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Do you ever think about where we’ll be ten years from now? I’ve noticed I ask that question more and more these days. Probably because I have the time, not being involved anymore in day-to-day business and alerts.
Interestingly, we tend to assume that long-term thinking is someone else’s job — left to business management and governments. Roadmaps, strategies, and vision stories have always been part of my work with companies.
And yet, the dominant reality right now is a dramatic focus on the short term — driven by populism on one side and quarterly profit targets on the other. The result is a collective inability to make decisions that matter for the next decade, let alone the next generation.
The current war in the Middle East has made something painfully visible that many of us already knew: we are dangerously dependent on fossil fuels.
Around 40 percent of global shipping is tied to fossil fuel supply chains. Countries that have not invested in energy independence are now feeling that vulnerability acutely.
The energy transition is not just an environmental ambition — it is a geopolitical necessity.
- China understood this years ago and has been investing accordingly.
- AI data centers are now one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand, and even in Texas, they are building wind and solar parks to keep that energy demand under their own control.
- And Cuba — pushed by American sanctions — has been forced to innovate into wind and solar energy, with Chinese support. These are not coincidences.
They are signals that working on an energy transition makes you less vulnerable!
A real “burning platform”!
While we see burning platforms in the Middle East, we are also in a classic “burning platform” situation — a phrase from the world of change management that captures a simple truth: people only change when staying the same becomes more costly than changing.
It’s a depressing observation about human nature — and one I keep coming back to whenever I see exciting possibilities on the horizon that we simply refuse to act on.
The fossil fuel dependency is one burning platform, willingly used at the moment by those countries and companies that are benefiting from this industry.
The downside is that the path towards a more circular economy — reducing waste, rethinking production, designing for longevity — is equally urgent and equally neglected.
This is precisely why the PLM Green Global Alliance (PGGA) exists — to keep these conversations alive and focus on the topics that support a sustainable future.
Four weeks ago, I launched a survey among our new LinkedIn group members. Due to a low response rate, I extended it to the whole group two weeks later.
The takeaway? Even within this community, the energy transition and sustainability don’t appear to feel like a burning platform — something demanding urgent action.
PLM Green Global Alliance survey
A quick overview of the responses — given the low number of replies, treat this as an indication rather than a statistically solid survey.
Although we launched the PGGA as a truly GLOBAL alliance — with core team members from both the US and Europe — the membership skews heavily toward the EMEA region. The political climate and culture of each region explain a lot about that.
It’s encouraging to see that most people joined out of personal interest, with professional motivations also playing a role. That tells us the PGGA needs to keep its focus on sharing real experiences — not just theory.
LCA (Life Cycle Analysis or Life Cycle Assessments) stands out as a strong area of interest — and the good news is that several of our core team members are actively working on it. Don’t hesitate to post your questions to the group.
On the Digital Product Passport (DPP), we’re planning an interview and/or webinar. The DPP is a great example of a topic that’s as much about digitizing product information as it is about methodology.
As you may have seen the post The show must go on – but will it be sustainable? last week. Erik Rieger and Matthew Sullivan, the Design for Sustainability team, are actively looking for more participants to help shape guidance in this area.
The answers illustrate that for most people, working on sustainability activities is (still) not part of their daily mission.
Question 5 allowed the participants to vote for topics of interest, and we can summarize the answers as follows:
- Understand what PLM solution providers are offering (we continue with our interviews)
- Discussing how to determine the carbon impact/LCA in the full scope, not only in the design scope and how various platforms contribute to it in the various lifecycle stages.
- Design for Sustainability guidance and info
- The role of PLM and AI in the context of sustainability
Since the survey was anonymous, we can’t link answers to specific regions. But we’re aware that in some countries, polarization has made certain topics off-limits — either by mandate or out of fear of a difficult working atmosphere.
The last two questions were about potential involvement for the PGGA from the people answering the survey. 3 people responded positively to support the PGGA in action.
Within the PGGA, everyone is welcome to share their perspective — with respect for those who see it differently. It’s not about being right or wrong. It’s about the dialogue, and about finding paths forward to a future that’s sustainable not just for the planet, but for businesses and the people within them.
A low response or apathy?
The survey results are interesting on their own — but when you combine them with the low response rate, they say something more: even in communities that care, mobilizing action is hard.
Are we too busy with the short term, or have we become apathetic to what is happening around us and have the feeling our efforts do not matter?
On that last point, I keep thinking of Hannah Arendt — the German-American historian and philosopher who lived from October 1906 till December 1975.
Her famous book, published after the Second World War, is The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), an alarming book if you read it in today’s context.
My favorite quote from this book:
Written in the context of the Holocaust, it explained how the indifference of ordinary people allowed atrocities to unfold. Arendt warns against moral detachment. Staying informed and engaged takes effort — but it’s the effort that matters.
Today, she might write:
“Evil thrives on social media, and cannot exist without it.”
To conclude
So what can we do? The conclusion is simple, even if the execution is not directly possible: don’t just watch it burn. Every one of us has a space of influence — in our companies, in our communities, in our professional networks. The energy transition, the circular economy, the push for longer-term thinking — none of these will happen because a government issued a directive or a CEO signed a strategy paper. They happen because individuals within their sphere of influence decide to make them happen.
