The Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group as a Model for Industry Collaboration

A Complimentary CIMdata Educational Webinar with James Roche, Aerospace & Defense Practice Director, CIMdata

24 September 2020
11:00 EDT | 08:00 PDT | 17:00 CEDT

Do any of the following statements sound familiar?

We face certain barriers to the smooth flow and access to product information that persist year after year.
The cost of operation and maintenance of your PLM environment consumes the major portion of our budget, leaving little for investment in innovation.
We are strapped for resources to fully explore a PLM problem area and then define and validate a requirements statement to achieve a real solution.
We feel that we are one lonely voice when trying to convey issues, requirements, and priorities to the PLM solution provider community.
There are other companies in our industry that are reinventing the wheel when it comes to basic PLM processes and practices and efficiencies could be gained if there was a way to share best practices.

After decades of individual action, a key group of aerospace and defense (A&D) companies decided their common PLM pain points could best be remediated through joint action. Examples include obsolescence management (i.e., mitigating the cost of technology refresh and the risk of data loss), design chain and supply chain collaboration, the flow of digital product definition from development to manufacture to service, and managing the multiple views of product configuration. These companies came together not to stifle competition and innovation but, on the contrary, to shift their spend profiles, increasing resources available for innovation by reducing redundant spend on common problems. And to exercise the power of speaking to the PLM solution providers with a single voice.

Over the years, the A&D PLM Action Group has funded and staffed multiple project workstreams resulting in the publication of research reports, direction statements, position papers, and, most recently, the report on a yearlong collaborative effort with leading PLM solution providers to benchmark the capability of commercially available technology to satisfy multiple-view bill of materials requirements. These publications have been released to the public and have been downloaded by the thousands via the Group’s website.

Do PLM user companies in other industries experience similar frustrations, and would the cooperative approach adopted by these A&D companies be an appropriate remedy? This webinar begins with a review of the A&D PLM Action Group’s mission and operational model. We then trace the evolution of the Group’s project workstreams, review the results achieved to date, and look to the future. We will close with a guide for self-assessment of whether a similar cooperative approach would work in your industry and suggested steps to follow if you have an interest.

What will I learn?

You will better understand the frustrations felt with the slow pace of remediation of persistent PLM pain points is shared across industries.
You will understand how persistent pain points and overbalanced spending on PLM sustainment to the detriment of innovation is being addressed successfully by collaboration in at least one major industry.
You will gain an understanding of the characteristics for determining whether PLM-related collaboration is a suitable approach in your industry and the steps to pursue if it is.

Who should attend?

PLM program and project managers, PLM program planners, product engineering process and tools decision-makers, manufacturing engineering process and tools decision-makers, service engineering process and tools decision-makers, corporate strategic planners, corporate IT planners, PLM software and service providers, and anyone interested in learning more about this topic.

During the webinar you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the topics discussed.