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PLM for SMB: Ready... or Not?
excerpted from
Full article is available for a fee.
John MacKrell of CIMdata
February 15, 2007
Are you part of a smaller manufacturing company (less than $1
billion annual revenue) and wondering if it is time to invest in
a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution? If so, you aren't
alone. We all know PLM has been pioneered in larger enterprises
with the resources available to spend whatever it takes to work
though all the implementation issues until they realize PLM's
benefits. However, today enterprises of all sizes want to reap
the benefits of PLM -- just not at any price.
Small and mid-sized businesses (and divisions of larger
organizations) need the same types of support for global
collaboration and innovative approaches to product development
problems as those enjoyed by larger companies. This is because
small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB's) also compete in
global markets and develop complex products, and are burdened
with the same requirements facing larger companies. Companies of
all sizes struggle to compete more effectively; sometimes to
survive, but more often to thrive. Many SMB's want better ways
to utilize information technologies and product information to
support the processes that allow them to compete more
successfully. It is the pursuit of these goals that has made PLM
one of the most significant initiatives to be introduced into
industrial companies in recent years.
PLM is composed of multiple elements that incorporate best
practices and methods including:
- Foundation technologies and standards (XML,
visualization, collaboration, enterprise application
integration, etc.)
- Information authoring and analysis tools (mechanical
design, electronics design, software engineering,
manufacturing process design, technical publishing, finite
element analysis, etc.)
- Core functions (data vaults, document and content
management, workflow, product structuring, program
management, etc.)
- Functional applications (configuration management,
engineering change control, simulation, etc.)
- Business solutions (new product introduction, supply
chain collaboration, maintenance repair and overhaul, etc.)
Configuration management support is not always critical for
SMB manufacturing companies that design and engineer simple
parts or components. These companies’ requirements tend to focus
on data vault management, workflow automation, and applications
that support specific needs in the engineering and manufacturing
processes.
The
full article is available for a fee at
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