply misfiling) were constant and often substantial.  Let’s face it, the speed of commerce today demands that information be exchanged in real time.  With all that being said, prudence dictates companies review their protocols regarding document creation, dissemination/distribution, use(s) and records destruction vs. retention. 

DEVELOP A DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

Of primary importance is that careful consideration be given in the planning for and creation of your document management protocol. 

 

Look at your organization from the rhetorical 30,000 feet vantage point so you can identify all documents integrated into the day-to-day operations of your company.  From scanned files and engineering reports to strategic plans, assembly line productivity reports and mission-critical documents, need for a system that manages your documents across all platforms with the ability to share them throughout your enterprise is a must.  

 A document management system must

• define which documents are created in an organization
• determine who has access to each document and how access is granted
• prescribe where documents are stored
• assess which ones require conversion
• take steps necessary to ensure compliance with statutory, regulatory and corporate requirements and
• secure the confidentiality of critical content, even after the end of that information's useful life.   

Complex environments such as manufacturing and engineering benefit from the use of a strong document management protocol.  And no production environment is more complex than that of the automotive industry.   Capturing information and making it available is essential for design and testing, manufacturing processes, quality control, marketing, both distribution and supply chains and all communication relating to dealers.

The automotive assembly line is the perfect arena for a document management system.  Every step of manufacturing a car both requires and creates information, information that is constantly updated when a component is missing or a part is required (BOM), a problem arises (quality control) or simply when a step is completed.  Productivity is recorded.  The cost of each step is calculated.  The utility of this information is reduced if it cannot be disseminated in real time for analysis and response so that operational efficiency is maximized. 

Strong document management protocol is nothing short of essential for survival and success in today's hyper-competitive business landscape.

 

To learn about the best marketplace tools for document management, contact us

 

PLM Fundamentals Series: How PLM Can Help Your Organization Thrive!

This is the second post in the PLM Fundamentals series. The goal of this series is to share knowledge and ideas about fundamental topics concerning PLM.When exploring PLM, it is important to fully grasp what benefits PLM holds for you and your business. A great starting point is to answer the fundamental question…how will PLM help your business thrive?  

To put it simply, PLM improves an organization’s top and bottom line. It can increase revenues by providing an environment and tools to facilitate the creation of more innovative, complex, and functional products. PLM can also lower costs by introducing resources that: improve product and portfolio visibility, reduce risk, aid regulatory compliance, and reduce wasted time, energy and materials. Together, these benefits will improve productivity across many functional areas and improve your overall market competitiveness.

 

Benefits of PLM:

• Increase  revenues
• Drive innovation
• Enable better and easier collaboration with those inside and outside of the organization and supply chain
• Enable faster time-to-market and change cycles
• Improve product quality
• Increase productivity
• Improve market competitiveness
• Reduce costs
• Reduce errors, scrap and rework
• Aid regulatory and standards compliance
• Increase control over all company products over their lifecycles
• Reduce risk
• Enable more reliable financial projections
• Provide better insight and visibility into each product’s lifecycle, as well as, an organization’s entire product portfolio
• Improve each product’s value over its lifecycle
• Enable more efficient and effective internal processes

How does PLM provide these benefits? While every organization is different and, as a result, will realize their own benefits from PLM in their own way, here are a couple of examples of how PLM can achieve some of the above benefits:

 

• PLM offers a single source for all product and process knowledge, which allows people to find the correct and appropriate information whenever necessary. This functionality can help companies achieve many of the benefits of PLM outlined above. If the design teams in your organization, for example, have access to all product-related data, they can: review past mistakes to learn from them and reduce errors, scrap, and rework; reuse aspects of past designs to leverage past successes; and access the latest market research data to help add new innovative functionality and design to a product. As a result, your organization can be more innovative and productive while also improve product quality and reduce wasted time, materials and energy.

 

• PLM includes collaboration and visualization tools which allow any authorized stakeholder to communicate information, ideas, and comments to others, as well as to easily initiate and carry out impromptu meetings and discussions to resolve any challenges that may come up during the development or service of a product. If product designers, for example, can easily contact the various expert(s) they need right away (using collaboration tools) and accurately convey questions to those experts (using visualization tools), they will more likely get the answer they need sooner so they can return to focusing on what’s more important: innovating products with better designs, functionality, and quality. The end result can include: reduced costs, faster time-to-market, a better and more innovative product, and improved market competitiveness.  

