It’s not uncommon for Aras to meet with the IT staff or engineers at a manufacturing company and hear that they are committed to their current PDM/PLM/CAD software provider. What is the basis for this loyalty?
Survey says?! 0% due to the great success of the implementation and 100% attribute their loyalty to the significant amount they have invested to date.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, the PLM industry as a whole deserves a C- grade for results (nice GPA average when you include the B+ in Marketing and A+ in Sales Effectiveness). Engineering data and processes are highly complex. And the complexity has always been growing faster than the available solutions can handle.
Every company we meet is still struggling to correctly vault and manage 3D CAD files, while the original ROI for PLM included the traditional cast of characters - BOM, Change, Manufacturing, etc. What happened to those other data and process requirements? Check in the PLM Underground.
So we managed to get 3D CAD configurations under control. That’s not too bad right? Or did we? Unfortunately, most of the PLM users we talk to have achieved CAD file archiving. A fancy name for an expensive vault at the end of the design process for Check-In. Cue the theme music - Hotel California. We’re checking-in files and not using them again. What happened to adding value to the day-to-day work-in-process engineering design management?
Loyalty is a wonderful thing, but ask your kid who just finished his first semester at that expensive business school, "What does Sunk Cost mean?" It’s only an Investment if the time/cost to complete the mission is lower than starting from scratch, t=0, reboot, clean sheet of paper.
Only you can answer this question, because every engineering process is different, everyone’s expectations for PLM are different, and everyone's current #1 mission critical business problem is different. Are you really tracking to solve all the PLM problems with your current approach? Or would new technology, new methodology, and new partners drive a result better, faster, and cheaper? Are you sitting on a Valuable Investment or a Sunk Cost?
Let it go. Write it off. Take a bold step…Or that new hire MBA kid who’s occupying your office next will do it for you.