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by Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor   | Abstract: | Conceived as a broad method for managing all product-related information, PLM has been slow to move throughout the manufacturing enterprise. |
 The virtual rollout last December of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner passenger aircraft was a dream come true for devotees of product lifecycle management (PLM). Instead of spending years and pouring millions of dollars into creating a physical prototype of the plane and the production line, Boeing took a chance on PLM technology to design the plane and simulate and validate its entire manufacturing process. Boeing claims the exercise will dramatically cut development costs and help it meet its aggressive rollout schedule. Pundits have lauded the 787 Dreamliner virtual introduction as a shining example of how PLM can take flight beyond engineering and drive efficiencies and business process change throughout an entire organization. While Boeing may be airborne with a broader vision of PLM, the view on the ground is much less lofty. To be sure, manufacturers in industries from aerospace and defense to automotive and consumer packaged goods have made serious strides in leveraging pieces of PLM to streamline many of their engineering processes. There are dozens, even hundreds, of success stories of companies achieving quantifiable results by shortening development cycles, promoting parts reuse, and gaining efficiencies in engineering change orders (ECOs). Yet, the broader picture of PLM — as a "one version of the truth" set of technologies and business processes for all product-related information, throughout the entire lifecycle — has been somewhat more difficult for manufacturers to digest. Despite pioneers like Boeing, few manufacturers have tackled wide-ranging PLM initiatives that take into account the information and business processes surrounding sourcing, customer requirements, production, or in-field maintenance. Manufacturers are not ready to take off in this direction for a variety of reasons: Some are grounded by legacy systems they're not ready to replace, others are hindered by integration projects they're not ready to take on, and all are still trying to understand the organizational and cultural changes necessary for making cross-functional, enterprise PLM a reality. "Companies have been tremendously successful and have seen tremendous payback in deploying individual solutions, from pure design packages like CAD to computer-aided engineering tools for crash simulations and stability testing," explains Peter Schmitt, vice president of marketing and business development for DELMIA at Dassault Systemes, the maker of the PLM platform at the heart of the Dreamliner 787 rollout. "What we haven't seen to the extent we'd like to is integration — going to the next level, where companies combine all the individual solutions and embrace them in a unified manner." [Click to continue] |