Manufacturing Executive - March/April 2009 - (Page 39) supposed to be like this. A decade after supporters first touted environmental compliance and supply chain PLM capabiliit as the answer to the manufacturing industry’s new product ties, says Bertrand Godillot, senior director for Oracle PLM development prayers, many manufacturers have seen little within Europe. A smart move, given that rival vendor Sieimprovement in their product development processes. Although mens has, according to industry analyst Dick Slanksy of ARC the aerospace and automotive industries have embraced PLM Advisory Group, built an impressive edge as the PLM vendor — earlier this month PLM vendor Siemens scored another of choice to the aerospace and defence industry following its customer when jet engine maker Snecma signed up to use Sieacquisition of PLM vendors UGS and Tecnomatix. mens’ Teamcenter PLM product — the technology has lagged Lawson Software has made strides adding features to its behind in many other discrete industries and in the process PLM software that help the fashion industry move increasindustry. For many manufacturers, bringing a new product to ingly to outsourced manufacturing. Lawson’s Fashion PLM market still takes too long and costs too much. offering runs as a conventional licensed application in the So why hasn’t PLM done more for manufacturers like customer’s data centre, but is accessible over the Web by Axiom, and might 2009 see an improvement? The problem supplier factories in countries such as India and China, resides with vendors and users alike. eliminating the risks and inefficiencies of working with If PLM is to break out of its aerospace and automotive e-mail and spreadsheets. beachhead, analysts say, more manufacturers need to appreci“All suppliers need is Internet access and a Web browser,” ate the full breadth of its potential. Of many broad capabilities says Lawson Marketing Director Andrew Dalziel. that PLM could deliver, manufacturers today generally focus In the back-and-forth between vendors and users, it’s on only two: enterprise-wide product data management and imperative that users, backed by their CEOs, change their collaborative design, says Michael Burkett, vice president at mind-set and think creatively about how to deploy PLM analyst firm AMR Research in Boston. “There’s a big PLM across their businesses. footprint out there, with a lot of capability. The question is: While manufacturers of highly complex products such as Are manufacturers making best jet engines and automobiles have use of it?” he says. no choice but to embrace PLM — High on the list: Treat PLM and thus invest the right resources as a supply chain process, and management commitment and not just a design process. — other industries lack the same Westerham, U.K.-based British compelling imperative. shower manufacturer Aqualisa, “The key to realising the promise for instance, selected an external of PLM lies in a judicious blend design company, Farnham, U.K.of well-understood processes and based TheAlloy, precisely because requirements, realistic expectaClaes Göran Andersson TheAlloy’s use of PLM would head of PLM at Mölnlycke Health Care tions, and, above all, commitment bring tighter integration with at the top of the organisation,” says Aqualisa’s own PLM and 3D CAD systems, thus extending Strasbourg, France-based Alain Gaillard, PLM practice head at the use of digital data up the supply chain. engineering and design services consultancy INCAT Europe. “As a design agency, we’ve built our design processes Claes Göran Andersson, head of PLM at healthcare around PLM and solid 3D modeling,” says Gus Desbarats, products manufacturer Mölnlycke Health Care in Gothchairman of TheAlloy. “Aqualisa know that they’ll be able to enburg, Sweden, puts it this way: “PLM is a business reuse our output, thus halving their own engineering effort.” challenge, not an IT challenge. It’s 90% business and 10% Analysts say that users should consider tapping PLM also IT — and not the other way ’round.” for customer needs management, as copier maker Ricoh Mölnlycke has been using Dassault Systèmes’ ENOVIA did recently. Routinely, customers have been turning off the MatrixOne application since 2002, and, Andersson says, energy-saving features in Ricoh’s machines because those PLM has helped the company deliver on a corporate vision features take too long to warm up, says Ricoh’s London-based going back almost a decade. He also says that any manudevelopment manager, Tom Wagland. A newly announced facturer deploying PLM should not try to tap all of PLM’s 10-second warm-up time, consciously developed through capabilities at once. “You can’t eat the elephant in one go. PLM, is fast enough to dissuade office workers from switchYou have to break it up into smaller, more manageable ing off the energy-saving mode, Wagland says. pieces, and work at those first.” PLM vendors share the responsibility of widening PLM’s Mölnlycke and Ricoh are in the minority of companies acceptance, of course. It wouldn’t hurt if they made PLM outside the aerospace and automotive industries that are more affordable — Axiom remains on spreadsheets and Gerembracing PLM. ber files in the face of prohibitive PLM prices. “You have to be clear about what you want, and then work And PLM vendors also need to add features that support at achieving it,” Andersson says. manufacturers’ widening challenges. Oracle, which acquired On that advice, maybe Axiom’s Wilks could look beyond PLM vendor Agile in May 2007, has invested in developing Excel spreadsheets and paper schematics. ME a business challenge, “PLMITischallenge. It’s 90% not an business and 10% IT — and not the other way ‘round. “ Manufacturing MAR/APR-09 Executive 39
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