PLM as a Craft Skill

There are some languages that are spoken but that have no written form, and must therefore be passed on through the generations by word of mouth.  Many craft skills around the world have survived only through apprenticeship and practical demonstration, because their practitioners had no formal documentation of their knowledge.

Something similar can be observed in PLM.  Despite years of implementation success the subject of PLM is still basically at the level of a craft.  In the absence of a shared body of knowledge, people learn from the best teachers they can find and then move forward by trial and error.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Perhaps this assessment is a little harsh.  After all, in PLM it is possible to find excellent advice from vendors and consultancies and, unlike stone masonry for example, PLM has the advantage of an extremely advanced software platform.  There is also widespread experience amongst the user community, which gives the potential to learn from one's peers.

Weaknesses remain, however, for two main reasons.  Firstly, the available teaching advice is proprietary, so even if it is very good the question can always be asked if it is truly neutral.  Secondly, the user community has no forum or platform to share expertise in any kind of depth.

As a result, people are still looking for answers to questions that other people may already have answered, and for confirmation that what they are doing in PLM is as good as it could be.

Industry View

This viewpoint is not confined to the PLMIG.  It has been expressed in discussions with user companies and is shared by most of the major vendors, who would value a reference body of PLM knowledge because it removes one of the major barriers to adoption in minds of users.  Everyone would benefit from standards, reference models, and from applying shared expertise to their own implementations.

The Way Forward

Since 2004, PLMIG initiatives have enabled PLM practitioners to work together to develop new knowledge in a completely neutral environment.  We are now moving towards collaboration on a much larger scale, giving the PLM industry as a whole the chance to formalise and perhaps even standardise the best knowledge and practice that currently exists.  If PLM is ever to mature as a business methodology then this is the way forward.