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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
This week is busy for me as I am finalizing several essential activities related to my favorite hobby, product lifecycle management or is it PLM😉?
And most of these activities will result in lengthy blog posts, starting with:
“The week(end) after <<fill in the event>>”.
Here are the upcoming actions:
Click on each image if you want to see the details:
In this Future of PLM Podcast series, moderated by Michael Finocciaro, we will continue the debate on how to position PLM (as a system or a strategy) and move away from an engineering framing. Personally, I never saw PLM as a system and started talking more and more about product lifecycle management (the strategy) versus PLM/PDM (the systems).
Note: the intention is to be interactive with the audience, so feel free to post questions/remarks in the comments, either upfront or during the event.
You might have seen in the past two weeks some posts and discussions I had with the Share PLM team about a unique offering we are preparing: the PLM Awareness program. From our field experience, PLM is too often treated as a technical issue, handled by a (too) small team.
We believe every PLM program should start by fostering awareness of what people can expect nowadays, given the technology, experiences, and possibilities available. If you want to work with motivated people, you have to involve them and give them all the proper understanding to start with.
Join us for the online event to understand the value and ask your questions. We are looking forward to your participation.
This is another event related to the future of PLM; however, this time it is an in-person workshop, where, inspired by four PLM thought leaders, we will discuss and work on a common understanding of what is required for a modern PLM framework. The workshop, sponsored by the Arrowhead fPVN project, will be held in Paris on November 4th, preceding the PLM Roadmap/PDT Europe conference.
We will not discuss the term PLM; we will discuss business drivers, supporting technologies and more. My role as a moderator of this event is to assist with the workshop, and I will share its findings with a broader audience that wasn’t able to attend.
Be ready to learn more in the near future!
Suppose you have followed my blog posts for the past 10 years. In that case, you know this conference is always a place to get inspired, whether by leading companies across industries or by innovative and engaging new developments. This conference has always inspired and helped me gain a better understanding of digital transformation in the PLM domain and how larger enterprises are addressing their challenges.
This time, I will conclude the conference with a lecture focusing on the challenging side of digital transformation and AI: we humans cannot transform ourselves, so we need help.
At the end of this year, we will “celebrate” our fifth anniversary of the PLM Green Global Alliance. When we started the PGGA in 2020, there was an initial focus on the impact of carbon emissions on the climate, and in the years that followed, climate disasters around the world caused serious damage to countries and people.
How could we, as a PLM community, support each other in developing and sharing best practices for innovative, lower-carbon products and processes?
In parallel, driven by regulations, there was also a need to improve current PLM practices to efficiently support ESG reporting, lifecycle analysis, and, soon, the Digital Product Passport. Regulations that push for a modern data-driven infrastructure, and we discussed this with the major PLM vendors and related software or solution partners. See our YouTube channel @PLM_Green_Global_Alliance
In this online Zoom event, we invite you to join us to discuss the topics mentioned in the announcement. Join us in this event and help us celebrate!
I am closing that week at the PTC/User Benelux event in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, with a keynote speech about digital transformation in the PLM domain. Eindhoven is the city where I grew up, completed my amateur soccer career, ran my first and only marathon, and started my career in PLM with SmarTeam. The city and location feel like home. I am looking forward to discussing and meeting with the PTC user community to learn how they experience product lifecycle management, or is it PLM😉?
With all these upcoming events, I did not have the time to focus on a new blog post; however, luckily, in the 10x PLM discussion started by Oleg Shilovitsky there was an interesting comment from Rob Ferrone related to that triggered my mind. Quote:
The big breakthrough will come from 1. advances in human-machine interface and 2. less % of work executed by human in the loop. Copy/paste, typing, voice recognition are all significant limits right now. It’s like trying to empty a bucket of water through a drinking straw. When tech becomes more intelligent and proactive then we will see at least 10x.
This remark reminded me of one of my first blog posts in 2008, when I was trying to predict what PLM would look like in 2050. I thought it is a nice moment to read it (again). Enjoy!
