Enterprises of All Sizes Can Benefit from
PLM
A Position Paper from CIMdata
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, March 2nd ,
2004— Consulting and research
firm CIMdata, in a newly published position paper, expects the
application of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions
within mid-size enterprises to grow at a fast pace. This is based
on multiple factors:
• Enterprises of all sizes are recognizing
the need to improve their management of intellectual assets as
their enablers to product and process innovation;
• They are more clear of their need to become better
integrated with customers and suppliers to address cost, quality,
and delivery;
• Available solutions
have become more affordable and easier to deploy and support.
Over
the last several years, PLM has emerged as the common term used
to describe the creation, management, and use of product and plant
related information and processes (i.e., an enterprise's intellectual
assets or complete product or plant definition) throughout the
entire lifecycle and across the extended enterprise. Peter Bilello
, CIMdata Senior consultant said, “Historically, Product
Data Management (PDM) and now PLM solutions were practical primarily
for large, distributed enterprises that had the extensive
resources required to deploy and maintain them.” He added, “Today's
PLM solutions are designed not only for large companies, but also
for mid-sized enterprises in multiple industrial sectors.
Increasingly companies of all sizes are recognizing the need for
PLM solutions. At the same time, the capabilities of the solutions
being offered have improved significantly.”
Mr. Bilello added that the ability
of PLM to enable enterprises to better create and manage their
product or plant related information
and processes has been proven for some time now. “However, until
recently PLM solutions have not delivered enough prepackaged functionality
that is easy to acquire and implement at a reasonable price point
for mid-size enterprises.” He said.
Mr. Bilello explained that, “A
complete PLM solution includes a combination of the right technology,
appropriate features, best practices approaches, and focused implementation
methodologies. To truly address the requirements of mid-sized enterprises
the solution must also be easily tailored to fit the specific needs
of the organization, which facilitates implementation and gets
the solution into production as quickly as possible, at a reasonable
price point.”
This trend toward flexible and focused
solutions is good for customers and the PLM industry alike, and
CIMdata expects it to continue. The approach makes it easier for
all enterprises to improve product and plant lifecycle activities,
especially for mid-sized manufacturing enterprises.
A copy of this
short paper is available at
http://www.cimdata.com/php/download_positions.php. |
