Something PLM to say?

PLM expert? Want to have your say? I'd definitely be interested in hearing from people who want to make regular contributions to this blog. What I'm really looking for is people who have thoughts on the general state of PLM, not just technical info.

So, drop me an email at sam.carling0@googlemail.com

Pharma + PLM = regulatory compliance

It was interesting to read yesterday that there has been above average growth in the adoption of PLM in the pharmaceutical industry.

The main reason seems to be that PLM provides a great set of tools to manage the regulatory hoops that pharma companies now have to jump through in order to be compliant with a host of international mandates.

There is also an obvious benefit with PLM’s ability to streamline collaboration through the development of a new product to get it to market as quickly as possible. In a way, the compliance issues have made speed to market even more important due to the additional costs incurred as a result. Datamonitor put PLM spend by pharma companies at almost US$500 million in 2007.

You can view the full article on the MBT website.

One element of this article that I thought was especially interesting was the point that PLM needs to be viewed strategically – see my previous post on ‘What PLM is...’.

IBM Predicts Continued PLM Growth

For those of you that missed it, IBM has reiterated its confidence in PLM. The general gist of the news is that it sees PLM becoming a much broader enterprise-wide set of tools with increased collaboration, and as such plans to continue its expansion. Currently IBM has 10 centres of excellence for PLM around the World, plus a few other bits and pieces – which in total is about 3,000 PLM professionals.

Is PLM on-demand an opportunity or a slightly unsatisfactory middle ground?

PLM on-demand has been on the radar for a few years now, but what are the benefits and is it really a satisfactory PLM solution?

In broad terms, on-demand solutions refer to PLM as a ‘software-as-a-service’ (SaaS) application, often on a pay-as-you-go basis. The overriding benefit of this option is a minimal cost to entry and ongoing service based primarily on capacity. It reduces the danger of buying that end-to-end solution only to find you’re not needing its full feature list. In addition, on-demand services tend to offer inclusive upgrades and maintenance.

Sounds great. You basically get what you pay for.

But what are the catches? Is there a downside? Well, one issue occasionally mentioned is that the plethora of new and smaller companies now able to dip their toes in the proverbial PLM pool, don’t have a hell of a lot of PLM experience. This makes selecting the right on-demand solution from the ever growing number of options a rather challenging undertaking. Well, you say, surely this is the case whether they are going on-demand or for a full throttle PLM solution? Perhaps, but the nature of on-demand means quite often the buyer is presented with a huge array of options and varying functionality.

Personally, I don’t think this argument really washes. On-demand PLM has been an important part in the growth of PLM over the last couple of years. And the continued success of companies like Arena Solutions suggests there is clearly a market for it (and Arena keep it pretty simple too by having a single piece of software). Companies may not always get it absolutely right first time, but on-demand gives them an opportunity to implement PLM without breaking the bank and develop the tools that are right for them over time.

So what effect has this had on the PLM market?

Well, as previously mentioned, it has given smaller companies the opportunity to take advantage of PLM without the considerable up-front investment. This has benefited the PLM community as a whole because it has given rise to a new type of PLM customer. Once the domain of tier 1 manufacturers, traditionally aerospace and automotive, now PLM has been adopted by a much broader variety of industries, notably CPG, apparel and pharmaceuticals. The adoption by SMEs has also been accelerated by the rapidity with which an on-demand solution can deliver an ROI – such tangible results make it a much more attractive proposition than full PLM integrations where often an ROI is only seen after several years (forgive the vast generalisation - I accept that it very much depends on the nature of the product / company etc).

I also think it would be reasonable to say that on-demand PLM to a degree pioneered web based PLM functionality. Perhaps this is just as much indicative of where IT and software are moving as much as anything, but on-demand suites have rarely required the large on-site installations of a full and more ‘traditional’ PLM implementation. Online seems an inherently sensible way of delivering enterprise software and sharing information - the only reservation being security of intellectual property.

