Are you Hitting the Sweet Spot of PLM?
By Bill Abramson

I can remember back in the 60s when I was developing CAD/CAM applications for the Master Dimensions group at Grumman Aerospace in Bethpage, New York. In those days applications where executed on mainframe computers. A region of 320K was considered quite generous. In order to fit larger programs into these regions, software developers had to design overlays (schemes that would roll in required blocks of code as instructions dictated). Software performance was a considerable issue and challenge. As one would optimize one section of code other areas of the application would suffer…you push here and it pops out there. It was then discovered that in any application there exists a kernel of approximately 15% - 20% of the code that is responsible for approximately 80% of the programs resources and performance. Based on that discovery, it was determined that you only had to optimize this kernel to effectively optimize the entire application. Well I feel there is a direct analogy between this aspect of software development and PLM.

It is my belief that in any group of individuals, you would have difficulty reaching a consensus on the definition of PLM. However, I feel that any of the definitions would describe PLM as technology that pervades the entire enterprise…large or small. It is also my belief that it is rare in these economic times for an enterprise to be realizing a net profit of greater than 5%. There isn't any 'wiggle room' to play with in today's production environments. So you say that you want to introduce enterprise-wide technology…after all we had agreed that that is exactly what PLM is. Do the risk factors intimidate you? Well, I guess I am being foolish…you would not introduce PLM to the entire enterprise simultaneously. You would begin at the beginning of the PLM process, at the most critical part of the product development process? Or at the point in the process where the deployment is easiest from both a technical and financial point of view? Well, I propose that there is a kernel in your business operations that is responsible for 80% of either the cost of bringing the product to market and/or the time to bring the product to market. I would then suggest that you would introduce PLM initially into that kernel. Well, how do we accomplish that? First you must understand your entire product development process, which I grant is no simple task even for smaller enterprises. With that understanding you must analyze each significant aspect of the process in order to identify the critical sections from the financial aspect and from the timing aspect. Based on this analysis you will discover one or possibly two kernels…a financial kernel and a scheduling kernel. That is where you would introduce PLM technology! Wait a minute…which of the two kernels am I talking about? Well, that is a problem…I don't know. Which is more important, product development costs or product development time? You can't do both unless the two kernels coincide. It is also important that you have a master plan to deploy PLM technology across the entire enterprise. Deployment of PLM technology in the critical kernel will then be a part of the master plan, understanding that the master plan is a living plan that will be subject to change as the deployment evolves. Another potential difficulty is that you may not fully understand the total benefits of PLM technology until it has been deployed across most, if not all, of the enterprise.

Now with all this being said about PLM, we must ask ourselves what are the objectives that we hope to realize from these 'optimizations'. Is it to get our product to market cheaper and/or faster than our competition? I suggest that those benefits are temporary and limited in size. I suggest that in order to be a real winner you have to innovate. Make your product significantly unique and better than your competition. In addition, timing, when you bring this innovation to market is critical. Well, how in the world can I generate innovation? I suggest that you should ask the marketplace what they need. How are they currently operating? What are their current major problems? I am willing to bet that these answers will provide a roadmap to innovation. In addition to communicating with your marketplace talk to your extended enterprise (e.g. business partners and suppliers) and ask them the same questions. But I warn you to get your suppliers and business partners to share that information you might have to draw them into a closer, more comfortable relationship with your company. You will also find that these answers from the marketplace and your extended enterprise will change over time. This will require that you constantly stay in touch and that you are agile…able to innovate and change as the answers dictate.

So here is my recipe for deploying PLM into your current production environment:

1. Identify a project manager and a PLM team.
2. Document your current product development processes.
3. Analyze each significant element from the perspective of time-to-market and contributions to the final cost of the end product.
4. Identify the kernels … financial and development/product time.
5. Find the intersection of those two kernels.
6. Research PLM technologies and find the candidate that best satisfies the needs of (5).
7. Develop a deployment strategy and schedule for a pilot project. This effort must include metrics for success at designated milestones.
8. Be prepared to be agile…be ready to change your strategic and tactical plans as your lessons-learned dictate.

However, this is only interesting. It will enable your organization to improve or optimize your current way of doing business. But, it still leaves you in the pack with your competition. In order to truly separate yourselves from your competition, you must innovate your products and/or services. Evolve a product or service from where you are today, born out of your existing environment, optimized (as described above) by the deployment of PLM into your critical kernels and establishing a truly unique position for your enterprise in the marketplace. I propose that this is the road to an incredibly winning position.

I would like to thank Dave Burdick who assisted me with this paper.

I welcome your feedback.

Bill Abramson
Abramson CAD/CAM Technology, Inc.
863-420-2371
Abramson@attglobal.net