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Why Do PLM Selection Projects Fail?

Jim McKinney — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 12:04:00 GMT

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software solutions continue to mature and evolve significantly and have been proven to drive substantial benefits. The ability to stay competitive in today’s challenging markets demands a higher level of innovation and enhanced capabilities that PLM enables. Without greater PLM collaboration and cooperation across the enterprise, keeping up with the competition will not be possible. Despite the imperative to implement strong PLM solutions across your business, many companies continue to fall short and fail to deliver the needed PLM value.

The need to devote substantial time and resources and the financial investment required for successful PLM implementations has not made its way into many companies. Without a diligent and enterprise-level effort to select and implement a PLM solution, there can be more failures than successes. Additionally, there is a need for early cultural change management or the adoption of new technology by most users. Given these challenges, we can understand why many PLM selection projects fail to deliver the anticipated value.

There are many reasons why PLM projects fail, but common mistakes tend to crop up repeatedly. For your benefit, I have gathered the most common PLM selection mistakes that I see from companies trying to adopt PLM:

Limited knowledge of your own critical requirements
Believing that an out-of-the-box solution will solve your problems
No buy-in from top management
Cultural change management

There are more, but these seem to be the “biggies.”

Limited knowledge of your own critical requirements

The scope of a PLM solution and the required functionality varies greatly from company to company. In fact, even within the same company, you will often find conflicting functionality needs and requirements often unknown to most users.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution because of highly individual and often conflicting needs. That is why companies need to know their own critical requirements when selecting a system. Otherwise, they will not know what their business needs are now and into the future.

Unfortunately, many companies have relied on the software vendor’s experience and “best practice” solutions. These are drawn from the vendor’s experience providing technical solutions to industry challenges. In other words, it is an external interpretation of a challenge. The vendor will claim they have what it takes - a “best practice” solution - but be aware that it is still their interpretation.

If a company spends no time understanding what their own best practices are, the PLM projects will likely fail. At the very least, the value will be less than what is needed.

If you do not know your company’s best practices or core competencies you need the PLM solution to support, how can you implement or even pick a solution? Spending time determining what processes and capabilities are required for a PLM solution will pay big dividends when it is time to select a PLM solution.

If you choose a solution with a set of best practice capabilities without knowing your own critical requirements or workflows, then how would you know whether these capabilities are supporting your business well enough? This will also require input from many other business organizations to determine what works best across the enterprise.

We recommend knowing what you need before engaging with a PLM solution provider. If you go to buy a used car and do not know what you need, you will likely get a lemon. This simple rule applies to most life situations when evaluating PLM solutions. Unfortunately, many executives seem to forget that fact or want to take the easy route that might cost less and be quicker.

Believing an out-of-the-box solution will solve your problems

This may sound naive, but companies that do not know which critical software requirements they should forward to a software vendor are putting too much faith and trust into that vendor’s expertise.

We have seen this in start-up and established enterprises: a lack of clear processes to support the core competencies in the company. In every case, that leads to an unhealthy amount of dependency on the software vendor’s past experiences and “best practice” solutions for your industry.

Most vendors know this and often take the lead by serving “best practice” processes inside their respective offerings as a solution to unclear processes. If you have not already determined what you need, the PLM solution provider will make their best guess and give you their generic answer.

In many cases, as users get to know the system, they may find that functionality has been oversold. Functions they really need may not exist or may only be partially implemented. Necessary customization may be too difficult, time-consuming, or costly to implement. This is especially true considering that many PLM vendors today encourage users to “de-customize” their solutions.

As time goes on, it may become clear that the wrong vendor was chosen. New versions may be delivered late, lack promised functionality, and have quality problems. Maintenance and upgrade costs may become unacceptably high as customizations are needed to support the business.

I strongly recommend that you have a clear overview of your business-critical processes and how they should be specifically supported by a software solution.

No buy-in from top management

Top management may be a source of problems for reasons such as lack of commitment, leadership, support, and patience. The biggest problem with this is that executive leadership should be among the leading supporters of PLM solutions since they will benefit greatly from its success.

However, top managers have many other things on their agenda, and PLM complexities are often poorly understood among the management team or board members. As a result, they don’t fully understand why all that time and money should be spent on PLM. They may also expect that you can “just” buy a solution to fix the problems in the company, which will be relatively easy to implement.