Where are you standing?
Respond with a “like” if you care!
This blog post is especially written for our PLM Global Green Alliance LinkedIn members — a message from a “boomer” to the next generation of PLM enthusiasts.
If you belong to that next generation, please read until the end and share your thoughts.
With last week’s announcement from the US government, no longer treating greenhouse gas emissions as a threat to the planet or climate.
We see a push to remove regulations that limit companies from continuing or expanding business without considering the broader consequences for other countries and future generations.
It feels like a short-term, greedy decision, largely influenced by those who benefit from fossil-carbon economies. Decisions like this make the energy transition harder, because the path of least resistance is always the easiest to follow.
Transitions are never simple. But when science is ignored, data is removed, and opinions replace facts, we are no longer supporting a transition — we are actively working against it.
My Story
When I started working in the PLM domain in 1999, climate change already existed in the background of society. The 1972 Limits to Growth report by the Club of Rome had created waves long before, encouraging some people to rethink business and lifestyle choices.
For me, however, it stayed outside my daily focus. I was at the beginning of my career, excited about the new challenges.
And important to notice that connecting to the internet with a 28k modem was the standard, a world without social media constantly reminding us of global issues.
I enjoyed my role as the “Flying Dutchman,” travelling around the world to support PLM implementations and discussions. Flying was simply part of the job. Real communication meant being in the same room; early phone and video calls were expensive, awkward, and often ineffective. PLM was — and still is — a human business.
Back then, the effects of carbon emissions and global warming felt distant, almost abstract. Only around 2014 did the conversation become more mainstream for me, helped by social media, before algorithms and bots began driving polarization.
In 2015, while writing about PLM and global warming, I realized something that still resonates today: even when we understand change is needed, we often stick to familiar habits, because investments in the future rarely deliver immediate ROI for ourselves or our shareholders.
The PLM Green Global Alliance
When Rich McFall approached me in 2019 with the idea of creating an alliance where people and companies could share ideas and experiences around sustainability in the PLM domain, I was immediately interested — for two reasons.
- First, there was a certain sense of responsibility related to my past activities as the Flying Dutchman. Not guilt — life is about learning and gaining insight — but awareness that I needed to change, even if the past could not be changed.
- Second, and more importantly, the PLM Green Global Alliance offered a way to contribute. It gave me a reason to act — for personal peace of mind and for future generations. Not only for my children or grandchildren, but for all those who will share this planet with them.
In the first years of the PGGA, we saw strong engagement from younger professionals. Over time, however, we noticed that career priorities often came first — which is understandable.
Like me at the start of my career, many focus first on building their future. Career and sustainability can coexist, but investing extra time in long-term change is not easy when daily responsibilities already demand so much.
Your Chance to Work on the Future
The real challenge lies with those willing to go the extra mile — staying focused on today’s business while also investing energy in the long-term future.
At the same time, I understand that not everyone is in a position to speak out or dedicate time to sustainability initiatives. Circumstances differ. For many, current responsibilities leave little space for additional commitments.
Still, for those willing to join us, we have two requests to better understand your expectations.
Two weeks ago, I connected with our 40 newest members of the PLM Green Global Alliance. We are now close to 1,600 members — up from around 1,500 in September 2025, as mentioned in Working on the Long Term.
That post was a gentle call to action. Seeing our PGGA membership continue to grow is encouraging — and naturally raises a question:
1. What motivates people to join the PGGA LinkedIn group?
So far, only a small number of the recent new members have completed a survey that was especially sent to them to explore changing priorities. Due to the low response, we extended the invitation to all members. We are curious about your expectations — and quietly hopeful about your involvement.
If you haven’t filled in the survey yet, please click here and share your feedback. The survey is anonymous unless you choose to leave your details for follow-up. We will share the results in approximately 2 weeks from now.
2. Design for Sustainability – your contribution?
Last year, Erik Rieger and Matthew Sullivan launched a new workgroup within the PLM Green Global Alliance focused on Design for Sustainability. While the initial energy was strong, changes in personal priorities meant the team could not continue at the pace they hoped. Since many new members have joined since last May, we decided to relaunch the initiative.
If you are interested in contributing to the revival of Design for Sustainability, please take five minutes to complete the short survey. Your input will help shape the direction of the DfS working group and frame future discussions.
Note: If you are worried about clicking on the links for the survey, you can always contact us directly (in private) to share your ambition
Conclusion
The outside world often pushes us to focus only on daily business. In some places, there is even active pressure to avoid long-term sustainability investments. Remember that pressure often comes from those invested in keeping the current system unchanged.
If you care about the future — your generation and those that follow — stay engaged. Small actions by millions of people can create meaningful change.
We look forward to your input and participation.
— says the boomer who still cares 😉
On November 11th, we celebrated our 5th anniversary of the PLM Green Global Alliance (PGGA) with a webinar where ♻️ Jos Voskuil (me) interviewed the five other PGGA core team members about developments and experiences in their focus domain, potentially allowing for a broader discussion.
