A problem shared

Fast, collaborative working in engineering design and development – but also, crucially, out into production, the supply chain, technical publications and marketing – is essential for manufacturers wanting to face down international competition, particularly in troubled times. That's certainly the mantra from the vendors of product lifecycle management (PLM) systems. Their call is no great surprise. What is slightly more surprising is the number of ERP system developers also jumping on the PLM bandwagon. It seems the IT community is unanimous in its view that this software – with its potential to hook into everything and every department that defines products throughout their lifecycles – is the future, if not the here and now. The clear implication: if we want to improve and enable engineering design, and get it 'talking' to the business and production systems so that we can finally support real team working, we're just going to have to invest in some, if not all, of PLM. Indeed, you'll hear exponents of that view expressing it as an extension of lean thinking: for example, cutting out the waste – in terms of waiting, duplicated processes, obsolescence and quality – that inevitably results from disconnected departments, processes, people and systems. Manufacturers, however, seem to have other ideas – particularly the vast majority somewhere in the SME bracket. Understandably, they have been eyeing up another apparently expensive suite of software and likely massive implementation project effort, and collectively saying, 'on yer bike'. So is PLM all that it's cracked up to be? If so, do manufacturers, yet again, need to jump through hoops to get 'collaborative working'É well, working? The answer from our larger manufacturing colleagues is a resounding yes; PLM is worth it, it does deliver on its promises, and it might not be as onerous as you think. Most recently, organisations as varied as food giants Premier Foods and Cadbury, aerospace and defence firms BAE Systems, EADS and Bell Helicopter, energy and engineering services multi-national EFACEC, German HVAC giant Vaillant, power tools manufacturer Black & Decker and Swiss watch and clock maker Jaeger-LeCoultre, have all given PLM the thumbs up. Why? Essentially, because it enables controlled data sharing which is independent of the originating application or process – and, done well, that makes a huge difference. Glenn Isbell, PLM programme manager at Bell Helicopter, which recently upgraded its engineering data management to Dassault Systemes' Enovia V6, says it will help support significant growth at the company by standardising key business processes, while also enabling employees and suppliers worldwide to share updated product information securely and efficiently. Jaeger-LeCoultre confirms his assertions, indicating that the watchmaker's adoption of PTC's PLM solutions halved its development times and, just as important, fostered inter-departmental collaboration. Similarly, Dr Gamal Lashin, Vaillant's head of R&D, says that going live with PTC's Windchill PLM software has given the company a single, integrated platform for global collaboration, not only among its R&D departments across Europe and China, but non-engineering departments and third party suppliers, who also now get controlled access. His view: "One of the greatest challenges for product development in the next few years will be how to share the right information with the right people at the right timeÉ Engineering and non-engineering departments need to collaborate on a global scale and independently of the software system that created the original data." But, I hear you say, these are big companies with either very complex product ranges or very short product lifecycles, or both. That or they have large numbers of highly configurable products – and hence the need to focus on engineering management tools. All fair points, but these days, who doesn't share at least some of that complexity? And if it works for them... More to the point, if your challenge is continually adapting existing products and developing new ranges, while doing so faster and cheaper, then you need help. Independent engineering and business systems are always going to be a barrier, because the minimum requirement is a master database that enforces rigorous change management and, critically, also facilitates virtual group working – integrating that across all departments, from finance to distribution. As Phil Burgess, business consulting director with manufacturing ERP software conglomerate Infor, puts it: "For most manufacturers, it is very important that their engineering applications are talking to their enterprise applications so that change is managed holistically and the business is collaborating internally and externally. Remember, product changes need to be negotiated with suppliers; you can't just make decisions around engineering or even production. And if it's a customer variant, then you need PLM to close the loop – to make sure that the new parameters are captured and rolled back into your processes." Infor's solution is its PLM Optiva, which has a surprisingly large heritage of more than 10,000 users across 40-plus countries in companies such as Campina, Coca-Cola, Campbell's Soup, GE Plastics, Hormel Foods and Yves Rocher. Geerje Verhoeff, international application manager at Netherlands dairy products manufacturer Campina, says the value comes from PLM's centralised, consolidated data centre. She says that led to better information accuracy, quicker access to information from any user at any level, greater understanding of the lifecycle of each product, and the means to manage it – both proactively, anticipating demand, and reactively, dealing with issues as they arise. Verhoeff cites the data search and manipulation tools, which, she says, enable Campina to do things in timescales of a completely different order to what was possible before. "Imagine that we had to respond to a market situation where it would be helpful to have information about the sugar percent levels across an entire product range," she says. "Before Optiva, this might take a couple of weeks, depending on the number of sites that held relevant information, and how quickly it could be accessed and collated. Now we'd have that information in under 30 minutes." And Verhoeff adds