Цифровая платформа по разработке и применению цифровых двойников CML-Bench®
Уникальный онлайн-курс «Цифровые двойники изделий»
CAD/CAE/CFD/CAO/HPC новости 9 Марта 2005 года
Данная новость была прочитана 3699 раз

Конференция daratech SUMMIT 2005 посвященная системам PLM (product lifecycle management)

As a manufacturer, by now you’ve surely heard the buzz about PLM (product lifecycle management). But is PLM for you? If so, then what? Those were the basic questions on the table at daratechSUMMIT2005 in Boston on February 14-16. The conference drew a few hundred representatives of manufacturing companies and PLM vendors to discuss the state of the technology and the challenges of integration.

What is PLM?

Vendors often seem to define PLM in terms of which products they offer to the manufacturing community. True PLM, according to Daratech, addresses product development from ideation and conception through end-of-life disposal, and everything in between. PLM is the glue that binds together all the computer-based information used in manufacturing, and makes that information available in a useful form everywhere it can add value.

PLM enables collaboration across disciplines, aiming to achieve technological interoperability and optimize processes. John Givens, GM powertrain director, engineering math processes at General Motors, told conference attendees, “PLM can’t be just the linking of databases. It must be how that data gets used.”

The PLM Market

Daratech CEO Charles Foundyller had good news in his report on the PLM market. “PLM technology is improving and customer demand is strong,” he said. In fact, the PLM market is outperforming NASDAQ. Daratech reports that 2004 PLM spending reached $9.5 billion, up approximately 10% from 2003, and forecasts 10% growth for 2005. Suppliers are investing in R&D, Foundyller said, and changes in business models are changing how software is licensed, priced and distributed.

Who Should Use PLM?

Daratech contends in its February 2005 Industry Update bulletin, “Manufacturers that seek to boost their competitive position cannot, ultimately, afford to stand on the [PLM] sidelines. The question is no longer if, but when.”

Conference presenters continued to chip away at the old belief that PLM is only for large companies. Indeed, the success stories shared by representatives of companies such as General Motors supported that assertion; however, both UGS and Dassault Systemes -- major players in the PLM field -- report that 40% to 50% of their revenue comes from small- to medium-sized businesses.

Challenges to Adoption, Keys to Success

What stands in the way of broader PLM implementation are technical, cultural and business process challenges.

Interoperability at issue. PLM by its nature requires a variety of technologies that often weren’t built to interoperate -- a huge obstacle for manufacturers that want to build a PLM system. At daratechSUMMIT2005, one manufacturer after another beseeched PLM vendors to develop open interfaces so pieces of technology can be fit together in a seamless PLM system.

“Individual PLM strategies can only be realized with flexible IT tools that allow process integration, have open APIs and can be easily customized,” said Alfred Katzenbach, director, Information Technology, IT Processes, Standards at Mercedes Benz Car Group Development, Daimler Chrysler. Automotive companies collaborate on projects and still compete, he said. “We need this same type of collaboration among IT vendors.”

Richard Riff, Ford Technical Fellow, CAD/CAM/CAE & PLM, Ford Motor Company, said, “You will always be in a multivendor environment when you’re talking about PLM. The question is: How will you deal with it?” The answer, he said, is open APIs and standards, which requires collaboration and integration among vendors.

Bernard Charles, president and CEO of Dassault Systemes, concluded, “Over the coming years, openness will be key. The role of middleware will be critical and will change everything.”

UGS seems to be leading the pack in efforts toward interoperability. “We can’t be everything to everybody,” said Tony Affuso, chairman, president and CEO. “We have to be open.” The company’s PLM products consist of open components, open architecture and open applications, he said. The UGS-led JT-Open Program -- an initiative to develop the 3D JT data format as the standard for sharing product lifecylcle information -- now has more than 40 members, including the recently announced Autodesk and Siemens. “These members supply UGS with requirements for users’ interoperability.”

Cultural changes. Raymond Gaynor, vice president of business development, MSC.Software, described this problem succinctly: “Part of the process of PLM is it requires people to expand their job descriptions and take on responsibilities they might not otherwise -- and that is difficult.”

Design analysis, or CAE, comes front and center in the PLM process. As PLM integration evolves, said Gaynor, “We will begin integrating analysis tools up front [in the design process] so the result is designing for functionality.” This means engineers who typically work on analysis and nothing else will not only see their data used in new ways, but will need to adapt to collaborating with new people. Designers as much as engineers will have to overcome mindsets and accept new ways of working.

Business process challenges. Vendors and manufacturers alike concurred that successful integration of PLM requires companies to develop a “road map” describing their business processes and goals and how they hope to use technology to support them. GM’s Givens said companies must understand the process of engineering before they can begin to select the tools to support it.

Charles of Dassault Systemes said of PLM, “This is about a new way of doing business. Every aspect of business will have to be ‘PLM-ized.’”

No two manufacturers will have the same road map, and no magic formula exists to develop one. “We recommend an approach based on the ‘digital maturity index,’” said Affuso of UGS. “Where are they and where do they want to go, at what pace and at what cost?”

Givens added, “The benefit to the company and its customers must be the focus [of PLM integration] and very clear for all parties within the manufacturing company as you implement PLM, because there will be users whose jobs don’t change for the better.” Other speakers echoed this sentiment, saying upper-management must openly support PLM integration and be prepared to step in to push implementation forward when obstacles arise.

Andrew Rodger, PLM consulting specialists at IBM, told Cadalyst, “Successful companies employing PLM have management dedicated to making it work,” but, he added, the products they choose also must be easy to use and have benefits for each user before those users will readily accept them.

Finally, think of PLM in business terms. “This is not IT,” said Charles. “You must see [PLM] in terms of business performance and ROI. Make decisions to migrate based on your business plan and ROI, not on IT cost.”

Conclusions

PLM most certainly is still in its early stages. Daratech reports it does no know of a single, finished PLM implementation in place today. Even those manufacturers that have extensive PLM systems continue to add capability and fine-tune processes.

This means little to those who see PLM as the wave of tomorrow. “PLM has a bright and exciting future,” Foundyller said. The market will continue to grow, and market leadership will likely change, as it has historically about every 10 years. New technologies are needed to streamline processes, and collaboration will drive cross-discipline integration and change engineering education and specialization. “Education will be cross-cultural more than ever before to address this trend toward collaboration.”

Based on the give-and-take between Daratech, PLM vendors and manufacturers that convened in Boston in mid-February, PLM is here to stay. Manufacturers that wish to remain competitive, regardless of their size or their market, must begin to consider PLM as a not-too-distant goal. The secret to success seems to be developing a fundamental understanding of business processes and goals, defining where you are now and where you want to be, then determining how integrated technologies and collaboration that they bring -- in other words, PLM -- can get you there.

“You’re at the leading edge,” Foundyller told attendees. “PLM -- and what you’re doing -- will transform manufacturing.”

http://www.daratech.com

By: Nancy Spurling Johnson  http://www.cadalyst.com/