In our discussion, we focused on the trends and future directions of the PLM Green Global Alliance, emphasizing the intersection of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and sustainability.
Probably, November 11th was not the best day for broad attendance, and therefore, we hope that the recording of this webinar will allow you to connect and comment on this post.
Enjoy the discussion – watch it, or listen to it, as this time we did not share any visuals in the debate. Still, we hope to get your reflections and feedback on the interview related to the LinkedIn post.
The discussion centered on the trends and future directions of the PLM Green Global Alliance, with a focus on the intersection of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and sustainability.
Short Summary
♻️ Rich McFall shared his motivations for founding the alliance, highlighting the need for a platform that connects individuals committed to sustainability and addresses the previously limited discourse on PLM’s role in promoting environmental responsibility. He noted a significant variance in vendor engagement with sustainability, indicating that while some companies are proactive, others remain hesitant.
The conversation delved into the growing awareness and capabilities of how to perform a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with ♻️ Klaus Brettschneider, followed by the importance of integrating sustainability into PLM strategies, with ♻️ Mark Reisig discussing the ongoing energy transition and the growing investments in green technologies, particularly in China and Europe.
♻️ Evgeniya Burimskaya raised concerns about implementing circular economy principles in the aerospace industry, emphasizing the necessity of lifecycle analysis and the upcoming digital product passport requirements. The dialogue also touched on the Design for Sustainability initiative, led by ♻️ Erik Rieger, which aims to embed sustainability into the product design phase, necessitating a cultural shift in engineering education to prioritize sustainability.
Conclusion
We concluded with understanding the urgent realities of climate change, but also advocating for an optimistic mindset in the face of challenges – it is perhaps not as bad as it seems in the new media. There are significant investments in green energy, serving as a beacon of hope, which encourage people to remain committed to collaborative efforts in advancing sustainable practices.
We agreed on the long-term nature of behavioral change within organizations and the role of the Green Alliance in fostering this transformation, concluding with a positive outlook on the potential for future generations to drive necessary changes in sustainability.
Recently, we initiated the Design for Sustainability workgroup, an initiative from two of our PGGA members, Erik Rieger and Matthew Sullivan. You can find a recording of the kick-off here on our YouTube channel.
Thanks to the launch of the Design for Sustainability workgroup, we were introduced to Dr. Elvira Rakova, founder and CEO of the startup company Direktin.
Her mission is to build the Digital Ecosystem of engineering tools and simulation for Compressed Air Systems. As typical PLM professionals with a focus on product design, we were curious to learn about developments in the manufacturing space. And it was an interesting discussion, almost a lecture.
Compressed air and Direktin
Dr. Elvira Rakova has been working with compressed air in manufacturing plants for several years, during which she has observed the inefficiency of how compressed air is utilized in these facilities. It is an available resource for all kinds of machines in the plant, often overdimensioned and a significant source of wasted energy.
To address this waste of energy, linked to CO2 emissions, she started her company to help companies scale, dimension, and analyse their compressed air usage. A mix of software and consultancy to make manufacturing processes using compressed air responsible for less carbon emissions, and for the plant owners, saving significant money related to energy usage.
For us, it was an educational discussion, and we recommend that you watch or listen to the next 36 minutes
What I learned
- The use of compressed air and its energy/environmental impact were like dark matter to me.
I never noticed it when visiting customers as a significant source to become more sustainable. - Although the topic of compressed air seems easy to understand, its usage and impact are all tough to address quickly and easily, due to legacy in plants, lack of visibility on compressed air (energy usage) and needs and standardization among the providers of machinery.
- The need for data analysis is crucial in addressing the reporting challenges of Scope 3 emissions, and it is also increasingly important as part of the Digital Product Passport data to be provided. Companies must invest in the digitalization of their plants to better analyze and improve energy usage, such as in the case of compressed air.
- In the end, we concluded that for sustainability, it is all about digital partnerships connecting the design world and the manufacturing world and for that reason, Elvira is personally motivated to join and support the Design for Sustainability workgroup
Want to learn more?
- Another educational webinar: Design Review Culture and Sustainability
- Explore the Direktin website to learn more
Conclusions
The PLM Green Global Alliance is not only about designing products; we have also seen lifecycle assessments for manufacturing, as discussed with Makersite and aPriori. These companies focused more on traditional operations in a manufacturing plant. Through our lecture/discussion on the use of compressed air in manufacturing plants, we identified a new domain that requires attention.
Don’t forget to register for our sustainability in action event on November 11th
Last week we celebrated World Ozone Day on September 16 again. Forty years ago, many nations united to protect the ozone layer through science and action.
For those who missed the excitement, it started with a historic environmental agreement: the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
What has happened?
In the 1970s and 1980s, scientists discovered that CFCs from refrigerators, sprays, and foams were damaging the ozone layer. In 1985, the “ozone hole” over Antarctica was confirmed. Also, the ozone layer at the Arctic side showed signs of depletion.
As a result of these findings, the Montreal Protocol was adopted on September 16, 1987. It is a global treaty signed by virtually all countries concerning the rapid elimination of substances that deplete the ozone layer.
