If PLM practitioners are to get recognition for their work, then the PLM industry needs to become more like a genuine profession.

It has always been important to be sure that your work is of a high standard, and that it will be respected by your peers.  For PLM Delivery, this is now essential.

If the user expects that the vendor will make a firm commitment to the targets of the PLM implementation, then the vendor has a right to expect that the user is working professionally.  The latest edition of the PLM Bulletin sets out the background to PLM Professionalism and offers guidance on how to achieve it.

See more about PLM Professionalism >>>

The demanding nature of measured PLM Delivery means that PLM Teams must also address higher-level professional issues such as PLM Governance.

Every well-established PLM implementation should apply the Governance Standard to confirm how well the PLM management structure fits the corporate environment.

The PLMIG toolsets provide a structured way of ensuring that a PLM implementation is performing at the highest level. As each PLM Team applies the tools to establish new metrics, comparisons become possible.  Companies can learn from each other about the factors that support PLM, and the methodologies and approaches that are most effective.

The PLMIG has also published the Version 2.0 PLM Governance Standard to enable companies to assess their current situation.  Not only will this help PLMIG Members, but it will create a wider opportunity to establish agreed definitions of good PLM Governance for the whole PLM industry.

See more about PLM Governance >>>

Clear guidelines are needed for PLM definition and measurement, so that everyone can see that PLM is successful.

The new PLM Delivery Handbook enables users to demonstrate that they have received exactly what they have paid for when they implement PLM - and enables vendors to show a clear commitment to achieving the benefits that they have proposed.

Learn more about PLM Delivery >>>

The concept of PLM Delivery leads on to other advanced ideas.  It can enable one of the most important long-term aims of any PLM implementation - PLM Traction.

For all your investment in PLM over the years, how effective is the outcome?  If PLM improves by X%, then does your business improve proportionately - or is there no discernible effect?

If you can demonstrate and measure this inter-relationship between PLM and the business, then you are at a very advanced level of PLM management.  The PLMIG will develop the tools to enable this as a direct follow-on from the PLM Delivery initiative.

Learn more about PLM Traction >>>

At present the PLM industry has no framework or standards of performance for advanced PLM practice.

From large corporations, dealing with the massive complexity of enterprise-wide PLM, to small companies trying to understand and adopt PLM effectively, one question remains the same:-

"How do we know that we are doing
PLM as well as possible?"

Of course, PLM Managers are always aiming to improve, and PLM vendors are always aiming to prove that improvements have been made.  The problem in the past has been that PLM was regarded as "unquantifiable".  The new PLMIG toolsets provide a structured way of ensuring that the PLM implementation is performing at the highest level.

It is time to capture the knowledge and experience of skilled and PLM practitioners, and to leverage this to raise the worldwide standard and ambition of PLM.

Learn more about Advanced PLM >>>

In large companies or corporations, there are likely to be many people who are confused about PLM.

The more people who are unsure about what PLM is and what it can achieve, the harder it is to make progress.

It can be difficult to decide what kind of awareness material to offer.  The answer is found by putting yourself in the shoes of someone who is having to understand the PLM implementation for the first time.

To demystify PLM, there are 8 "must know" things that a good PLM Manager should provide. These should be part of every well-managed PLM implementation.  See the list, and make sure they are part of your company's awareness material.

Read the full story >>>

For any idea to succeed in America it needs a compelling message, and there is now a compelling message for PLM.

 

The message is that PLM can be quantified, and the value of PLM to the business can be proven in dollar terms. The methodology is clear and accurate, and everyone can see how the figures will be generated.

 

The PLM Project Justification Handbook leverages the standard set of documentation that would be required for any capital expenditure or project justification, and so the overhead of work required to prepare the PLM justification is kept to a minimum.

See the Compelling PLM message >>>

The PLM Team can now prove to everybody, with clear, quantified metrics, that the PLM implementation is of real benefit to the company.

The methodology is straightforward, thorough, and is based around the standard documentation set that is required for every new project or capex justification. It is therefore entirely generic, and can be applied in any industry.

The PLM Project Justification Handbook shows you how to deconstruct abstract "PLM Benefits" and process them into real metrics.

By providing templates for the required documents, it also helps raise the standard of your operational documentation to best-practice levels.  The activity of generating the financial values is collaborative, which improves PLM awareness and understanding around the organisation; and the resulting metrics provide proof to everybody that the claimed PLM Benefits are actually being achieved.

Once real metrics have been established in this way, PLM management becomes much easier.  Tracking the benefits becomes a formal activity of monitoring the metrics that have been assigned; correcting any errors in measurement; considering the causes of under- or over-performance; and re-planning for the next project iteration.

See more about the Handbook >>>

See more about the Financial Framework initiative >>>

The PLMIG ran a series of workshops in 2012 in Europe and North America which developed the most advanced paradigm for integrating PLM and ERP.

See more about the initiative >>>

The workshops showed that traditional approaches of "linking" or "interfacing" PLM with ERP merely reinforce the problems - they just make an imperfect solution run faster.

The real answer is to develop 'PLMuERP' - the "Union" of PLM and ERP - which not only builds a more advanced product management system, but also eliminates the technical and ideological conflicts that manufacturing companies face in this area.

The result was a comprehensive toolset based around the PLMuERP Handbook that can be used by the PLM and ERP teams to define the optimal, harmonised solution for the integrated environment.

This puts an end to PLM-ERP conflict and counter-bidding, and enables every organisation to establish its most advanced and effective product lifecycle management platform for the long term.

The toolset enables companies to eliminate the PLM-ERP divide, and to build a truly integrated product management system for complete control of design and manufacture.