This misalignment of expectations at both the top management and board levels that PLM is a quick-fix solution is often the reason why PLM in certain companies never fulfills its full potential.

As your business constantly evolves, so do the requirements and changes to the PLM system in order to continue supporting your business processes. This is why you need a flexible PLM solution that can change as your business changes and support the business now and in the future.

A PLM initiative is a continuous journey that evolves over time and therefore requires a long-term commitment from all stakeholders, especially top management, and the board.

Cultural change management

A challenge that I see often is the need to deal with cultural change management when selecting and implementing a new PLM solution. Often the new software is chosen by a select team of experts and then delivered to users by surprise. Once the new software is in the hands of the users, any problems encountered are usually blamed on the new software.

With a little planning and foresight, you can make sure the PLM users are not only happy with the new software, but they are begging for more. The new capabilities, the improved access to information, and the enhanced collaboration will inspire your users and make them advocates for the new PLM solution.

To improve PLM software adoption, I recommend the following:

Involve users early in the selection process as much as possible
Provide constant updates on what users can expect and the fantastic new tools they will have once the PLM solution is deployed
Provide a good amount of training, both from the vendor and from the expert users at the company to hold the hands of new users and get them up to speed
Provide a hotline for problems and a strong resolution of any issues that are uncovered by users as the new PLM software is deployed
Deliver some level of custom PLM capabilities that help the new users feel that their issues are important

Conclusion

Selecting and deploying a new PLM system is not simple. Choosing a PLM solution is an extensive and complex project that requires the involvement of many experts across the business. You must focus on PLM as a business solution, concentrating on processes and activities, AND you must focus on the IT system, its architecture and implementation.

Below I have gathered a few basic recommendations that can help you select and implement a PLM solution successfully in your business.

My recommendations:

Know everything there is to know about the core competencies and processes within your company and how a PLM software solution should support and elevate it.
Obtain enough information about what a PLM software solution should be able to do for your company. Do not become totally dependent on the vendor’s knowledge and experience as it might not be to your advantage.
Prepare top management and help them realize the importance of having a PLM system at the top of their priority list and what it takes from them to make it a success.
Provide fun and delightful information to your potential PLM users (also free pizza) and get them on board with the new software well in advance of deployment and involve them in the selection process, when applicable.

Don’t forget to take a look at our PLM Selection Guide where we have collected a great amount of detail on how to prepare and execute a PLM selection project.

Why Out-of-the-Box Won’t Stress Test Your PLM Selection

Jim McKinney — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 12:06:00 GMT

There are many steps to complete and processes to consider when planning the deployment of a new PLM solution. Many PLM vendors will encourage you to choose their solution because it provides strong out-of-the-box capabilities that you supposedly need. This only makes sense if you want the vendor to dictate what your new PLM solution will do and what it will not do. For most companies, it makes sense to review your most important and complex processes and provide various scenarios that will support your business now and in the future. Gathering and validating complex use cases will provide a stress test of your future PLM solution and a strong platform for your most vexing challenges.

Your business is unique, and a PLM solution that supports your unique business processes will provide a solid platform for innovation. Studies have shown that companies that rely on innovation are more likely to achieve best-in-class products and drive customer loyalty. Developing complex use cases may take time, but in the end, these scenarios will guide PLM vendors who want your business to prove that they can provide what you need.

One of the most important items you should deliver to potential PLM vendors are scenarios that represent how you currently do business and how you would like to do business in the future. These scenarios are often referred to as “use cases.” These use cases can be simple or complex, but they should reflect an actual process that is important to your business and reflect the best case for doing business in the future. Making a complex use case will support a comprehensive test of the PLM solution you hope to implement.

If the use case is too simple, it will not adequately test the PLM solution you hope to implement. Remember, this is a scenario that you would like to execute in the new PLM solution. Time spent on developing complex use cases will not be wasted, as it will allow you to think about how your business should be run in the future and pay dividends throughout the PLM selection process. There are several considerations you should take when creating use cases.

Consider a clear objective for your PLM use case

Determine which specific process or problem you want to address using the PLM solution. For example, it could be a process related to change management, a challenging collaboration issue, or a new process around regulatory compliance. Please do not make the mistake of putting too much into one use case but make it challenging enough so that the PLM solution will be required to show significant capabilities.