 

In our next PLM Fundamentals installment, we will look at the components of PLM that enable organizations to realize the benefits discussed here. Should you have any thoughts on this current post or on how you feel PLM can help achieve these benefits, your comments and questions are always more than welcome.

 

 

The Importance of Collaboration in Today's Business Environment

Your business depends upon people working together. The better you enable people to collaborate, the better the performance and ultimate results. Collaboration software permits tapping into the power of your biggest asset - your people and what they know..

Your organization has a tremendous amount of knowledge within it. As a business leader, one of your goals should be to get this information applied where and when it's needed.  PLM software is the platform that enables this process.   With the reduced friction of communication breakdowns, improvements in delivery of goods to market and instituting best-in-class protocols, a PLM solution can be truly transformative to your business environment.

Whether co-located or not, there are already many informal communities established within your company, your customers, your partners and your suppliers. Because of all these stakeholders, more and more of the data in your company is unstructured, and not in formal repositories such as databases, manuals, and the like. The challenge is to facilitate cooperation and communication between the communities within your network.. The better this is done, the more likely it is to result in products and services that better fit the moving target that is your market. 

Serving these communities responsively can, in large part, determine the success of your business. More and more, work is now project based - utilizing resources from many distinct segments of your company and the outside world.  Enabling each segment to work together as a whole when necessary is in everyone's interest.

In organizations of any size, real-time collaboration is dependent upon state-of-the-art software and communication methods and protocols.  PLM software has the power to enable collaboration at a granular level and can effectively change the way a corporation does business.  Increasingly, corporate organizations are flattening and decision-making is being moved down and out to the perimeter. It's imperative that the people at critical points of interest have the information available to them that they require. This new enhanced model of collaboration is empowering the whole organization, extending out to the supply chain and customers, cutting across traditional boundaries.

PLM software enables the various units along the product lifecycle path - from design and engineering to manufacturing and support - to work together in a real time feedback loop.  Productivity and customer satisfaction soar, while employees feel more empowered, a direct correlate of job satisfaction.  Improved workflow enabled by PLM software results in reduced time to market and increased productivity.. Specialized knowledge is isolated, identified and made available where and when it's needed.

Communities naturally develop around relationships and areas of common interest and knowledge. This facilitates the sharing of information informally, a valuable but often overlooked conduit of knowledge transfer.  Information is shared among and between those communities. Through PLM, valuable information gets institutionalized rather than staying in the heads of individuals. PLM software is an excellent way to collect and curate the knowledge of senior personnel before they leave or retire.

The benefits of PLM software increase dramatically with the complexity of the tasks involved. More and more jobs in today's environment involve knowledge work, even if the company sees itself as a manufacturing entity.

The better companies enable collaboration within their network, the more productive they become.  Personnel is a large cost in any corporate endeavor and this technology provides a clear path to increasing the return on investment in people. Collaboration software also benefits from the network effect. The more people use it, the more powerful it becomes. And the bandwagon effect - the more people that use it, the more people want to use it.  Once experienced, PLM software becomes infectious because of the dramatic ROI it provides.

The Importance of Efficient Dynamic Project Management

Listen in on 360 Enterprise Software’s experts as they explain the prowess of 360's EPM module.  EPM (Enterprise Program Management) provides a secure portal through which all project stakeholders can access clear and concise real-time project information. Through EPM:

• Executives can obtain the most up-to-date project and portfolio status and reports on demand.
• Project managers can create, track and manage their projects and portfolios, in addition to managing resources and time sheets.
• Team members can clearly see their current and upcoming tasks, and easily gauge the progress of a task being worked on by another individual.

Watch more videos on Dynamic Project Management

In these videos, 360 experts discuss the importance of efficient and dynamic project management and working in a fully collaborative environment.

360's Enterprise Program Management Module features components that help business managers; manage multiple portfolios, manage multiple resources, optimize timesheets, meet EVM standards and ultimately make more informed decisions.