I asked ‘Is PLM on-demand an opportunity or a slightly unsatisfactory middle ground?’ Unquestionably, it is an opportunity, not just to SMEs adopting these solutions but to the PLM industry as a whole. It has broadened the accessibility of PLM, but most importantly has increased awareness of PLM as a strategic tool –unquestionably benefiting all PLM solution providers, on-demand or not.

It would be great to get some feedback of successful on-demand implementations...

PLMjobs.com – PLM coming of age?

I recently received an email from one of the guys at PLMjobs.com – the dedicated PLM job board launched in May. They were asking if I would mind giving them a link. Even though I had only just launched this blog it seemed a reasonable enough request given that I think it’s important and relevant.

However, to me this signals a shift – well, perhaps not a shift, but certainly an insight into the strength of the PLM market. The recruitment market is a good indicator of so many factors in industry. Recruitment professionals often know the state of an economy or an industry well before anyone else. They see the signs first hand. They monitor shifts in salary, they notice skill shortages, they notice slowdowns almost immediately – well before any government figures are released. And on the other side of this is that they notice growth, and exploit areas that are strong.

The advent of the job board, and the niche job board is another great indicator of the health of an individual sector. The fact that a niche site, dedicated purely to PLM, has been launched can only be a sign that PLM is in very good fettle. I’m also reliably informed that Artemis Resources, the PLM, PDM & CAD headhunter, is going from strength to strength, recently opening additional offices in the US.

A quick glance at the PLMjobs.com site shows that they have got some heavy hitters in the PLM space on board already – Dassault Systemes, Siemens PLM Software, INCAT, CENIT, Technia. I’ve been promised an interview with one of the PLMjobs Directors, Will Milling, once they’ve launched their German language site and India specific board.

Are people any clearer on what PLM actually is?

Sorry guys – I know this is done to death, and yes, I too am (almost) fed up with the debate about what PLM really is. But, like all acronyms, they are limiting and they evolve.

Unquestionably, PLM is no longer just techie vernacular that few others understand – PLM is now about strategic decisions made in the boardroom, about how every stage in the life of a product is managed. We all know that, you say. Yes, but the distinction I am making is that the technical implementation side of it, while paramount, isn’t what people think of when they think PLM. Now it stands for best practise, increased profitability, improving engineering methods, innovation. PLM has always been a catch-all acronym, but it has evolved beyond the 3 words for which it stands.

I voiced this opinion at a PLM Summit a couple of months back, perhaps as incoherently and was told I was being ‘wishy washy’. So, round two…

Is PLM consolidation a good thing?

The last couple of years have seen an ongoing consolidation of the PLM market. The purchase of Agile by Oracle, UGS by Siemens, CoCreate by PTC etc.

What impact has this had on the customer experience?

Well, firstly I don't think it's fair to lump all of these deals together - they are different beasts. Siemens, at first glance, seems to have had the most trouble free integration, or so my inside sources suggest! Oracle are a supremely organised company, so perhaps they will address a few of the inconsistency niggles that frustrated some Agile customers.

Are there any real concerns with this consolidation process? Well, to date, not really. The advantages of being able to implement an end-to-end solution that 'fits together nicely' shouldn't be underestimated. Far too frequently PLM selection has been based on existing ERP or CAD installations - not necessarily on the most appropriate PLM solution. Integration into these larger companies able to offer a complete solution will surely pay dividends.

Perhaps the only question mark is whether the smaller customers will suffer...will these increasingly large PLM vendors have the patience to manage smaller less profitable installations? Or will this create opportunities to the increasing number of vendors catering to the SME market?

Interestingly, in May's Managing Automation magazine, Dassault USA CEO Joel Lemke predicted that the number of tier-one vendors of product lifecycle management software would boil down to three in the next three to four years - Dassault Systemes, Oracle, and SAP - with SAP the most likely aquirer of PTC and Autodesk.

That remains to be seen, but it doesn't seem wholly unrealistic.

Would love to hear from someone who has been at the front-end of these takeovers...