See more about the PLMuERP Toolset >>>

It is now possible to identify real financial metrics that will support your next PLM project or capex submission.  The techniques are logical, thorough, and work in every PLM situation.

The PLM Project Justification Handbook contains a standard, neutral methodology to quantifiy the costs, benefits and commercial value of implementing PLM. The toolset includes templates for all of the specific documents that must be produced to gain approval:- Company PLM Overview PLM Discussion Document PLM Contact Summary PLM Proposal

The methodology can be can be applied equally well by users and vendors.  The Handbook and its supporting toolset enable PLM Managers to prove that PLM is worth doing from a purely financial viewpoint.

See more about the Justification Handbook >>>

PLM Delivery takes the justification of new PLM projects to a new level, enabling vendors to participate in the process and demonstrate their commitment to the results.

The PLM Delivery Handbook enables users and their suppliers (vendors, systems integrators or consultancies) to work together to define target benefits for PLM adoption that all participants can commit to.   The Delivery Handbook adds a collaborative 'front end' to the Project Justification toolset (above).  This extra layer enables the user and vendor to participate not only in the ideation and discovery, but also in the detailed calculation process.

The fact that both user and vendor have calculated the target benefits, and feel confident to endorse them in writing, is a major boost to gaining approval.

See more about the Delivery Handbook >>>

The PLMuERP Handbook is the definitive, neutral working manual for international PLMuERP best practice.

The Handbook embodies a new approach defined as 'PLMuERP'   - the 'Union' of PLM and ERP.   The PLMuERP Handbook is a central reference point for the most accurate theory and methods, and is supported by a toolset that includes:- the PLMuERP Primer the Data Management Manual the Product Structure Standard

The Handbook formalises the vast amount of expert knowledge that exists on the subject around Europe, and resolves long-standing issues such as the role of the MBOM and the boundaries between PLM and ERP.  It enables the technical teams from both sides to work together, and to create a long-term strategy that will unify the two environments.

See more about the PLMuERP Handbook >>>

 

The CEO Briefing Document provides a rapid, tailored explanation of "What PLM Is" to Board members and VPs who may find it difficult to understand, and who may resist PLM because of this. It gives a high-level overview of PLM principles, with examples that can be used to support presentations to the Board about PLM issues or project proposals.

 

See more about the Briefing Document >>>

The PLMIG has produced the first formal, assessable standards that apply purely to PLM.  They are designed to be followed in the same way as other international standards.

  PLM Governance Standard
 

The importance of the PLM Governance Standard is that it enables companies and corporations of all sizes to calibrate the management and oversight of their PLM implementations against international best practice.

 

The PLM Governance Standard sets out a procedure for the Board or leadership of a company to follow in order to fulfil their PLM remit.   The Standard enables the Board of a company to ensure that there is an effective management and reporting structure for PLM, that provides the Board with full visibility of the subject and enables the Board to fulfil its role in directing PLM activities.

 

Every company that implements PLM should be able to adhere to this standard.  It covers all aspects of PLM Governance from the highest to the lowest levels of a company, across all organisational functions and all geographical locations.

See more about PLM Governance Standard >>>

  Product Structure Standard
 

Product Structure is an area of massive complexity for many companies, and it may be hard to imagine how a single standard could apply throughout PLM.

 

The Product Structure Standard is a neutral, accurate and robust standard that follows the natural rules of PDM. It is therefore easy for large corporations to align with their own in-house structures; and because it is simple and concise, it provides an effective template for SMEs to set up their PDM architecture. It also resolves the relationship between PLM and ERP, and is a fundamental part of the PLMuERP Handbook toolset.

 

The power of the Product Structure Standard is that it applies to all industries and product types, and highlights the hidden weaknesses in product data management that can otherwise prevent PDM implementations from operating effectively.

See more about Product Structure Standard >>>

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SMEs need a specific form of PLM approach, tailored to factors such as management style, commercial drivers, and ability to adapt.

The PLM Handbook for SMEs explains how SMEs can best understand PLM and shape themselves to match their PLM eco-system.

Learn more about SME PLM >>>

The PLM Interest Group provides neutral instruction manuals for the PLM Team to use in carrying out some of the more complex PLM activities.  The range includes:-

	Self-Assessment Toolkit	-	Can be used for internal assessment of the entire PLM setup; for comparisons of PLM progress between divisions or geographies within the organisation; or for analysis of specific issues such as process development, for example.
	Benchmarking Handbook	-	A comprehensive and proven methodology for detailed benchmarking and drill-down between different organisations, or between different corporate divisions.
	Maturity Reference Manual	-	Explains how to assess the maturity of a PLM implementation, together with the 'Full Maturity' future state and the roadmaps of how to get there.
	PLM-SCM Guidebook	-	Even though the 'Software Configuration Management' of its title has now become known as ALM, this Guidebook still sets out a practical and durable methodology for managing hybrid hardware/software products.
	PLM Manager's Handbook	-	There is still no central definition of what it means to be a PLM Manager, or what a PLM Manager should do.  The aim is to bring together the management concepts and methodologies into a Handbook that the PLM Manager can keep on his or her desk and refer to on a day-to-day basis.
	Path to PLM	-	The Path to PLM is a comprehensive framework of tools and information that leads from the first decision to try to understand PLM, through to a fully-working implementation.    It provides you with a central structure to build the optimal PLM environment within your organisation, from initial awareness to the first live system.
	Accountancy Overview	-	If PLM Benefits are to be quantified for the Board, then a basic understanding of Accountancy will be needed.    This instruction book explains the accountancy principles used even by the largest corporations, and enables the PLM Manager to work constructively with Finance Department colleagues.

See more about PLM Manager Tools >>>

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