Next, define the context. Determine in what situations the PLM solution will be called upon to deliver this process. Will many people do it often, or will it be executed infrequently? Choose processes that are vital and important to your business across the enterprise to get the best results. Select processes that will be recognized by your stakeholders so they understand the relevance of the use case.

Outline the steps of the process clearly so they are easy to understand. Indicate the inputs and outputs that are needed so that integrations and connections can be considered. Remember, the PLM vendor will need to understand how you want to deliver this process so that they can show clearly how the PLM solution will support your business.

Identify the aspects of the PLM solution that will be required to execute this process. This may be an opportunity to involve other organizations outside of the product development and engineering disciplines. Take full advantage of any chance to collaborate with others during the PLM selection planning process. This will provide another group of allies that can support your PLM activities and positively influence upper management.

Identify roles and responsibilities

For those involved in this use case, specify who initiates the process, who reviews and approves changes, who provides input, and any other important stakeholders in this process. A clear understanding of who is responsible for each step of the process will allow input from the proper people and eliminate the risk of missing something that can have an impact on this use case.

Identify the data and documents that will be needed to execute the process. Specify the types of information created, shared, or modified. Consider documents such as bills of material, 3D CAD models, 2D drawings, testing documentation, specifications, or quality control records.

Create clear criteria for the successful completion of this use case. These criteria should be measurable and aligned with the objectives of the use case. For example, it could be the amount of time it takes for a change to be executed and approved, it could be the successful sharing of documents with another organization, or it could even be the approval of and storing of an important document in a company archive. All of these should be clearly spelled out and leveraged as part of the overall use case.

Share and document use cases

Once the use case is developed, it will need to be shared with multiple people, organizations, and subject matter experts to make sure that it will work successfully. This is a chance to gather feedback and modify as necessary to ensure the use case clearly illustrates the required processes. Make sure that the use case clearly identifies the desired outcomes and addresses any risks.

Finally, document the use case in great enough detail so that a person unfamiliar with the process can understand what you are doing and see the purpose and goals of this process. Remember, the PLM vendor will not be an expert at your business, and if he needs help understanding what information you are trying to convey, he will not be able to implement and test this scenario properly.

Conclusion

Spending time developing a complex use case to stress test future PLM solutions will pay dividends and help demonstrate this solution's value and benefits. This approach provides a practical understanding of how the PLM system will be utilized and helps stakeholders visualize its impact on specific processes or workflows within your unique business. This will lead to a more complete PLM solution and greater innovation and customer satisfaction support.

For more information on how to properly select your next PLM solution, take a look at our eBook. This eBook will show you how to select a new PLM solution properly and provides a guide that will save you hours of wasted time and many sleepless nights.

PLM Selection Made Simple: Understanding Business Requirements

Jim McKinney — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 12:07:00 GMT

It has been said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” This is especially true when applied to PLM selection projects. Having a limited view of your company’s future requirements will not provide the kind of support that is needed to select new software. This is true particularly when you consider that PLM software touches many other parts of the company: sales, marketing, product development, manufacturing, new product introduction, maintenance, and so forth.

One of the biggest reasons technology projects fail is that many companies need to improve at defining requirements for their solutions. The more time you spend assessing your business before looking at new technology, the more likely you will be able to choose the best option. Skipping this step may lead to delayed projects, bloated budgets, last-minute changes, and angry users.

When a PLM selection program fails, it is often popular to blame the software or the PLM vendor, not the lack of clear requirements. In the end, the reason the program failed often boils down to these main reasons:

Failure to determine what the organization really needs in a solution
Failure to analyze specific business challenges for the company now and in the future
Failure to understand strategic business goals and how PLM can alleviate the challenges
Requirements not clearly mapped to the PLM solution under consideration

Requirements definitions are too broad and general

We have all seen RFPs (Requests for Proposals) from companies searching for a technology solution where the requirement definitions are vague and general. Without a more detailed view of your business, there is no way to determine if the chosen solution will work for you.

Examples of requirements types that are not useful are listed below:

Requirement 1: The solution must be easy to use.
Requirement 2: The solution must be able to perform Engineering Change Management.
Requirement 3: The solution must maintain data integrity and security.
Requirement 4: The solution must support customization.