PLM in 2050
As the year ends, I decided to take my crystal ball to see what would happen with PLM in the future. It felt like a virtual experience, and this is what I saw:
- Data is no longer replicated – every piece of information will have a Universal Unique ID, also known as a UUID. In 2020, this initiative became mature, thanks to the merger of some big PLM and ERP vendors, who brought this initiative to reality. This initiative dramatically reduced exchange costs in supply chains and led to bankruptcy for many companies that provided translation and exchange software.
- Companies store their data in ‘the cloud’ based on the concept outlined above. Only some old-fashioned companies still handle their own data storage and exchange, as they fear someone will access their data. Analysts compare this behavior with the situation in the year 1950, when people kept their money under a mattress, not trusting banks (and they were not always wrong)
- After 3D, a complete virtual world based on holography became the next step in product development and understanding. Thanks to the revolutionary quantum-3D technology, this concept could even be applied to life sciences. Before ordering a product, customers could first experience and describe their needs in a virtual environment.
- Finally, the cumbersome keyboard and mouse were replaced by voice and eye recognition. Initially, voice recognition
and eye tracking were cumbersome. Information was captured by talking to the system and by recording eye movements during hologram analysis. This made the life of engineers so much easier, as while researching and talking, their knowledge was stored and tagged for reuse. No need for designers to send old-fashioned emails or type their design decisions for future reuse - Due to the hologram technology, the world became greener. People did not need to travel around the world, and the standard became virtual meetings with global teams(airlines discontinued business class). Even holidays can be experienced in the virtual world thanks to a Dutch initiative inspired by coffee. The whole IT infrastructure was powered by efficient solar energy, drastically reducing the amount of carbon dioxide.
- Then, with a shock, I noticed PLM no longer existed. Companies were focusing on their core business processes. Systems/terms like PLM, ERP, and CRM no longer existed. Some older people still remembered the battle between those systems over data ownership and the political discomfort this caused within companies.
- As people were working so efficiently, there was no need to work all week. There were community time slots when everyone was active, but 50 per cent of the time, people had time to recreate (to re-create or recreate was the question). Some older French and German designers remembered the days when they had only 10 weeks holiday per year, unimaginable nowadays.
As we still have more than 40 years to reach this future, I wish you all a successful and excellent 2009.
I am looking forward to being part of the green future next year.
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!
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
In my business ecosystem, I have seen a lot of discussions about technical and architectural topics since last year that are closely connected to the topic of artificial intelligence. We are discussing architectures and solutions that will make our business extremely effective. The discussion is mostly software vendor-driven as vendors usually do not have to deal with the legacy, and they can imagine focusing on the ultimate result.
Legacy (people, skills, processes and data) is the mean inhibitor for fast forward in such situations, as I wrote in my previous post: Data, Processes and AI.
However, there are also less visible discussions about business efficiency – methodology and business models – and future sustainability.
These discussions are more challenging to follow as you need a broader and long-term vision, as implementing solutions/changes takes much longer than buying tools.
This time, I want to revisit the discussion on modularity and the need for business efficiency and sustainability.
Modularity – what is it?
Modularity is a design principle that breaks a system into smaller, independent, and interchangeable components, or modules, that function together as a whole. Each module performs a specific task and can be developed, tested, and maintained separately, improving flexibility and scalability.
Modularity is a best practice in software development. Although modular thinking takes a higher initial effort, the advantages are enormous for reuse, flexibility, optimization, or adding new functionality. And as software code has no material cost or scrap, modular software solutions excel in delivery and maintenance.
In the hardware world, this is different. Often, companies have a history of delivering a specific (hardware) solution, and the product has been improved by adding features and options where the top products remain the company’s flagships.
Modularity enables easy upgrades and replacements in hardware and engineering, reducing costs and complexity. As I work mainly with manufacturing companies in my network, I will focus on modularity in the hardware world.
Modularity – the business goal
How often have you heard that a business aims to transition from Engineering to Order (ETO) to Configure/Build to Order (BTO) or Assemble to Order (ATO)? Companies often believe that the starting point of implementing a PLM system is enough, as it will help identify commonalities in product variations, therefore leading to more modular products.
The primary targeted business benefits often include reduced R&D time and cost but also reduced risk due to component reuse and reuse of experience. However, the ultimate goal for CTO/ATO companies is to minimize R&D involvement in their sales and delivery process.
