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Concurrent Engineering Blog

5 Common Misconceptions About Product Lifecycle Management

Posted by Emma Rudeck on 04-Apr-2014 17:08:00

misconceptions product lifecycle managementFor many manufacturers, product lifecycle management can be a daunting prospect. Taking the decision to implement PLM isn’t necessarily a straightforward choice. And, this isn’t helped by common misconceptions that exist about PLM. In fact, these misconceptions can become unnecessary barriers for companies considering their options for managing their data and product lifecycles. Here are five common misconceptions about product lifecycle management.

1.  Product Lifecycle Management is far too complex

To be clear, PLM implementations do take time and planning. Poorly resourced projects will suffer as a result. But, in reality, the advantages of PLM overcome the perceived complexity. In the long term, PLM helps organisations to manage their product complexities. And, even the challenges of implementation can be overcome by working with an experience PLM provider.

2.  Selecting the right PLM system can be left to one person

Selecting PLM requires a real understanding of your company's market, strategy and product development environment—along with all product improvements currently under consideration. Leaving the decision for selecting your PLM system to one person within the organisation is likely to mean that information vital to making the right choice is missed.

Securing input from Company Directors, Senior Engineers, and Designers will help you to make a more informed and therefore more appropriate choice.

3.  Implementing PLM is the same as integrating PLM

Implementing a PLM system, without having a considered and structured rollout plan for the whole organisation, means it will be a real challenge to integrate it with the whole organisation.

Knowing how you are going to train all relevant staff and get them up to speed with the system is a vital aspect of ensuring it is a success.

4.  You’ve always managed without a PLM system, so you don’t need one now

It can be tempting to put PLM down the agenda and focus instead on more short-term projects. But, while everything can seem fine and manageable today, what happens in 3, 5 or 10 years time when you have even more products, even more data, and even more processes to manage?

If projects are already running late and/or over-budget, then delaying the implementation of PLM software is only going to delay the opportunity to resolve this. Even if your company remains competitive today, this will not necessarily be the case.

5.   PLM is just about technology

Too many companies consider PLM in terms of technology, rather than think of it terms of the overall benefits it brings to a company.

In reality, PLM is more than just a new tool; it is a new way to approach the way you manage and communicate all of your product information.

While planning for and implementing PLM will require a level of technical expertise, the success of an implementation is more likely to rest on how well it is communicated with the rest of the organisation.

Are you ready to take the next steps? Find out more about how PLM help your organisation by downloading our whitepaper: 10 Steps to Selecting PLM

 

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