that the improvements are just as profound elsewhere – for example in purchasing, which can now investigate reducing the amount of a specific ingredient or, equally, handle material shortages, making accurate assessments of the impact of each scenario. Sounds good? Yes, and reassuringly, you don't have to do the whole PLM and ERP integration piece up front. Premier Foods, which has quadrupled in size in the last four years mainly through acquisition, is a shining example of what can be done through a strategic PLM approach – in its case using SAP. Andrew Hasler, IS manager at the £2.8bn food giant, states that back in 2005 the company selected SAP as its global business software to unify disparate systems across the companies. After looking at several solutions for product development, it chose SAP for that, too – with obvious benefits for integration. However, because the SAP ERP implementation was ongoing, Premier Foods' PLM initiative has been running in parallel – and delivering excellent results. "We haven't integrated our PLM with the ERP side yet, but we have configured it so PLM generates triggers that force interactions with other departments," explains Hasler. "So, for example, if we need to update a product costing, although longer term the request will be automated, for now it is collated in PLM's gate control documents, which drive emails to relevant departments." So the key interlinking processes are there: purchasing and production are kept aware up-front that product development projects are happening, and indeed all relevant functions have access rights. "That transforms efficiency. Individual project users have much better visibility of what they're supposed to be doing and when, and no-one gets missed out. The PLM system drives alerting and reminders, and provides links to project documentation and status. It also enables users to update their areas of responsibility, rather than leaving voicemails or sending emails," says Hasler. As for the working environment, he describes multi-disciplinary, virtual teams, able at any time to participate in what amounts to a hub of information that also supports flexible project structures, with plans, team lists and milestones – all the way from project initiation to completion. At the system level, that's enabled by three key elements, he says. "First, you're managing, storing and controlling project data in one, central project library. That is invaluable because it stops the time wasting that results from people putting documents on their C drives, in filing cabinets and the rest. Second, you get standard project models for different scenarios, which drive compliance to standard processes, while also allowing flexibility. So you get efficiency, good governance and the ability to make new product development much faster and more effective. Third, you get a range of reporting capabilities. That means management can see what's going on across the whole project portfolio, and make decisions about priorities and resource utilisation, while users get the detail they need." Early integration Meanwhile, in a different sector – oil and gas – it's a similar story of improvement for Norwegian firm Multi Phase Meters (MPM), although in this case, PLM to ERP integration came earlier. Founded in 2007, the company develops specialist meters capable of simultaneously measuring oil, gas and water flows, without the expense of conventional separator plant, for the likes of Statoil Hydro, Shell and Total. Unsurprisingly, MPM is highly engineering-led and CAD manager Tor Egil Haga says one of the keys to improving its efficiency and productivity has been enabling digital data to move seamlessly from one process to the next. He explains that this was achieved by integrating its Inventor 3D CAD system with MPM's Microsoft AX ERP system, using Autodesk's Productstream PDM (product data management) engine. Explains Haga: "When we bought our new ERP system last year, it was important for us to integrate it with Inventor as soon as possible. When our Autodesk reseller, NTI Nestor, suggested Productstream as a natural companion to Vault, everything began to fall into place." Or rather, almost. Haga says there were initial difficulties in ensuring that CAD files maintained all properties, keeping all the metadata intact. Those were solved by Nestor, which adapted its transfer program PS Exporter to create the program for automatic data transfer from Productstream to Axapta. "Altogether, it took about eight months to implement, but now everything is running well," says Haga. Productstream provides version and revision controls for managing design modifications and materials lists. It ensures that design data is complete and approved, and that information is ready for transfer to ERP. AX then manages stock control, purchasing, and capacity planning and scheduling in the usual way. "It means we keep ultimate control over our design data, as Productstream does not allow unauthorised users to change it. However, the rest of the company gets more control – for example, enabling them to purchase materials early in the process and be more confident of quantities," confirms Haga. Although he is reluctant to give away efficiency figures, it's evident that Haga believes MPM is getting significant competitive advantage. "This way of working means we can be totally aware of what is happening across the entire process. We get automatic transaction histories, comments and other audit trials. Also, on the AX ERP side, there's full automation. So, for example, purchasing can do early material requests using the Inventor BoM and imported PDFs, with the submittal form tracking all revisions. The system then automatically attaches serial numbers and material certificates, where required." For Haga, integrated PLM and ERP is likely to be beneficial for most manufacturers, precisely because of the scale of automation and control. However, Premier Foods' Hasler adds a few words of caution: "If your current processes aren't working, mirroring them into a new system won't magically fix them. Be very clear about what you are trying to achieve – is it to help project managers gain visibility, or empower your people to do things better? And lastly, ensure you have effective project ownership, because there will be significant change, and not just in terms of workflow."