More options can be offered to potential customers without spending more time on engineering.
Four years ago, I discussed modularity with Björn Eriksson and Daniel Strandhammar, who wrote “The Modular Way” during the COVID-19 pandemic. I liked the book because it is excellent for understanding the broader scope of modularity along with marketing, sales, and long-term strategy. Each business type has its modularity benefits.
I had a follow-up discussion with panelists active in modularization and later with Daniel Strandhammar about the book’s content in this blog post: PLM and Modularity.
Next, I got involved with the North European Modularity Network (NEM) group, a group of Scandinavian companies that share modularization experiences and build common knowledge.
Historically, modularization has been a popular topic in North Europe, and meanwhile, the group is expanding beyond Scandinavia. Participants in the group focus on education-sharing strategies rather than tools.
The 2023 biannual meeting I attended hosted by Vestas in Ringkobing was an eye-opener for me.
We should work more integrated, not only on the topic of Modularity and PLM but also on a third important topic: Sustainability in the context of the Circular Economy.
You can review my impression of the event and presentation in my post: “The week after North European Modularity (NEM)“
That post concludes that Modularity, like PLM, is a strategy rather than an R&D mission. Integrating modularity topics into PLM conferences or Circular Economy events would facilitate mutual learning and collaboration.
Modularity and Sustainability
The PLM Green Global Alliance started in 2020 initially had few members. However, after significant natural disasters and the announcement of regulations related to the European Green Deal, sustainability became a management priority. Greenwashing was no longer sufficient.
One key topic discussed in the PLM Green Global Alliance is the circular economy moderated by CIMPA PLM services. The circular economy is crucial as our current consumption of Earth’s resources is unsustainable.
The well-known butterfly diagram from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation below, illustrates the higher complexity of a circular economy, both for the renewables (left) and the hardware (right)
In a circular economy, modularity is essential. The SHARE loop focuses on a Product Service Model, where companies provide services based on products used by different users. This approach requires a new business model, customer experience, and durable hardware. After Black Friday last year, I wrote about this transition: The Product Service System and a Circular Economy.
Modularity is vital in the MAINTAIN/PROLONG loop. Modular products can be upgraded without replacing the entire product, and modules are easier to repair. An example is Fairphone from the Netherlands, where users can repair and upgrade their smartphones, contributing to sustainability.
In the REUSE/REMANUFACTURE loop, modularity allows for reusing hardware parts when electronics or software components are upgraded. This approach reduces waste and supports sustainability.
The REFURBISH/REMANUFACTURE loop also benefits from modularity, though to a lesser extent. This loop helps preserve scarce materials, such as batteries, reducing the need for resource extraction from places like the moon, Mars, or Greenland.
A call for action
If you reached this point of the article, my question is now to reflect on your business or company. Modularity is, for many companies, a dream (or vision) and will become, for most companies, a must to provide a sustainable business.
Modularity does not depend on PLM technology, as famous companies like Scania, Electrolux and Vestas have shown (in my reference network).
Where is your company and its business offerings?
IMPORTANT:
If you aim to implement modularity to support the concepts of the Circular Economy, make sure you do it in a data-driven, model-based environment – here, technology counts.
Conclusion
Don’t miss the focus on the potential relevance of modularity for your company. Modularity improves business and sustainability, AND it touches all enterprise stakeholders. Technology alone will not save the business. Your thoughts?
Do you want to learn more about implementing PLM at an ETO space company?
Listen to our latest podcast: OHB’s Digital Evolution: Transforming Aerospace PLM with Lucía Núñez Núñez
In my general 2025 outlook for PLM, My 2025 focus, I mentioned Sustainability at the end, as I believe it is a topic on its own, worth an entire blog post.
After our 2025 PLM Global Green Alliance core team kick-off last week, I felt the importance of sharing our thoughts, observations, and personal thoughts/focus.
The PGGA core team consists of Rich McFall – Climate Change, Klaus Brettschneider Life Cycle Assessment, Mark Reisig Sustainability and Green Energy, Evgeniya Burimskaya Circular Economy, Erik Reiger Design for Sustainability and me Talking about Sustainability.
