|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
How Product Lifecycle Management makes a difference in your industry: 
AEROSPACE
AUTOMOTIVE
CONSUMER
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
DEFENSE
EDUCATION
INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT
HIGH-TECH ELECTRONICS
LIFE SCIENCES
PLASTICS
SHIPBUILDING
TELECOM
|
|
Managing the Product Lifecycle By Kevin P. Hopkins A growing number of businesses realize the urgency of focusing again on product quality and innovation. But how do they get there? One key answer: a tool called PLM. There is a famous scene in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in which Indy and his companions come to a frayed rope bridge spanning a deep chasm. Scores of angry natives are pursuing the trio, only seconds behind them, and so the group knows that they must get across--and soon. But when Indy's female companion peers doubtfully across length of the rickety bridge, her expression says it all: how in the world are we ever going to make it? Having begun to witness the re-emergence in recent years of product and product innovation as the central elements of creating value, a great many business managers may be feeling a bit like Indiana Jones and his troupe, thinking: we know we urgently need to reach this new product-centered destination, but how in the world do we get there? Fortunately, business managers do not have to resort to the clever scriptwriters and special effects that saved Indy's clan. They have a very straightforward and effective answer at hand: an emerging business management tool called "Product Lifecycle Management," or PLM for short. A booming market In the best of all manufacturing worlds, effective product development takes place in a highly systematic manner. Markets are analyzed. Products are conceived and then designed. Concepts are tested with prototypes and market research, allowing designs to be fine-tuned. Thereafter, products are engineered and produced, and then subjected to rigorous quality assurance exams. Finally, the products are brought to market--priced, distributed, delivered, and supported. And then the cycle begins again, with consumer feedback and technological change ushering in a new wave of refinements. For most products--especially those with multiple components or large numbers of suppliers--this development process can be quite complex. It can involve literally dozens of work teams and thousands of specifications, often implemented in isolation from one another by groups that do not necessarily interact nor even know what the other is doing. Consequently, manufacturers often must dedicate considerable time and resources to synchronizing the efforts of these disparate product development "islands." These efforts not only increase the time and costs of bringing a product to market, but often impede companies in integrating essential market-enhancing innovations into their products during the development process. Enter PLM. As defined by the Framingham, Mass., based research firm IDC, product lifecycle management is an enterprise solution designed to ensure that all of the elements bearing on product development are seamlessly integrated throughout the product lifecycle. This integration enables information to flow where it is needed and allows work teams to collaborate in real-time, even if they are in different locations. The result: better, more timely, and more cost-effective products. Specifically, as a recent report by AMR Research concluded, the majority of PLM users are looking to this new solution as a way to provide better "product data control and faster engineering change management." PLM thus operates somewhat analogously to the more familiar CRM (customer relationship management) set of solutions, doing for product development essentially what CRM does for customer development. The PLM concept is clearly catching on. According to IDC, the market for PLM applications reached $1.5 billion in 2001 and is quickly expanding. In an August 2002 report entitled "Worldwide Product Lifecycle Management Applications," IDC projected that the market for PLM solutions would grow by 34% per year to more than $6.5 billion by 2006. Promoting collaboration As these figures would suggest, an increasing number of established manufacturing organizations are turning to PLM as a central aspect of their product development process--and are benefiting handsomely. For instance, PDT, a leading global design firm, was recently named for the second year in a row as one of America's fastest growing companies. Small wonder: the firm's revenues have risen by 962% over the past five years. A main reason, explains PDT founder and president Mark Schwartz, is that, "since our start seven years ago, we have used technology now referred to as PLM to share knowledge with our clients worldwide and build consensus quickly." Similarly, Thermo King Corporation, a unit of Ingersoll-Rand Company, has become a market leader in the manufacture of temperature control systems for the transportation sector. Yet with operations taking place in 13 manufacturing facilities and 17 parts distribution centers worldwide, efficient coordination of product development and maintenance processes is an imposing challenge--met, as it happens, by PLM. "We use intelligent product development to quickly produce quality products," explains Todd Fuechtmann, Thermo King's Manager of Engineering and Manufacturing Systems. "We reduce our time-to-market. We prioritize our production. We do things right the first time, and we can react to the best practices of our various operating groups. PLM technology enables this." A major explanation for experiences like this, as indicated above, is PLM's ability to promote virtually real-time collaboration among all parties involved in the product lifecycle process, no matter where they are located. "Collaboration across the firm with outside partners through web-based tools," notes the IDC researchers, "both accelerates product development and reduces costs by eliminating the need for many face-to-face meetings and allowing the development of virtual prototypes." Using products to enhance corporate value Enhanced collaboration is not the only advantage that PLM technology offers. IDC cites several others, including access to a wider range of information during the design and development phases of the manufacturing process, improved product design through continuous cost and design evaluations, faster product launches (allowing the firm to "shorten the product launch and extend the early, and most profitable, phase of a product's life"), and a more productive supply chain. The bottom line, says IDC, is that "a growing number of CEOs are realizing that an unwavering commitment to developing great products distinguishes manufacturing market leaders in every industry." To be successful in this pursuit, manufacturing firms need to integrate a product focus into every aspect of their organizations "while building the technology infrastructure that will allow them to master an ever more complex product development process." PLM technology, more than any other manufacturing solution, will be the key to bringing these necessary goals within reach. |
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Copyright 2003, by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. |