Countermeasures are slowly restoring the ozone layer, making the treaty a success story.
What were the reasons for success?
Although scientists engaged in a discussion about the scientific evidence, there were no significant economic forces behind the scenes influencing the scientific research.
The lack of substantial financial dependencies, combined with the absence of social media and Duning-Kruger experts, led to the belief that human influence on the Earth’s atmosphere could be stopped.
And probably an even more important fact, the depletion of the ozone layer was at the poles, making, in particular, the richer countries more vulnerable to the effects.
Where most attention focused on the hole above the South Pole, affecting New Zealand and Australia, the thinner layer at the North Pole was making Canada, the US, and Northern Europe vulnerable.
What have we learned?
- Switching from CFCs was a minor inconvenience for consumers. Now we all accept the current solutions.
- There was enough consensus in science when the majority of scientists agreed. In addition, there were no undermining forces with financial stakes in CFCs. Science was leading.
- Today, science struggles as stakeholders sponsor research to protect their interests. In addition, social media is used to recruit supporters in a polarized environment (the side effect of social media)
- Ultimately, after 40 years, the hole in the Ozone layer gets smaller and smaller and hopefully becomes normal. We keep on working on the long term.
The PLM Green Global Alliance
When Rich McFall approached me at the end of 2019 to start the PLM Green Global Alliance together, there was a kind of consensus that we human beings both influence the planet’s climate and its natural resources.
Where Rich focused on the causes and consequences of climate change due to human-generated greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from products and processes, my additional focus was broader, encompassing Sustainability in the context of where PLM practices could have an impact.
Our idea was to bring people together to address these issues by sharing thoughts and practices or enabling discussions in the context of PLM-related technologies.
Can we develop more eco-friendly products, and what are the conditions required?
Meanwhile, six years later, a lot has happened for better and for worse. Here is a set of observations
The PLM Green Global Alliance continues to grow.
Currently, we have over 1,500 registered members in our LinkedIn group.
Historically, most members came from Europe and then the US; now, India is catching up and approaching the number of US members.
This trend suggests that the focus of the alliance should shift slightly and seek more contributors from Asian countries.
We look forward to having Asian representatives in our PLM Green Global Alliance to gain a deeper understanding and engage in discussions about global issues.
Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in joining the core team. It might be a challenge to have group meetings that accommodate all time zones, but the planet is still relatively small compared to the universe – nothing is impossible.
The tools are there ..
In PLM, we often discuss people, processes, and then the tools. Here, we can confirm that, through our work and discussions with major PLM vendors, they are all providing tools and, in some cases, embedded practices to support a more sustainable product development process.
Have a look at our YouTube channel: The PLM Green Global Alliance channel.
The tools for generative design, life cycle assessment, and, of course, digital twins for the various lifecycle phases can help companies to develop and manufacture more sustainable products.
However, as mentioned, the tools will only be practical when the people have the mandate and when the processes are transformed into data-driven ones.
The need for a data-driven approach
Two years ago, during the PLM Roadmap/PDT Europe conference in Gothenburg, I had already mentioned that Sustainability might prompt companies to invest more time and effort in achieving a digital transformation in their PLM domain.
Compliance with regulations can be challenging when you still need to collect data from various sources with a lot of “guesstimate”. Greenhouse gas reporting, ESG reporting, and the upcoming Digital Product Passport can only be done efficiently if data is directly accessible without requiring people to collect it.
Unfortunately, in my recent discussions with companies, particularly management, they are not seeking a fundamental digital transformation from a document-driven approach to a data-driven and model-based approach.
Part of this challenge is the lack of education among top management, who are primarily focused on efficiency gains rather than adopting new approaches or mitigating risk.
The other challenge is that, as most companies lag behind on this topic, they do not feel the pressure of competition and do not want to take the risk of being first.
I will discuss this last topic in my upcoming PLM blog
It is about the people!
However, first and foremost, the most critical factor in driving sustainability within organizations is the people. Where companies are challenged in creating a green image, including the introduction of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), there has always been resistance from existing business leaders, who prioritize money and profitability.
The global shift towards right-wing capitalism and efforts to remove regulations supporting sustainability are currently impacting these efforts. The term “Sustainability” has become negatively connoted, similar to “PLM” (Product Lifecycle Management – Don’t mention the P** word), and there is a need to reframe discussions at the management level to focus on risk mitigation and business strategies.
Where politicians might avoid a long-term vision, there are examples of companies like Ørsted, Pacific Gas & Electric, Maersk, the Holcim group, BlackRock, IKEA and more that are adopting sustainable practices as a risk mitigation strategy for the future and securing their companies’ long-term existence.
An interesting game changer for both businesses and behavior might be the rising costs of insurance against natural disasters. As the graph shows, the estimated global insured losses due to natural disasters over the last 15 years have increased significantly, starting in 2019. In the richer countries, the governments might be pushed to provide financial help after a disaster, but this will also have a (taxpayer) limit.
We are the people!