Some interesting observations:
- Evgenia mentioned that in job interviews for CIMPA, it is motivating to see that new employees want to contribute to sustainability activities and the education of companies. Sustainability is part of their WHY (I will come back to that later)
- We have more and more PGGA members from Asia, while percentage of US members is declining. Where the US has the loudest voice against human-caused climate change and Sustainability, there are a lot of hidden and positive success stories from Asia, and we are looking for spokespeople from that region.
Regulations
In many lectures, I explained that digitization in PLM was going slow because this is a complex topic for many companies, and current business performance might be challenging but not too bad. So why would we go on an unknown and potentially risky transformation journey?
Due to sustainability regulations, digital transformation has gotten a push in the right direction. GHG (Greenhouse Gas) reporting, ESG (Environmental Social Governance) reporting, CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), and the DPP (Digital Product Passport) have all created the need for companies to create digital threads for information that historically did not exist or was locked in documents.
Therefore, it is interesting to read Oleg Shilovitsky’ s blog, Reimagining PLM for 2025: Key Strategic Trends, in which he also sees the importance of Sustainability and the Circular Economy.
Quoting Oleg:
Sustainability cannot be ignored and, therefore I expect more interest to environmental considerations in PLM strategies. Companies are incorporating sustainability metrics into product design and lifecycle assessment, aligning with Industry 5.0 and Engineering 5.0 principles. It is impossible without digital thread and data connectivity and, therefore will continue to support business strategies.
The challenge of regulations is that they limit someone’s freedom. Regulations are there to create an equal playing field for all and ensure society makes progress. Be it traffic regulations, business regulations or environmental regulations. The challenge is not to over-regulate and create a Kafkaesque society. Whereas if you are alone in the world or are the only important person in the world, you do not need regulations as you do not care.
Now the challenge comes of how we deal with regulations.
The WHY!
I have learned to always look at the WHY. Why are companies doing business in a certain manner, why are people behaving in a certain manner even against common logic?
There is the difference between the long-term WHY (strategy) and the short-term WHY(emotion). For most individuals the short-term WHY prevails, for companies and governments the long term WHY should lead their decisions.
Unfortunately short term decisions (money, food, comfort, legacy habits) get a higher priority by humans instead of long term goals (transformations and transitions).
Daniel Kahneman, Nobel prize winner writing about this in his book Thinking Fast and Slow. We see this dilemma, fast based on gut-feeling or slow based on a real analysis in companies, we see it in our society .
- How many companies have a 10-years sustainable strategy and consistent roadmap?
- How many countries have a 10-years sustainable strategy and consistent roadmap?
Jan Bosch also mentioned the importance of the WHY in his Digital Reflection #15: Why do you get out of bed in the morning? Did you ask yourself this question?
Sustainability, like digitization in PLM, requires a behavioral change. From traditional linear coordinated ways of working we need to learn to work in a more complex and advanced environment with real-time data. Luckily if the data is accurate AI will help us to manage the complexity.
Still it is a transformational change in the way you work and this is a challenge for an existing workforce. They reached their status by being an expert in a certain discipline, by mastering specific skills. Now the needed expertise is changing (from Expert to T-shape) and new skills are needed. Are you able to acquire those new skills or do you give up and complain about the future?
The same challenges happen related to sustainability. Our current (western) habits are draining the planet and only behavioral changes can stop or reduce the damage. Most of us are aware that the planet is limited in resources and we need an energy transition in the long term. But are you able to learn those new behaviors or do you give up and hold on to the good old past?
Note: It’s important to understand that individual actions are not the primary cause of the climate crisis, nor can they alone resolve it. This idea is often promoted by industries. The bigger question is whether our societies can change—consider where financial resources are being allocated.
Sustainability and Systems Thinking
We cannot just produce product or consume like crazy if we care about future generations. It is not longer only about the money, it is about next generations and the environment – if you care. This complexity pushes us toward Systems Thinking – many topics are connected – addressing a single topic does not solve the rest.