Mistake 1: These requirements are not requirements at all. They are so basic that there is no value in putting them on a requirements list. Any PLM software vendor will say that they fulfill these requirements 100%. One of the problems is that organizations define requirements so vaguely that they fit every solution on the market.

Mistake 2: During the solution evaluation phase, the requirement definitions become more solution-specific. In effect, organizations are mapping requirements to the already chosen system. This leads to a chance of selecting a solution that may or may not support the business. In the worst case, a company may even ask the PLM vendor for a list of business requirements.

Mistake 3: Instead of looking at their own business and carefully considering how a solution could offer real business value, they hand off the responsibility for their own implementation success to the technology provider. NEVER ask the PLM vendor what the requirements are for your PLM solution. The PLM vendor can help you with the process of gathering requirements, and they can help you understand how their PLM solutions might support you, but it is essential that they understand your business.

It’s time to flip the script

Why is it that organizations need to spend more time building accurate requirements definitions? If you were building a new house, you would not just tell the developer to build four walls with a roof on top of it, would you?

Organizations usually have a solid understanding of their unique, foundational business objectives. Every business is unique, and so are its requirements. Generic requirements should never ever be the starting point of the selection process. Where organizations often need to improve is in translating business drivers into capabilities and features. The result is that they need to know which requirements are a must for their success and where to compromise.

If you need help understanding what you want and need, how can you know if you have chosen the right solution?

Understand your unique needs

It is likely that you may not know all the details in your requirements from the beginning, but you must understand what it is that makes your company unique, what your business drivers are, what challenges you need to address, and where to compromise in a PLM solution. A good understanding of where your business is headed in the future and what plans may arise will help to determine what is needed in a PLM solution.

There are many reasons that companies give for not spending more time up-front developing a detailed view of their requirements:

Not enough time
Avoid conflict between departments that present differing requirements
Just want a solution that fixes the problem right now
Pressure from executives to just get the selection done

Spend the time on developing a solid set of business requirements, so you reduce the time spent on the process of determining if a particular PLM software solution can provide a winning solution for your business.

Here are several tips that will help you improve your ability to define PLM solution requirements:

Understand your own business.
1. What drives the business forward, what challenges prevent your business from evolving, and where can a technology solution help you improve that area and provide you with real value? Maybe your engineers are spending too much time on documentation and less time on innovating. How can a PLM solution solve that?
Involve people from multiple parts of the business.
1. This will help them feel involved and increase the likelihood that they will accept the final solution.
Seek out experts.
1. Have them look at your business and give you advice on must-have requirements and where you can compromise.
Get your priorities straight!
1. Ensure that there is support throughout the organization, from top management to the individual departments, with clear priorities, clear objectives, and clear requirements.

For more information on the right way to approach a PLM selection activity, don’t forget to download and read our eBook. The time you spend preparing will pay you back in the end with a strong and dependable PLM solution that can last for many years.

Avoid the Bridge to Nowhere: Moving On-Premise PLM to the Cloud

Jim McKinney — Thu, 11 May 2023 15:42:00 GMT

Moving. Nobody likes to move. It is estimated that the average person in the United States is expected to move 11.4 times during their lifetime. This is especially true if you are between 18 and 40. I think this is why people get old and die; moving! I have only moved about 6 times in my life, but I still have many questions:

If we still haven’t opened the boxes from the last move, why are we moving them again?
How did we come up with so much junk in just a few years?
Why do we always fill up the space we inhabit, no matter how large?
Why does my furniture from the old house look so bad in the new house?

When we decide to move, we discover how much junk we own and realize that much of our old stuff will not look good or be usable in our new home. We also get a sore back from lifting all that junk we ought to throw out; I know this from personal experience.

Moving from on-premise PLM to cloud-based PLM is similar. We quickly find out that many restrictions in the cloud limit our desired capabilities. We may realize that our PLM vendor will not support our existing customizations in our new cloud deployment. We also need help moving everything from our legacy on-premise environment to the new cloud PLM solution.

In other words, we are moving to the cloud, but there are many trade-offs we should have considered when making this decision. Most PLM vendors today do not support the same capabilities in their cloud solutions as they provide in their on-premise solutions. Understanding the trade-offs will be an important part of any move to the cloud. After you move your classic Victorian furniture into your new, modern, contemporary house, you will realize that you have made a mistake. Fixing that mistake will not be easy or inexpensive.

