Philip Morris International (PMI) is uniquely positioned in the industrial world. A world leader in manufacturing cigarettes, the company is now working to create a smoke-free future where the very products that made it successful are being purposefully phased out and replaced with better, smoke-free alternatives. Based on the development of combustion-free alternative products, this strategy requires not only the development of new skills but also rethinking the processes of product life cycle management.
Three questions about the PMI project with Eric Peuteuil, Senior Sales Executive - Aras
What issues did PMI have to face at the start of the project?
Today, Philip Morris International is a company undergoing a major transformation from a single-product model – traditional cigarettes – to a multi-product model, including a range of innovative smoke-free platforms and other devices. Innovative new products combine hardware, software, and consumable elements and require a profound design, production, and distribution transformation.
In this context, PMI questioned its existing PLM system, built around manufacturing and selling traditional tobacco products. It was not designed to support the company’s major strategic shift involving new products and trades and new distribution networks that include both B2B are more B2C-oriented channels as well.
PMI decided to reorganize its processes, systems, and data structures to make its PLM system an ally of its new ambitions.
How did Aras’ solutions meet this need?
PMI decided to put its choice of a new PLM platform at the heart of its new product strategy. When we first met in early 2020, the goal was to provide a platform to redefine the vision and understanding of the product throughout its lifecycle—beginning with R&D and design, moving through production, distribution via the supply chain, and support functions like finance and marketing.
PMI wanted a modern, easy-to-integrate, flexible, and modular PLM solution that would help the company transform now and in the future. These are precisely the advantages of the Aras Innovator® platform.
We started a pilot project in early 2022 in partnership with IBM for integration. This project, called CLIPP, aimed to demonstrate the first PLM platform that would begin PMI’s digital transformation toward a data-driven organization optimized for the future, according to four pillars:
- Increase efficiency in traditional activities.
- Implement flexible and scalable systems for new activities.
- Optimize the cost of the overall PLM approach.
- Adopt a data structure more appropriate to the B2C model and new product lines.
Today, CLIPP brings together 7,000 users and 1,000 partners worldwide, and PMI plans to extend the project to the entire company within 12 to 15 months.
How does PMI support the project today as a use case for successful digital business transformation?
Today, successful businesses adapt to frequent, multiple, and unpredictable changes. Business leaders are facing increasing uncertainty, and to cope with it, they must be able to build a business that is both resilient to today’s unexpected crises and prepared for tomorrow’s unforeseen challenges.
At Aras, we are convinced that digital transformation is a fundamental lever for adaptation and a vector of value creation through new opportunities to create or maintain a competitive advantage or to make major strategic turns.
With a low-code platform, the “next generation” PLM Aras offers is key to building a more agile, flexible, resilient, and innovative business.
The Philip Morris International project has clearly demonstrated that Aras Innovator is a strategic ally in a company’s digital transformation and a pillar of innovation for optimizing performance in all future scenarios.