I wrote two posts in 2022 about Systems Thinking t: SYSTEMS THINKING – a must-have skill in the 21st century and as a follow-up based on interactions Systems Thinking: a second thought. The challenge with Systems Thinking is that the solution is not black or white and requires brain power.
Sustainability and Political Leadership
With what is happening currently in our societies you can see that sustainability is strongly connected to its country’s political system. The bad news for long term issues democracy is probably the worst. Let me share some observations.
Europe
Historically Europe has been a stable democracy since the second world war and the European Union has been able to establish quite a unified voice step by step. Of course the European Union was heavily influenced by the Automotive and Agricultural lobby. Still the European Green Deal was established with great consensus in the middle instead of focusing on the extremes. A multi-party parliament guarantees a balanced outcome. However type of democracy is still very sensitive for influences from lobbyist and external forces.
There are so many Dunning-Kruger experts roaring down the common sense debates – mainly in democratic countries. It would be great if people started from the WHY. WHY is someone acting – is it a short-term gain/fear to loose or is there a long-term strategy.
As long as Europe can maintain its consensus culture there is hope for the long-term.
US
The US has been leading the world in polarization. With two major parties fighting always for the 51 % majority vote, there is no place for consensus. The winner takes it all. And although we call it a democracy, you need to have a lot of money to be elected and money is the driving power behind the elections. The WHY in most cases in the US is about short term money making, although I found an interesting point related to Elon Musk.
In his 2022 interview he shares his vision that the future is in solar energy and batteries with nuclear needed for the transition. Also he is no fan of longevity – quote from the video (5:30)
Most people don’t change their mind, they just die. And if they don’t die we will be stuck with old ideas and society won’t advance.
It is a great example of “If you cannot beat them – join them” and then use them to fund your missions. A narcistic president becomes your helper to achieve your long-term strategy.
Saudi Arabia
Here we are not talking about a democracy anymore and they might seem the biggest enemy for the climate. However they have a long-term strategy. While keeping the world addicted to fossil fuels, they invest heavily in solar and hydrogen and once the western world understands the energy transition is needed, they are far ahead in experience and remain a main energy supplier.
China
With 1.4 billion inhabitants and not a democracy either, China has a different mission. Initially as the manufacturing hub for the planet they needed huge amount of energy and therefore they are listed as the most polluting country in the world.
However their energy transition towards solar, water, wind and even nuclear goes so much faster than committed in the Paris agreements, as China has a long-term strategy to be energy independent and to be the major supplier in the energy transition. The long-term WHY is clear.
Russia
It is a pity to mention Russia as with their war-economy and reliance on fossil fuels, they are on a path towards oblivion. Even if they would win a few other wars, innovation is gone and fossil is ending. It will be a blessing for humanity. I hope they will find a new long-term strategy.
Conclusion
PLM and Sustainability are important for the long-term, despite the throw-back you might see on the short term due to politics and lobbies. In addition we need courage to keep on focusing on the long-term as our journey has just started.
Feel free to share your thoughts with compassion and respect for other opinions.
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
This year, I will celebrate 25 years since I started my company, TacIT, to focus on knowledge management. However, quickly, I was back in the domain of engineering data management, which became a broader topic, which we now call PLM.
Looking back, there have been significant changes in these 25 years, from systems to strategy, for documents to data, from linear to iterative. However, in this post, I want to look at my 2024 observations to see where we can progress. This brings me to the first observation.
PLM is human
Despite many academic and marketing arguments describing WHAT and WHY companies need specific business or software capabilities, there is, above all, the need for people to be personally inspired and connected. We want to belong to a successful group of people, teams and companies because we are humans, not resources.
It is all about people, which was also the title of my session during the March 2024 3DEXPERIENCE User Conference in Eindhoven (NL). I led a panel discussion on the importance of people with Dr. Cara Antoine, Daniel Schöpf, and Florens Wolters, each of whom actively led transformational initiatives within their companies.
Through Dr. Cara Antoine, e at Capgemini and a key voice for women in tech, I learned about her book Make It Personal. The book inspired me and motivated me to continue using a human-centric approach. Give this book to your leadership and read it yourself. It is practical, easy to read, and encouraging
Recently, in my post “PLM in real life and Gen AI“, I shared insights related to PLM blogs and Gen AI – original content is becoming increasingly the same, and the human touch is disappearing, while generating more and longer blogs.