This is why it is important to make sure that your PLM vendor has a flexible solution in the cloud that can support the investment and work you have been doing for many years with an on-premise solution. Most SaaS cloud PLM solutions today offer convenience and collaboration at the cost of customization and flexibility. Some PLM vendors do not even have the same solution in the cloud that they offer on-premise – yes that is right, you will lose functionality. This will make the transition to a cloud solution much harder and just like moving, you will need to rent a dumpster to throw away all your useless stuff.

There are many items to consider when making this move. One of the key considerations will be how the selected PLM vendor will support your move. If moving to a SaaS-based PLM solution requires you to “de-customize” your on-premise PLM solution before you move it – beware! The new cloud PLM solution will probably not support your business, and it will take excessive time and money to fix, and you will likely be able to do LESS. Finding a vendor that can provide a platform with flexible customization options in the cloud and support for unique processes will save money and time. After all, every customer is unique.

In general, cloud-based SaaS PLM solutions offer several benefits over traditional on-premise PLM systems, including:

Accessibility: Cloud-based SaaS PLM solutions can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, enabling remote teams to collaborate effectively and providing greater flexibility for users.

Scalability: Cloud-based SaaS PLM solutions can easily scale to meet changing business needs, without the need for costly hardware upgrades or software installations.

Cost-effectiveness: Cloud-based SaaS PLM solutions typically have lower upfront costs than on-premise PLM systems, as they do not require significant hardware or software investments. Additionally, SaaS solutions are often subscription-based, which means organizations pay only for the resources they use.

Security: Cloud-based SaaS PLM solutions often have robust security in place, including regular data backups, encryption, and multi-factor authentication. These measures can help protect sensitive data from cyber threats and unauthorized access.

Collaboration: Cloud-based SaaS PLM solutions make it easier for teams to collaborate on product development, as all team members can access the same information in real-time. This can help reduce errors, improve communication, and accelerate time-to-market.

Integration: Cloud-based SaaS PLM solutions can often be easily integrated with other cloud-based software, such as ERP systems, CRM systems, and MCAD/ECAD software. This can help streamline workflows and improve data accuracy.

But you must look deeper, at time of purchase, like a house, through a thorough inspection, before making the move to determine the right fit for your unique needs now and for the future. Here are some suggested steps you may want to follow when making this transition:

Evaluate your current PLM system: Before making the move, assess your current PLM system to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Determine which capabilities you need to migrate and which ones can be retired. We have further information on how to choose a new PLM solution for your business in our new guidebook: The Complete Guide to PLM Software Selection.
Choose a cloud PLM vendor: Research and select a cloud PLM vendor that meets your organization's needs. Look for a vendor that offers a comprehensive set of features, has a proven track record of delivering high-quality services, and has good customer reviews. Selecting a vendor that will let you take your customizations to the cloud is also good.
Plan the migration: Plan the migration process carefully to minimize downtime and ensure a smooth transition. Determine which data you need to migrate and which data can be archived or deleted. Develop a migration plan that includes timelines, resource allocation, and contingency plans.
Test the new solution: Test the new solution in a sandbox environment to ensure that it works as expected. Validate the migrated data and test the new system's functionality to identify any issues. Doing a POC (Proof of Concept) to ensure you can do what you need is important. The training mentioned in the next bullet can be done at this time as well so you have many people available to test the new system.
Determine how the SaaS system will meet your unique requirements: If the SaaS solution does not allow customizations, determine how your will be able to solve your complex requirements the system does not support. If the vendor claims the solution can be customized, find out if it supports a low-code approach. Furthermore, find out how customizations are managed. Do they offer a DevOps solution? Working with just out-of-the-box functionality is rarely a realistic approach with PLM. The value of the solution will only grow over time if the functionality can keep up with the business.
Train users: Train your users on the new system to ensure they understand how to use it effectively. Provide training on new features and workflows and offer support to help users transition to the new system. The training and mentoring of new users is often not done adequately as required. Don’t scrimp here or you will have unhappy users.
Monitor and optimize: Monitor the new system's performance and optimize it as needed. Keep an eye on your well-trained users feedback and identify areas for improvement.

