Product Lifecycle Trends
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Guest Column: Leaning on PLM
Integrating product lifecycle management with Lean can ensure a cradle-to-grave process for consistently delivering customer satisfaction
The concept of Lean Manufacturing methods has moved beyond simply Six Sigma principles into the many systems that manage the operation of a manufacturing facility. If Lean means to reduce waste, reduce development cycles and seek continuous process improvement, the integration of these systems is critical to competitive standing and quality assurance.
Often overlooked in the quest for Lean adoption in new product development is product lifecycle management (PLM). Systems vendors and industry analysts attribute reducing costs and lead time in new product development to PLM. PLM is a concept-to-grave application that communicates throughout the manufacturing process and has the ability to share a complete product record with design, engineering, sales and other management processes that are often managed by enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
Successful execution of PLM, however, requires a thoughtful approach to assessing existing processes, recognizing where problems are occurring and making improvements that not only eliminate the problems but also generate efficiencies. Without these assessments and improvements, PLM could lead to only a cycle of ineffective changes. However, with these assessments and changes, PLM provides a powerful opportunity to drive bottom line benefits.
So, exactly how does PLM coexist with, and add benefit to, Lean Manufacturing principles?
PLM eliminates waste. In any new product development project, the development team provides information and knowledge. Wasteful activities in this process are any that don't directly contribute to the creation of new information and knowledge. Some examples may be creating multiple copies of bill of materials (BOMs) for various uses, "busy" administrative work like manual delivery of paper documents or electronic files to suppliers or design partners, or manual notifications of engineering changes. Any time there is manual intervention into a project, there are bound to be human errors, some minor and many that could have significant ramifications for the development process.
PLM eliminates information silos. It's often difficult for engineering and manufacturing teams to share information for a variety of reasons, including radical differences in terminology. PLM systems allow the sharing of information among the different groups, even bringing in data from customers and sales that might otherwise never get as far as the engineering team. This secure sharing of critical information at every step of the product development lifecycle enhances efficiencies and results in better products, quality resolution and most of all customer satisfaction.
PLM is a collaborative tool. PLM manages design data and seamlessly moves it throughout the enterprise. It creates workflows for traceability and provides visibility into the complete product record. According to Chuck Cimalore, chief technology officer of Omnify Software, a Massachusetts-based provider of product lifecycle management software for small and midsize manufacturers: "PLM provides a central location to manage all product data and enables collaboration among internal and external teams. By combining data typically managed in separate systems, engineering, for example, gains visibility into a complete data set and has access to information such as customer feedback, vendor information from ERP and compliance issues. This helps engineers to make better design decisions and improve efficiencies."
Often overlooked in the quest for Lean adoption in new product development is product lifecycle management (PLM). Systems vendors and industry analysts attribute reducing costs and lead time in new product development to PLM. PLM is a concept-to-grave application that communicates throughout the manufacturing process and has the ability to share a complete product record with design, engineering, sales and other management processes that are often managed by enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
Successful execution of PLM, however, requires a thoughtful approach to assessing existing processes, recognizing where problems are occurring and making improvements that not only eliminate the problems but also generate efficiencies. Without these assessments and improvements, PLM could lead to only a cycle of ineffective changes. However, with these assessments and changes, PLM provides a powerful opportunity to drive bottom line benefits.
So, exactly how does PLM coexist with, and add benefit to, Lean Manufacturing principles?
PLM eliminates waste. In any new product development project, the development team provides information and knowledge. Wasteful activities in this process are any that don't directly contribute to the creation of new information and knowledge. Some examples may be creating multiple copies of bill of materials (BOMs) for various uses, "busy" administrative work like manual delivery of paper documents or electronic files to suppliers or design partners, or manual notifications of engineering changes. Any time there is manual intervention into a project, there are bound to be human errors, some minor and many that could have significant ramifications for the development process.
PLM eliminates information silos. It's often difficult for engineering and manufacturing teams to share information for a variety of reasons, including radical differences in terminology. PLM systems allow the sharing of information among the different groups, even bringing in data from customers and sales that might otherwise never get as far as the engineering team. This secure sharing of critical information at every step of the product development lifecycle enhances efficiencies and results in better products, quality resolution and most of all customer satisfaction.
PLM is a collaborative tool. PLM manages design data and seamlessly moves it throughout the enterprise. It creates workflows for traceability and provides visibility into the complete product record. According to Chuck Cimalore, chief technology officer of Omnify Software, a Massachusetts-based provider of product lifecycle management software for small and midsize manufacturers: "PLM provides a central location to manage all product data and enables collaboration among internal and external teams. By combining data typically managed in separate systems, engineering, for example, gains visibility into a complete data set and has access to information such as customer feedback, vendor information from ERP and compliance issues. This helps engineers to make better design decisions and improve efficiencies."
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