I propose keeping Gen AI-generated text for the boring part of PLM and exploring the human side of PLM engagements in blogs. What does this mean? In the post, I also shared the highlights of the Series 2 podcast I did together with Helena Gutierrez from Share PLM. Every recording had its unique human touch and knowledge.
We are now in full preparation for Series 3—let us know who your hero is and who should be our guest in 2025!
PLM is business
One of the most significant changes I noticed in my PLM-related projects was that many of the activities connected the PLM activities to the company’s business objectives. Not surprisingly, it was mostly a bottom-up activity, explaining to the upper management that a modern, data-driven PLM strategy is crucial to achieving business or sustainability goals.
I wrote two long posts about these experiences. The first one,” PLM – business first,” zooms in on the changing mindset that PLM is not an engineering system anymore but part of a digital infrastructure that supports companies in achieving their business goals. The image below from Dr. Yousef Hooshmand is one of my favorites in this context. The 5 + 1 steps, where the extra step is crucial: Long Executive Commitment.
So, to get an executive commitment, you need to explain and address business challenges.
Executive commitment and participation can be achieved through a Benefits Dependency Network approach, as illustrated in this webinar I did with the Heliple-2 team, where we were justifying the business needs for Federated PLM. More about the Federated PLM part in the next paragraph.
Another point to consider is that when the PLM team is part of the IT organization (the costs side), they have a big challenge in leading or even participating in business discussions. In this context, read (again) Jan Bosch’s post: Structure Eats Strategy.
The second post, more recent, summarized the experiences I had with several customer engagements. The title says it all: “Don’t use the P**-word! – 5 lessons learned“, with an overlap in content with the first post.
Conclusion: A successful PLM strategy starts with the business and needs storytelling to align all stakeholders with a shared vision or goal.
PLM is technology
This year has seen the maturation of PLM technology concepts. We are moving away from a monolithic PLM system and exploring federated and connected infrastructures, preferably a mix of Systems of Record (the old PLMs/ERPs) and Systems of Engagement (the new ways of domain collaboration). The Heliple project manifests such an approach, where the vertical layers are Systems of Record, and the horizontal modules could be Systems of Engagement.
I had several discussions with typical System of Engagement vendors, like Colab (“Where traditional PLM fails”) and Partful (“Connected Digital Thread for Lower and Mid-market OEMs“), but I also had broader discussions during the PLM Roadmap PDT Europe conference – see: R-evolutionizing PLM and ERP and Heliple.
I also follow Dr. Jorg Fischer, who lectures about digital transformation concepts in the manufacturing business domain. Unfortunately, for a broader audience, Jörg published a lot in German, and typically, his references for PLM and ERP are based on SAP and Teamcenter. His blog posts are always interesting to follow – have a look at his recent blog in English: 7 keys to solve PLM & ERP.
Of course, Oleg Shilovitsky’s impressive and continuous flow of posts related to modern PLM concepts is amazing—just browse through his Beyond PLM home page to read about the actual topics happening in his PLM ecosystem or for example, read about modern technology concepts in this recent OpenBOM article.
Conceptually, we are making progress. As a commonality, all future concepts focus on data, not so much on managing documents—and here comes the focus on data.
PLM needs accurate data
In a data-driven environment, apps or systems will use a collection of datasets to provide a user with a working environment, either a dashboard or an interactive real-time environment. Below is my AI (Artist Impression) of a digital enterprise.
Of course, it seems logical; the data must be accurate as you no longer have control over access to the data in a data-driven environment. You can be accountable for the data; others can consume the data you created without checking its accuracy by your guidance.
Therefore, data governance and an excellent enterprise architecture are crucial to support the new paradigm:
The nearest source of truth supported by a single source of change
Quote: Yousef Hoohmand
Forget the Single Source of Truth idea, a previous century paradigm.
With data comes Artificial intelligence and algorithms that can play an essential role in your business, providing solutions or insights that support decision-making.