There is a lot we can do as a PLM Green Global Community. Have you read CIMdata’s commentary, written by our Sustainability & Energy core team member Mark Reisig – read the full article here: How PLM is Decarbonizing Automotive Transport—Amid Political Uncertainty, addressing the importance of modern digital PLM to support digital twin, digital thread and digital product passport implementations.
Or the paper from our core team member, LCA specialist Klaus Brettschneider, with the title The Sustainability Thread – Rethinking the digital thread to drive sustainability performance and green R&D, again stressing the importance of extending the digital thread to include sustainability metrics, enabling companies to design, produce, and operate products more efficiently while reducing environmental impact and supporting green R&D.
Additionally, there are the monthly ESG newsletters from Vincent De La Mar of Sustaira, as well as the recent interview with Vincent, in which PGGA and Sustaira continue to discuss sustainability. Sustaira helps companies with a sustainability reporting platform on top of their existing enterprise systems. A first step that is needed to understand where measures have an impact.
A regular guest at our discussions, Dave Duncan, Head of Sustainability at PTC, who published this year a very comprehensive, free-to-download book: Product Sustainability for Dummies. We also had a great discussion about the Product Service System, a mandatory business model for sustainable business.
And recently, we saw the kick-off for the Design for Sustainability workgroup, organised by Erik Reiger and Matthew Sullivan. They are in the process of establishing this workgroup, where there will be more discussion and information exchanged between the workgroup members about the people and process angle (Erik‘s focus) and the tools and technology dimension (Matthew‘s focus)
The post concludes with Rich McFall, who, in 2018, observed that there was so little organized action fighting climate change and started to motivate people to launch the PLM Green Global Alliance. It was his initiative to bring people together and raise awareness about the fact that, as a PLM community, we can help one another and start making a difference. Rich helped us a lot in setting up the website and ensuring that we have regular updates and a persistent storage of the information generated.
Working on the long term
We are still in the awareness phase and are seeing progress in the field. There is more to come and share, and we need your help. Working on the long term in a hectic day-to-day environment can be a challenge. However, in the end, if each of us helps our business and social ecosystem move towards a more sustainable economy and planet, we are moving in the right direction. It will take time, but we have an undeniable mission. Join and help us!
Just before or during the summer holidays, we were pleased to resume our interview series on PLM and Sustainability, where the PLM Green Global Alliance interviews PLM-related software vendors and service organizations, discussing their sustainability missions and offerings.
Following recent discussions in the PLM ecosystem, including PSC Transition Technologies (EcoPLM), CIMPA PLM services (LCA), and the Design for Sustainability working group (with multiple vendors & service partners), we now have the opportunity to catch up with Sustaira after almost three years.
In 2022, Sustaira was a startup company focused on building and providing data-driven, efficient support for sustainability reporting and analysis based on the Mendix platform, while engaging with their first potential customers. What has happened in those three years?
SUSTAIRA
Sustaira provides a sustainability management software platform that helps organizations track, manage, and report their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance through customizable applications and dashboards.
We spoke again with Vincent de la Mar, founder and CEO of Sustaira, and it was pretty clear from our conversation that they have evolved and grown in their business and value proposition for businesses. As you will discover by listening to the interview, they are not, per se, in the PLM domain.
Enjoy the 35-minute interview below.
Slides shown during the interview, combined with additional company information, can be found HERE.
What we have learned
- Sustaira is a modular, AI-driven sustainability platform. It offers approximately 150 “sustainability accelerators,” which are either complete Software as a Service (SaaS) products (such as carbon accounting, goal/KPI tracking, and disclosures) or adaptable SaaS products that allow for complete configuration of data models, logic, and user interfaces.
- Their strategy is based on three pillars:
- providing an end-to-end sustainability platform (Ports of Jersey),
- filling gaps in an enterprise architecture and business needs (Science-Based Target Initiatives)
- Co-creating new applications with partners (BCAF with Siemens Financial Services)
- The company has a pragmatic view on AI and thanks to its scalable, data-driven Mendix platform, it can bring integrated value compared to niche applications that might become obsolete due to changing regulations and practices (e.g., dedicated CSRD apps)
- The Sustainability Global Alliance, in partnership with Capgemini, is a strategic alliance that benefits both parties, with a focus on AI & Sustainability.
- The strong partnership with Siemens Digital Solutions.
- Their monthly Sustainability and ESG Insights newsletter, also published in our PGGA group, already has 55.000 subscribers.
Want to learn more?
The following links provide more information related to Sustaira:
- About Sustaira:
- Sustaira’s sustainability marketplace
- Siemens and Sustaira partnership
- Capgemini and Sustaira partnership
- Customer Case Stories
- The Sustainability Insights LinkedIn Newsletter
- Navigating CSRD
- Content Hub (requires registration)
Conclusion
It was great to observe how Sustaira has grown over the past three years, establishing a broad portfolio of sustainability-related solutions for various types of businesses. Their relationship with Siemens Digital Solutions enables them to bring value and add capabilities to the Siemens portfolio, as their platform can be applied to any company that needs a complementary data-driven service related to sustainability insights and reporting.
Follow the news around this event – click on the image to learn more.