Overall, moving from on-premise PLM to cloud PLM requires careful planning and execution. By following these steps, you can minimize the risk of data loss, downtime, and user disruption, and enjoy the benefits of a more scalable and accessible PLM system. Choose a strong PLM vendor that has a flexible PLM platform that will allow you to accommodate any changes to your business now, and into the future and you will be very happy.

So, pack your bags! The spaceship to your PLM cloud solution has arrived.

A cloud-based SaaS PLM solution can provide significant benefits over traditional on-premise PLM systems, enabling organizations to be more agile, collaborative, and cost-effective. Moving doesn’t have to be a giant pain. If you do it right, moving to a new cloud-based PLM solution can be a wonderful experience and provide many powerful benefits in the future.

We have more information on how to make a new cloud-based PLM solution a reality for you. Here are some resources to get you started:

Aras Enterprise SaaS: A Gen 2 Leader (CIMdata Commentary)

The Power of Aras Enterprise SaaS (eBook)

Aras Subscription - Enterprise SaaS (SaaS Brochure)

Building Business Resiliency with Aras DevOps (DevOps Brochure)

The Importance of Data Transparency

Jim McKinney — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:36:00 GMT

More isn’t more

No one would be surprised to hear that more and more data is generated every year. Statistics show that there are about 99,000 Google searches every second. That equates to roughly 8.5 billion searches per day on Google. In 2022, there were 4.95 billion people using social media of some kind – that’s about 62.5% of the earth’s population. This leads me to ask the question: “Why do my posts only get 1 like?”

Today, most businesses will tell you that they now have too much information to analyze. In 2022, the world produced ~94 zettabytes (one zettabyte = 1 billion terabytes) of new information. This unimaginable amount of data will only get larger and larger over time. Data-driven decision-making is critical to any business, especially when innovation is an important goal.

Data-driven product development

In the product design space, the amount of data that is needed to develop innovative products is increasing all of the time. Multiple stakeholders are needed to take a product from concept to delivery, and all along the way data must be viewed, evaluated, and analyzed. The old saying, “two heads are better than one” is very true when innovative products are being developed. Yes, most companies today still struggle with the ability to make the right data available to the right people at the right time.

In survey after survey, we have found that key stakeholders in the product development process do not have access to the most up-to-date product data. Many hours are spent by engineers cutting and pasting slides together to show the stakeholders the latest status of the project. This takes everyone’s time and eventually decisions are made on information that may not even be accurate or current.

In most companies today, data exists in many silos and in disconnected systems. Linking all these systems together in a meaningful way is difficult and expensive. Even as more solutions migrate to a flexible cloud infrastructure there are many challenges to collaborating on data and information hidden in multiple silos.

Data visualization needs context

We might assume that more data will lead to greater insights and allow us to gain more knowledge. We have begun to realize that making piles of data available to many people does not necessarily lead to better outcomes – in some cases it can turn into a liability. By providing dashboards of selected information with context, curated for a specific purpose, we can help alleviate the challenges of data overload.

Dashboards can visualize data that is relevant and that is provided to address only the task at hand. Flexibility of dashboards and customization of dashboards is required to make sure that the data is correct and useful, and not just a pile of useless charts. A strong PLM platform with a flexible architecture is required to make this data available and customizable to support innovative product development now and in the future.

Accessing data with flexible architecture is critical

It is not possible to move all of your data into one system and think that it will remain there indefinitely. Your company will change and acquire new businesses and deploy new solutions, and the data silo challenge will not go away any time soon. Providing a flexible architecture and PLM platform to support product development would go a long way toward making your business more resilient to change. Would that be good news if there was an excellent way to provide a view of siloed data to all stakeholders in your company as products are designed? Of course, it would!

But how can I see all of this important information that is needed to do my job? I also need to collaborate with a group of people that also require access to this data. What possible tool exists to provide this information in a flexible way that allows all of us to work together on the same information and keep up to date on changes as they happen? It sounds impossible!

Never fear, dashboards are here! It is now possible to create flexible dashboards that display all your information and share it with others. The capability to create your own custom dashboard provides a way to reach deep into the PLM data and show it to all kinds of people with clarity and detail as your project proceeds.

If this sounds like a miracle, it is not

The innovative products of the future will require collaboration and cross-pollination between multiple experts in various parts of the business. The products of the future will require product designers to engage with other disciplines to successfully combine all the needed features that will make the customer happy. The scope of product engineering is changing to include mechanical, electrical, software, manufacturing, product maintenance, AI-inspired input, and other domains that in the past have been separated until very late in the product development lifecycle.