In 2024, most of us have been exploring the benefits of ChatGPT and Generative AI. You can describe examples of where AI could assist in every aspect of the product lifecycle. I saw great examples from Eaton, Ocado, and others at the PLM Roadmap/PDT Europe conference.
See my review here: A long week after the PLM Roadmap / PDT Europe conference.
Still, before benefiting from AI in your organization, it remains essential that the AI runs on top of accurate data.
Sustainability needs (digital) PLM
This paragraph is the only reverse dependency towards PLM and probably the one that is less in people’s minds, perhaps because PLM is already complex enough. In 2024, with the PLM Green Global Alliance, we had good conversations with PLM-related software vendors or service partners (aPriori, Configit, Makersite, PTC, SAP, Siemens and Transition Technologies PSC) where we discussed their solutions and how they are used in the field by companies.
We discovered here that most activities are driven by regulations, like ESG reporting, the new CSRD directive for Europe and the implementation of the Digital Product Passport. What is clear from all these activities is that companies need to have a data-driven PLM infrastructure to connect product data to environmental impacts, like carbon emissions equivalents.
Besides complying with regulations, I have been discussing the topic of Product-As-A-Service, or the Product Service System, this year, with excellent feedback from Dave Duncan. You can find a link to his speech: Improving Product Sustainability – PTC with PGGA.
Also, during the PLM Roadmap / PDT Europe conference, I discussed this topic, explaining that achieving a circular economy is a long-term vision, and the starting point is to establish a connected infrastructure within your organizations and with your customers/users in the field.
Sustainability should be on everyone’s agenda. From the interactions on LinkedIn, you can see that we prefer to discuss terms like PDM/PLM or eBOM/mBOM in the PLM domain. Very few connect PLM to sustainability.
Sustainability is a long-term mission; however, as we have seen from long-term missions, they can be overwhelmed by the day’s madness and short-term needs.
PLM is Politics
You might not expect this paragraph in my log, as most PLM discussions are about the WHAT and the WHY of a PLM solution or infrastructure. However, the most challenging part of PLM is the HOW, and this is the area that I am still focused on.
In the early days of mediating mainly in SmarTeam implementations, it became clear that the technology was not the issue. A crisis was often due to a lack of (technical) skills or methodology and misplaced expectations.
Unicorns & HIPPOs in an enterprise (Peter Vind)
When the way out became clear, politics often started. Sometimes, there was the HIPPO (HIghest Paid Person’s Opinion) in the company, as Peter Vind explained, or there was the blame game, which I described in my 2019 “The PLM blame game post”.
What makes it even more difficult is that people’s opinions in PLM discussions are often influenced by their friendly relations or history with a particular vendor or implementer from the past, which troubles a proper solution path.
These aspects are challenging to discuss, and nobody wants to discuss them openly. A company (and a country) must promote curiosity instead of adhering to mainstream thinking and working methods. In our latest Share PLM podcast, Brian Berger, a VP at Metso, mentions the importance of diversity within an organization.
“It is a constant element of working in a global business, and the importance cannot be overstated.”
This observation should make us think again when we want to simplify everything and dim the colors.
Conclusion
Initially, I thought this would be a shorter post, but again, it became a long read – therefore, perhaps ideal when closing 2024 and looking forward to activities and focus for 2025. Use this time to read books and educate yourself beyond the social media posts (even my blogs are limited 😉)
In addition, I noticed the build-up of this post was unconsciously influenced by Martijn Dullaart‘s series of messages titled “Configuration Management is ……”. Thanks, Martijn, for your continuous contributions to our joint passion – a digital enterprise where PLM and CM flawlessly interact based on methodology and accurate data.
With Black Friday as a black milestone again for our Western society, it is clear how difficult it is not to be influenced by such a massive attack on our consumer behavior.
Congratulations if you have shown you can resist the psychological and emotional pressure and did not purchase anything in the context of Black Friday. However, we must not forget that another big part of the world cannot afford this behavior as they do not have the means to do so – ultimate Black Friday might be their dream and a fast track to more enormous challenges.
The difference between our societies, all living on the same planet, is illustrated in the image below, illustrating the unfairness of this situation
What the image also shows is a warning that we all have to act, as step by step, we will reach planet boundaries for resources.