Within the PLM Green Global Alliance (PGGA), we had an internal kick-off meeting related to the topic of Design for Sustainability. As you might have seen on our website, Erik Rieger, PLM Evangelist and now working for PTC, took the initiative to start this focus group.
You might know Erik from a previous interview from the PGGA where we discussed TTPSC’s ecoPLM offering based on Windchill: PLM and Sustainability: talking about ecoPLM.
When Erik announced the Design for Sustainability initiative, it was Matthew Sullivan from CIMPA PLM Service who immediately contacted Erik to work together on this initiative.
And again, you might know CIMPA PLM services from our recent interview with them related to regulations and best practices related to sustainability in the aerospace industry (CSRD, LCA, DPP, AI and more): PLM and Sustainability: talking with CIMPA.
Erik and Matthew decided to participate in an introductory interview, during which they shared their background, passion, and goals related to Design for Sustainability.
Watch the episode here:
Why Design for Sustainability?
Design for Sustainability (DfS) is an approach to designing products, services, systems, and experiences that prioritize environmental, social, and economic sustainability throughout their entire lifecycle. It means creating things in a way that reduces negative impacts on the planet and people while still being functional, profitable, and desirable.
In theory, this should be one of the key areas in which our PGGA members can have a common discussion.
As Erik mentions, it is estimated that 80 % of the environmental impact is defined during the design phase. This is a number that has been coming back in several of our PGGA discussions with all the other software vendors.
More on Design for Sustainability
Just after the recording, Dave Duncan, head of Sustainability at PTC, published the eBook Product Sustainability for Dummies. An excellent book that brings all aspects of sustainability and products together in an easy-to-digest manner. There is also a chapter on Design for Sustainability in the eBook.
Note: Dave Duncan is a recognized PGGA leader in PLM and Sustainability, as we reported last year.
Read the post here: Leaders in PLM and Sustainability – December 2024
A call for action
We hope you watched and enjoyed the interview with Erik and Matthew as an inspiration to become active in this Design for Sustainability discussion group.
The intention is, as mentioned, to share experiences and discuss challenges within the group. It will be a private group where people can discuss openly to avoid any business conflicts. The plan is to start with an initial kick-off Zoom meeting in June the date still to be fixed.
If you are interested in joining this exciting discussion group, please contact Erik Rieger, who will be the focal point for this group. We are looking forward to your contribution, and now is the time to prepare and act.
Join us in the discussion
Most times in this PLM and Sustainability series, Klaus Brettschneider and Jos Voskuil from the PLM Green Global Alliance core team speak with PLM related vendors or service partners.
This year we have been speaking with Transition Technologies PSC, Configit, aPriori, Makersite and the PLM Vendors PTC, Siemens and SAP.
Where the first group of companies provided complementary software offerings to support sustainability – “the fourth dimension”– the PLM vendors focused more on the solutions within their portfolio.
This time we spoke with , CIMPA PLM services, a company supporting their customers with PLM and Sustainability challenges, offering an end-to-end support.
What makes them special is that they are also core partner of the PLM Global Green Alliance, where they moderate the Circular Economy theme – read their introduction here: PLM and Circular Economy.
CIMPA PLM services
We spoke with Pierre DAVID and Mahdi BESBES from CIMPA PLM services. Pierre is an environmental engineer and Mahdi is a consulting manager focusing on parts/components traceability in the context of sustainability and a circular economy. Many of the activities described by Pierre and Mahdi were related to the aerospace industry.
We had an enjoyable and in-depth discussion of sustainability, as the aerospace industry is well-advanced in traceability during the upstream design processes. Good digital traceability is an excellent foundation to extend for sustainability purposes.
CSRD, LCA, DPP, AI and more
A bunch of abbreviations you will have to learn. We went through the need for a data-driven PLM infrastructure to support sustainability initiatives, like Life Cycle Assessments and more. We zoomed in on the current Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive(CSRD) highlighting the challenges with the CSRD guidelines and how to connect the strategy (why we do the CSRD) to its execution (providing reports and KPIs that make sense to individuals).
In addition, we discussed the importance of using the proper methodology and databases for lifecycle assessments. Looking forward, we discussed the potential of AI and the value of the Digital Product Passport for products in service.
Enjoy the 37 minutes discussion and you are always welcome to comment or start a discussion with us.
What we learned
- Sustainability initiatives are quite mature in the aerospace industry and thanks to its nature of traceability, this industry is leading in methodology and best practices.
- The various challenges with the CSRD directive – standardization, strategy and execution.
- The importance of the right databases when performing lifecycle analysis.
- CIMPA is working on how AI can be used for assessing environmental impacts and the value of the Digital Product Passport for products in service to extend its traceability
Want to learn more?
Here are some links related to the topics discussed in our meeting:
- CIMPA’s theme page on the PLM Green website: PLM and Circular Economy
- CIMPA’s commitments towards A sustainable, human and guiding approach
- Sopra Steria, CIMPA’s parent company: INSIDE #8 magazine
Conclusion
The discussion was insightful, given the advanced environment in which CIMPA consultants operate compared to other manufacturing industries. Our dialogue offered valuable lessons in the aerospace industry, that others can draw on to advance and better understand their sustainability initiatives
I am sharing another follow-up interview about PLM and Sustainability with a software vendor or implementer. Last year, in November 2023, Klaus Brettschneider and Jos Voskuil from the PLM Green Global Alliance core team spoke with Transition Technologies PSC about their GreenPLM offering and their first experiences in the field.