Your competition is working on this right now. They are connecting their vast silos of data with informative dashboards and collaborative solutions that will allow them to develop more innovative products. Can you afford not to strive with all your might to leverage the data that sits across silos in your enterprise? It may be time to look at a new PLM platform that provides the flexibility and capabilities needed to support a future business's data needs.

Interested in knowing more? Watch our recent webinar, “Aras Dashboards and Reporting.”

How to Choose the Right PLM Solution for Your Business – Part 1

Jim McKinney — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 14:38:00 GMT

Switching your business to a new Product Lifecycle Management solution is a daunting task. The PLM landscape is littered with the dry bones of failed PLM solution migrations, rollouts, and selection activities. Some experts claim a failure rate as high as 50% for PLM selection activities. However, in today’s fast-paced business world, companies cannot afford to run on outdated, non-integrated, and siloed tools. Putting off this challenging task will only make it harder when you decide to bite the bullet and search for a new alternative.

Eventually, every business will be forced to select a new advanced PLM solution. Maybe the current solution is no longer supported by the vendor and is at the end of its life. Or maybe the PLM solution cannot support the changes in your business, like moving to the cloud, infiltrating the metaverse, or moving forward with customizations needed to support improved processes and solutions.

These challenges may move you to search for a new PLM solution. Since most companies do not do this often, they are usually ill-equipped to select the best PLM tool for their changing business. I have several suggestions that you can follow to make this process less painful (and more rewarding) than usual.

Suggestion #1 – Develop a good “as-is” and the desired “to-be” view of your business.

Do you really know what’s going on in your business?
Are the formal processes that define your business followed by PLM solution users?
Are there manual processes that continue to be used to get around slower formal data collection activities?

It is amazing what you can find when you start digging and asking questions. Until you know what is really happening in your business – no PLM solution will fix your challenges. Developing a strong to-be view will allow you to tell PLM vendors what you want instead of asking what they offer.

Suggestion #2 – Understand what capabilities your business requires.

Are you primarily a company that does innovative design and engineering with a focus on new products?
Is your business engineering-centric, or is your business manufacturing-centric?
Or are you a nice balance of both?

A good PLM solution will support what you are doing today and provide a strong platform for future innovation. Either of these scenarios can provide a guide to the type of PLM solution that you will need and which capabilities require priority treatment.

Suggestion #3 – Determine a strategy for PLM deployment. It does not make sense to do it all at once.

Determine what you will work on first, second, and in what order capabilities will be rolled out.
Are you staying on-premise or moving to the cloud? This determines how you will roll out your PLM.

The strategic direction for PLM should match the strategic activities of the rest of the company. If there is an ERP or CAD migration or another major transition at your company, you won’t want to do it all at once without major collaboration.

Suggestion #4 – Start your cultural change management plan now!

Without a change management plan, you will likely fail if and when your users express frustration with the PLM solution as delivered. Start early to involve your PLM users to get their feedback on what works and what doesn’t. The earlier you get your users involved, the more likely you are to be set up for success.

What’s next?

Notice that all of these suggestions relate to activities that happen BEFORE you look at a PLM solution. That’s because if your business does not have a well-thought-out strategy, you will not be successful. One of the worst things you can do is ask your PLM vendor what you should do for your business. PLM vendors understand what their solution can do, but only you can determine what is best for your business.

Now that you have an as-is and to-be view of your business and know how the PLM solution will be strategically rolled out to the company, you are ready to start looking at solutions. There should be a PLM team of experts and users that will provide the direction for the selection process. This team should be supported by an executive that can remove roadblocks and give this team the mandate to make PLM decisions as needed.

Committing to a PLM selection activity is a big job that can only be done by those committed to doing it properly. It is impossible to cover all the aspects of the PLM selection activity, but in my next blog, I will cover part two of selecting the proper PLM solution for your business.

Look out for part two in this blog series: “How to Choose the Right PLM Solution – Part 2”

Part two will cover how a company should interact with a PLM vendor. Some of the most painful activities of the PLM selection process can be dealing with multiple vendors and trying to understand what they say about the best PLM solution for your business. If you have done your homework and prepared properly, this part of the experience will be less painful. Notice I didn’t say NOT painful, but only LESS painful.

