PDFisicad 2006, organized by Ledas Ltd. (www.ledas.com) and supported by SibCongress and Sib3, and held 31 May–2 June in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, Russia provided a forum for Siberia-based Russian companies to learn more about PLM and to share experiences with those who have already begun adopting PLM solutions and technologies. More than 300 individuals attended isicad 2006 (the second isicad forum) including more than 200 users and approximately 80 solution providers. Twelve companies demonstrated their solutions at the isicad 2006 exhibition hall. They included PLM, CAD/CAM, services solution providers, and technical publishers. The forum attendees represented about 135 organizations, including 85 industrial companies—users and customers of PLM and ERP solutions, 40 PLM and ERP solution providers, with the remaining representing education institutions, analytical agencies, mass-media companies, etc.
During the three-day forum, more than 40 talks were presented covering the topics of PLM, CAD/CAM/CAE, PDM, ERP integration as well as customer implementation case studies and results. PLM solution providers provided updates on PLM technology and methods and how they could be applied to improve business and worker productivity. Foreign speakers included Abdelaziz Bouras of the University of Lyon, France who discussed the types of PLM research being conducted by academic and standards institutions while Francis Bernard, a member of the Dassault Systèmes Board of Directors and the President of Dassault Systèmes Russia Corp, addressed the topic “See and Share What You Mean.” Ken Amann, CIMdata’s Director of Research, described how PLM is expanding its footprint and becoming a strategic business and IT initiative.
Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes and SAP each conducted major seminars focused on different aspects of PLM and their solutions addressed various business and technical issues. In one of the isicad 2006 highlights, managers of leading PLM solution providers took part in the roundtable discussion entitled, "Problems and Ways of Installation and Integration of PLM and ERP Solutions in Russia," which resulted in a lively attendee discussion.
“In comparison with the first forum, isicad 2006 focused on enterprise solutions, the market, and a comprehensive approach to developing efficient informational enterprise environment.” said David Levin, CEO and founder of Ledas. More details on isicad 2006, including speakers and sponsors can be found at http://www.isicad.ru/2006 and at http://ledas.com/group/press_releases/?press_num=34. Ongoing information is available at http://www.isicad.ru.
At isicad 2004 (http://isicad.ru/2004/index2.php), most attendees were just beginning to hear about PLM. Most were unsure of what PLM was and if it would be of any use or benefit to their companies. At isicad 2006, attendees were aware of PLM, were seeking more information on PLM-specific solutions and solution providers, and wanted to learn about the experiences of companies that had begun using PLM methods and technologies and the benefits they had achieved. This jump in awareness and interest represents a solid step forward in the evolution of the Siberian industrial companies to be more competitive and profitable in the global market. These industrial companies are facing many challenges. They are evolving from a business environment in which:
- planning and scheduling were centrally managed.
- requirements definition was not customer driven.
- there was no outside competition.
- they had limited supply chains and partner relationships.
- they had a captive market.
- business processes and organizations were bureaucratic and paper based.
Today they are “re-inventing” themselves to adjust to today’s intense global marketplace. They face both internal and external competition and want to expand their customer base beyond Russia. They need to develop more global supply chains and learn to collaborate with partners in a distributed environment. Most critically, they must re-engineer their business processes and organizational structures to achieve the flexibility and adaptability required to maintain a competitive position in their selected markets. At the same time, they must move from paper-based processes to digital environments. The companies attending isicad 2006 have recognized the need to adopt new techniques, processes, and technologies that can help them accomplish these goals—and many have begun that adoption. Russian companies are learning about, and beginning to implement PLM solutions to help them make these fundamental changes.
Most PLM implementations within Russian companies have, to date, been focused on core PLM capabilities such as PDM, product structure and basic workflow and change management along with the introduction of new authoring and analysis tools such as CATIA, NX, Pro/Engineer, SolidWorks, T-FLEX and others. In this respect, they lag the adoption of PLM that has taken place in the Americas and Western Europe. One of the major issues these companies will face will be changing their operating culture in order to achieve the potential of PLM deployment. However, the attendees were focused on understanding the potential benefits of PLM and what they will need to do to introduce the new technologies and processes.
While industrial companies in Russia have many challenges, they also have a large, well- educated and motivated workforce with excellent expertise in the sciences and mathematics and a country with rich natural resources. Adoption of PLM technologies and processes will provide Russian companies with the ability to be effective competitors in the global market place.
isicad 2006 was a successful forum, with a growing, diverse list of attendees, and providing companies from Siberia and other regions of Russia with information and demonstrations about PLM as well a real world examples of PLM in action in Siberia- based companies. The next forum, isicad 2008, will be held in two years at a time to coincide with the total eclipse of the sun in Siberia—an extra added attraction for attendees!