As we noticed with most first interviews, sustainability was a topic of discussion in the PLM domain, but it was still in the early discovery phases for all of us.
Last week, we spoke again with Erik Rieger and Rafał Witkowski, both working for Transition Technologies PSC, a global IT solution integrator in the PLM world known for their PTC implementation services. The exciting part of this discussion is that system integrators are usually more directly connected to their customers in the field and, therefore, can be the source of understanding of what is happening.
ecoPLM and more
Where Erik is a and he is a long term PLM expert and Rafal is the PLM Practice Lead for Industrial Sustainability. In the interview below they shared their experiences with a first implementation pilot in the field, the value of their _ecoPLM offering in the context of the broader PTC portfolio. And of course we discussed topics closely related to these points and put them into a broader context of sustainably.
Enjoy the 34 minutes discussion and you are always welcome to comment or start a discussion with us.
The slides shown in this presentation and some more can be downloaded HERE.
What I learned
- The GreenPLM offering has changed its name into ecoPLM as TT PSC customers are focusing on developing sustainable products, with currently supporting designer to understand the carbon footprint of their products.
- They are actually in a MVP approach with a Tier 1 automotive supplier to validate and improve their solution and more customers are adding Design for Sustainability to their objective, besides Time to Market, Quality and Cost.
- Erik will provide a keynote speech at the Green PLM conference on November 14th in Berlin – The conference is targeting a German speaking audience although the papers are in English. You can still register and find more info here
- TT PSC is one of the partners completing the PTC sustainability offering and working close with their product management.
- A customer quote: “Sustainability makes PLM sexy again”
Want to learn more?
Here are some links related to the topics discussed in our meeting:
- YouTube: ecoPLM: your roadmap for eco-friendly product development
- ecoPLM – a sustainable product development website
- YouTube: Win the Net-Zero Race with PLM (and PTC)
Conclusions
We are making great progress in the support to design and deliver more sustainable products – sustainability goes beyond marketing as Rafal Witkowski mentioned – the journey has started. What do you see in your company?
Next week – week 46 – more news from Day 2 from the #plmroadmappdt conference
It was a great pleasure to attend my favorite vendor-neutral PLM conference this year in Gothenburg—approximately 150 attendees, where most have expertise in the PLM domain.
We had the opportunity to learn new trends, discuss reality, and meet our peers.
The theme of the conference was:Value Drivers for Digitalization of the Product Lifecycle, a topic I have been discussing in my recent blog posts, as we need help and educate companies to understand the importance of digitalization for their business.
The two-day conference covered various lectures – view the agenda here – and of course the topic of AI was part of half of the lectures, giving the attendees a touch of reality.
In this first post, I will cover the main highlight of Day 1.
Value Drivers for Digitalization of the Product Lifecycle
As usual, the conference started with Peter Bilello, president & CEO of CIMdata, stressing again that when implementing a PLM strategy, the maximum result comes from a holistic approach, meaning look at the big picture, don’t just focus on one topic.
It was interesting to see again the classic graph (below) explaining the benefits of the end-to-end approach – I believe it is still valid for most companies; however, as I shared in my session the next day, implementing concepts of a Products Service System will require more a DevOp type of graph (more next week).
Next, Peter went through the CIMdata’s critical dozen with some updates. You can look at the updated 2024 image here.
Some of the changes: Digital Thread and Digital Twin are merged– as Digital Twins do not run on documents. And instead of focusing on Artificial Intelligence only, CIMdata introduced Augmented Intelligence as we should also consider solutions that augment human activities, not just replace them.
Peter also shared the results of a recent PLM survey where companies were asked about their main motivation for PLM investments. I found the result a little discouraging for several reasons:
The number one topic is still faster, cheaper and better – almost 65 % of the respondents see this as their priority. This number one topic illustrates that Sustainability has not reached the level of urgency, and perhaps the topic can be found in standards compliance.
Many of the companies with Sustainability in their mission should understand that a digital PLM infrastructure is the foundation for most initiatives, like Lifecycle Analysis (LCA). Sustainability is more than part of standards compliance, if it was mentioned anyway.
The second disappointing observation for the understanding of PLM is that customer support is mentioned only by 15 % of the companies. Again, connecting your products to your customers is the first step to a DevOp approach, and you need to be able to optimize your product offering to what the customer really wants.
Digital Transformation of the Value Chain in Pharma
The second keynote was from Anders Romare, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Novo Nordisk. Anders has been participating in the PDT conference in the past. See my 2016 PLM Roadmap/PDT Europe post, where Anders presented on behalf of Airbus: Digital Transformation through an e2e PLM backbone.
Anders started by sharing some of the main characteristics of the companies he has been working for. Volvo, Airbus and now Novo Nordisk. It is interesting to compare these characteristics as they say a lot about the industry’s focus. See below:
Anders is now responsible for digital transformation in Novo Nordisk, which is a challenge in a heavily regulated industry.
