CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

25 October 2004

Implementation Investments

Parker Hannifin Implements Sopheon's Product Development System

Sopheon announced that Parker Hannifin Corporation, the $7 billion global market leader in motion and control products, has initiated rollout of Sopheon's Accolade product development system under an enterprise-wide license agreement. Parker's deployment of Accolade is part of a broad strategy to generate additional revenue growth from new products.

Based in Cleveland, Parker Hannifin consists of eight business groups encompassing 107 divisions that supply motion and control products and engineered systems to 390,000 customers throughout the world. Parker has set a goal of improving top-line performance and profitability through a combination of continued acquisitions-which have historically accounted for approximately half of its growth-and increased product innovation. Plans include company-wide implementation of Stage-Gate, one of today's most predominant product development methodologies.

Parker sought a software system as part of a pilot initiative, to support implementation and ensure adoption of Stage-Gate by cross-functional, cross-divisional teams at six operating units within its Automation Group. The company reviewed three lifecycle management software solutions and selected Accolade based on such considerations as its ease-of-use, speed of deployment, built-in best-practices content and capacity to make optimal use of Microsoft technologies already prevalent at Parker. Subsequent success of the pilot initiative resulted in a decision to purchase an enterprise-wide license for the Accolade system. Parker and Sopheon are now working together to roll out Accolade in a scenario that includes using Microsoft Office Project technology to enhance collaboration in the product development process.

"Parker's goal, simply stated, is to increase revenue and profit from new products. The strategic blueprint for achieving that goal is in place, but its success depends upon having the right methodologies and tools to support implementation," said Craig Maxwell, Parker's vice president of technology and innovation. "Accolade gives us a best-practices communication network with a common, business-driven language for design engineering. For the first time, we will have the ability to collaborate simultaneously across all eight Parker operating groups, located throughout 46 countries and in multiple time zones. We're confident that this tool will help leverage our ability to provide customers with higher-value systems solutions."

Bob McAdoo, Parker's director of IT applications, noted a range of technology-related advantages to adopting Sopheon's solution. "The quality of the software is very sound. Because we are deploying Accolade across the entire company, it was important to validate its design for scalability. We examined the software's architecture ourselves, then had it evaluated by an outside expert. The conclusion was that it will scale to our needs. We will also benefit from Accolade's capacity to integrate with Microsoft solutions. Not only will this integration add another layer of sophistication to Accolade's project management capabilities, it will extend the use and value of the Microsoft technologies operating throughout our company."

Parker's implementation of the Accolade system includes process modeler functionality that automates and guides the product development process with built-in best-practices; portfolio management capabilities that allow the early identification of product winners and losers; a resource planning module that enables centralized management of project resources; idea management and screening functionality to facilitate the generation, capture and assessment of product ideas; and "smart" Excel technology that speeds project reporting with two-way integration between standard, centralized workbooks and Accolade.

"Manufacturers are under pressure to lower costs, improve margins, reduce time-to-market and quickly respond to industry changes and customer requests," said Don Richardson, director, Manufacturing Industry Unit at Microsoft. "In this competitive, fast-moving environment, it is important for companies to increase their collaboration and communication abilities while utilizing their existing technology investments. Parker Hannifin recognized that and is implementing Sopheon's Accolade solution built on Microsoft technology to achieve its goal."

"Parker's adoption of Accolade is noteworthy for a number of reasons," said Andy Michuda, chief executive officer of Sopheon. "First, although our system has earned its reputation for market leadership largely in the process industries, Parker's use of Accolade is further demonstration that it is also a viable answer to the product lifecycle management needs of discrete manufacturers. Second, Parker's due diligence and early implementation success underline Accolade's capacity to scale for enterprise use. Third, Parker has a clear vision of how the integration of principal Microsoft technologies into Accolade can compound the value they are deriving from both. That vision is consistent with the fact that Accolade was designed from the ground up to take advantage of Microsoft collaboration platforms and tools to achieve such advantages as ease-of-use and fast implementation. Ultimately, by encouraging process adoption and adherence, streamlining process steps and enabling better portfolio decision-making, Accolade will help Parker to better capitalize on opportunities for revenue growth through new products."

With annual sales of more than $7 billion, Parker Hannifin provides precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. The company employs more than 48,000 people in 46 countries around the world. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for 48 consecutive years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. For more information, please visit http://www.parker.com/ , or its investor information site at http://www.phstock.com .

 

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