I look forward to writing more on this topic soon. In the meantime, I encourage you to consider taking a new survey by CIMdata on currently available PLM solutions. The information they plan to gather will help users like you better understand the strengths and weaknesses of PLM solutions and providers, as well as emerging needs and challenges within the market.

Cheers.

How to Choose the Right PLM Solution for Your Business – Part 1

Jim McKinney — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 12:55:00 GMT

Suggestion #1 – Develop a good “as-is” and the desired “to-be” view of your business.

Do you really know what’s going on in your business?
Are the formal processes that define your business followed by PLM solution users?
Are there manual processes that continue to be used to get around slower formal data collection activities?

Suggestion #2 – Understand what capabilities your business requires.

Are you primarily a company that does innovative design and engineering with a focus on new products?
Is your business engineering-centric, or is your business manufacturing-centric?
Or are you a nice balance of both?

Suggestion #3 – Determine a strategy for PLM deployment. It does not make sense to do it all at once.

Determine what you will work on first, second, and in what order capabilities will be rolled out.
Are you staying on-premise or moving to the cloud? This determines how you will roll out your PLM.

Suggestion #4 – Start your cultural change management plan now!

What’s next?

Look out for part two in this blog series: “How to Choose the Right PLM Solution – Part 2”

Cheers.

Do You Suffer from PLM Legacy Syndrome?

Jim McKinney — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 13:33:00 GMT

I come before you today with troubling news. Research has shown that a vast majority of companies in the manufacturing industries suffer from PLM Legacy Syndrome. But do not be dismayed, I also come to you today with a cure.

The symptoms:

The first symptom you might encounter if you suffer from PLM Legacy Syndrome is trying to use a PLM platform only to discover that it is nothing more than a bunch of disconnected solutions neatly wrapped in a fuzzy blanket of marketing jargon. An essential best practice for PLM is using an integrated platform of connected solutions that supports the digital thread and provides a strong foundation for a digital twin.

Without an integrated PLM platform, it will be very difficult to access current product information. Sharing product design information with the rest of the enterprise will also be difficult and you will be forced to purchase additional software to link everything together.

The second symptom of PLM Legacy Syndrome is customized PLM solutions that have not been upgraded for many years. Don’t blame yourself, it is not your fault that these upgrades did not happen. Most PLM solutions are not very customizable, and once they are customized, the day will come when they cannot be modified or upgraded. CIMdata has done a lot of research on the importance of an open, flexible, scalable, and upgradable product innovation platform to support your business.

When old solutions cannot be upgraded, a new solution is deployed and the old solution must be kept to manage the proprietary data. This creates additional silos of information that will require constant maintenance, cost, and care.

The final symptom of PLM Legacy Syndrome (there are more, I could go on) is purchasing what you think is a sophisticated low-code solution and then realizing that you have yet another silo of disconnected information. Sure, the resulting data may look good, but it cannot be easily updated, and this information is only a snapshot view of what is happening within your PLM system. Actually, a simple approach to low-code development promotes PLM Legacy Syndrome by allowing almost anyone to easily create a large number of legacy solutions.

The remedy:

What can you do if you test positive for PLM Legacy Syndrome? The first step is to drink plenty of fluids and stay hydrated (that’s always the first step!). The second step is to find a PLM platform that:

Offers a data model at its core that can be used to manage all information and connect all data seamlessly
Integrates resulting low-code applications with other PLM solutions
Supports complex PLM use cases
Provides a solution that is customizable and includes support for creating your own processes and workflows
Includes a more robust PLM low-code solution that provides industrial applications that become a permanent part of the PLM platform, and not a separate program with another data silo

As a non-licensed medical person, I would recommend a detailed look at the Aras PLM Platform. Aras provides an integrated PLM platform that is flexible, supports customization, and delivers sophisticated low-code solutions that become part of your PLM infrastructure, not separate applications.

Follow my prescription and you will not need to worry about PLM Legacy Syndrome. I can promise that your PLM solution will have a long and healthy life and successfully support any future product design and manufacturing goals. There will also be fewer visits to the PLM doctor and greater health overall for your business.

Learn more about how Aras can help you modernize your PLM and avoid PLM Legacy Syndrome.

Jim McKinney

Jim McKinney — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 13:23:39 GMT