One of the focus areas for Novo Nordisk in 2024 is also Artificial Intelligence, as you can see from the image to the left (click on it for the details).
As many others in this conference, Anders mentioned AI can only be applicable when it runs on top of accurate data.
Understanding the potential of AI, they identified 59 areas where AI can create value for the business, and it is interesting to compare the traditional PLM curve Peter shared in his session with the potential AI-enabled drug-development curve as presented by Anders below:
Next, Anders shared some of the example cases of this exploration, and if you are interested in the details, visit their tech.life site.
When talking about the engineering framing of PLM, it was interesting to learn from Anders, who had a long history in PLM before Novo Nordisk, when he replied to a question from the audience that he would never talk about PLM at the management level. It’s very much aligned with my Don’t mention the P** word post.
A Strategy for the Management of Large Enterprise PLM Platforms
One of the highlights for me on Day 1 was Jorgen Dahl‘s presentation. Jorgen, a senior PLM director at GE Aerospace, shared their story towards a single PLM approach needed due to changes in businesses. And addressing the need for a digital thread also comes with an increased need for uptime.
I like his strategy to execution approach, as shown in the image below, as it contains the most important topics. The business vision and understanding, the imagination of the end status and What must be True?
In my experience, the three blocks are iteratively connected. When describing the strategy, you might not be able to identify the required capabilities and management systems yet.
But then, when you start to imagine the ideal end state, you will have to consider them. And for companies, it is essential to be ambitious – or, as Jorgen stated, uncomfortable ambitious. Go for the 75 % to almost 100 % to be true. Also, asking What must be True is an excellent way to allow people to be involved and creatively explore the next steps.
Note: This approach does not provide all the details, as it will be a multiyear journey of learning and adjusting towards the future. Therefore, the strategy must be aligned with the culture to avoid continuous top-down governance of the details. In that context, Jorgen stated:
“Culture is what happens when you leave the room.”
It is a more positive statement than the famous Peter Drucker’s quote: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
Jorgen’s concluding slide mentions potential common knowledge, although I believe the way Jorgen used the right easy-to-digest points will be helpful for all organizations to step back, look at their initiatives, and compare where they can improve.
How a Business Capability Model and Application Portfolio Management Support Through Changing Times
Peter Vind‘s presentation was nicely connected to the presentation from Jorgen Dahl. Peter, who is an enterprise architect at Siemens Energy, started by explaining where the enterprise architect fits in an organization and comparing it to a city.
In his entertaining session, he mentioned he has to deal with the unicorns at the C-level, who, like politicians in a city, sometimes have the most “innovative” ideas – can they be realized?
Peter explained how they used Business Capability Modeling when Siemens Energy went through various business stages. First, the carve-out from Siemens AG and later the merger with Siemens Gamesa. Their challenge is to understand which capabilities remain, which are new or overlapping, both during the carve-out and merging process.
TIME explained
The business capability modeling leads to a classification of the applications used at different levels of the organization, such as customer-facing, operational, or supporting business capabilities.
Next, for the lifecycle of the applications, the TIME approach was used, meaning that each application was mapped to business fitness and technical fitness. Click on the diagram to see the details.
The result could look like the mapping shown below – a comprehensive overview of where the action is
It is a rational approach; however, Peter mentioned that we also should be aware of the HIPPOs in an organization. If there is a HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) in play, you might face a political battle too.
It was a great educational session illustrating the need for an Enterprise Architect, the value of business capabilities modeling and the TIME concept.
And some more …
There were several other exciting presentations during day 1; however, as not all presentations are publicly available, I cannot discuss them in detail; I just looked at my notes.
Driving Trade Compliance and Efficiency
Peter Sandeck, Director of Project Management at TE Connectivity shared what they did to motivate engineers to endorse their Jurisdiction and Classification Assessment (JCA) process. Peter showed how, through a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) approach and listening to the end-users, they reached a higher Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score after several iterations of the solution developed for the JCA process.
This approach is an excellent example of an agile method in which engineers are involved. My remaining question is still – are the same engineers in the short term also pushed to make lifecycle assessments? More work; however, I believe if you make it personal, the same MVP approach could work again.
Value of Model-Based Product Architecture
Jussi Sippola, Chief Expert, Product Architecture Management & Modularity at Wärtsilä, presented an excellent story related to the advantages of a more modular product architecture. Where historically, products were delivered based on customer requirements through the order fulfillment process, now there is in parallel the portfolio management process, defining the platform of modules, features and options.
Jussi mentioned that they were able to reduce the number of parts by 50 % while still maintaining the same level of customer capabilities. In addition, thanks to modularity, they were able to reduce the production lead time by 40 % – essential numbers if you want to remain competitive.
Conclusion
Day 1 was a day where we learned a lot as an audience, and in addition, the networking time and dinner in the evening were precious for me and, I assume, also for many of the participants. In my next post, we will see more about new ways of working, the AI dream and Sustainability.
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Jos Voskuil's Weblog 
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