Or we need more planets, and I understand a brilliant guy is already working on it. Let’s go to Mars and enjoy life there.
For those generations staying on this planet, there is only one option: we need to change our economy of unlimited growth and reconsider how we use our natural resources.
The circular economy?
You are probably familiar with the butterfly diagram from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, where we see the linear process: Take-Make-Use-Waste in the middle.
This approach should be replaced by more advanced regeneration loops on the left side and the five R’s on the right: Reduce, Repair, Reuse, Refurbish and Recycle as the ultimate goal is the minimum leakage of Earth resources.
Closely related to the Circular Economy concept is the complementary Cradle-To-Cradle design approach. In this case, while designing our products, we also consider the end of life of a product as the start for other products to be created based on the materials used.
The CE butterfly diagram’s right side is where product design plays a significant role and where we, as a PLM community, should be active. Each loop has its own characteristics, and the SHARE loop is the one I focused on during the recent PLM Roadmap / PDT Europe conference in Gothenburg.
As you can see, the Maintain, Reuse, Refurbish and Recycle loops depend on product design strategies, in particular, modularity and, of course, depending on material choices.
It is important to note that the recycle loop is the most overestimated loop, where we might contribute to recycling (glass, paper, plastic) in our daily lives; however, other materials, like composites often with embedded electronics, have a much more significant impact.
Watch the funny meme in this post: “We did everything we could– we brought our own bags.”
The title of my presentation was: Products as a Service – The Ultimate Sustainable Economy?
You can find my presentation on SlideShare here.
Let’s focus on the remainder of the presentation’s topic: Product As A Service.
The Product Service System
Where Product As A Service might be the ultimate dream for an almost wasteless society, Ida Auken, a Danish member of the parliament, gave a thought-provoking lecture in that context at the 2016 World Economic Forum. Her lecture was summarized afterward as
“In the future, you will own nothing and be happy.”
A theme also picked up by conspiracy thinkers during the COVID pandemic, claiming “they” are making us economic slaves and consumers. With Black Friday in mind, I do not think there is a conspiracy; it is the opposite.
Closer to implementing everywhere Product as a Service for our whole economy, we might be going into Product Service Systems.
As the image shows, a product service system is a combination of providing a product with related services to create value for the customer.
In the ultimate format, the manufacturer owns the products and provides the services, keeping full control of the performance and materials during the product lifecycle. The benefits for the customer are that they pay only for the usage of the product and, therefore, do not need to invest upfront in the solution (CAPEX), but they only pay when using the solution (OPEX).
A great example of this concept is Spotify or other streaming services. You do not pay for the disc/box anymore; you pay for the usage, and the model is a win-win for consumers (many titles) and producers (massive reach).
Although the Product Service System will probably reach consumers later, the most significant potential is currently in the B2B business model, e.g., transportation as a service and special equipment usage as a service. Examples are popping up in various industries.
My presentation focused on three steps that manufacturing companies need to consider now and in the future when moving to a Product Service System.
Step 1: Get (digital) connected to your Product and customer
A foundational step companies must take is to create a digital infrastructure to support all stakeholders in the product service offering. Currently, many companies have a siloed approach where each discipline Marketing/Sales, R&D, Engineering, Manufacturing and Sales will have their own systems.
Digital Transformation in the PLM domain is needed here – where are you on this level?
But it is not only the technical silos that impede the end-to-end visibility of information. If there are no business targets to create and maintain the end-to-end information sharing, you can not expect it to happen.
Therefore, companies should invest in the digitalization of their ways of working, implementing an end-to-end digital thread AND changing their linear New Product Development process into a customer-driven DevOp approach. The PTC image below shows the way to imagine a end-to-end connected environment
In a Product Service System, the customer is the solution user, and the solution provider is responsible for the uptime and improvement of the solution over time.
As an upcoming bonus and a must, companies need to use AI to run their Product Service System as it will improve customer knowledge and trends. Don’t forget that AI (and Digital Twins) runs best on reliable data.
Step 2 From Product to Experience
A Product Service System is not business as usual by providing products with some additional services. Besides concepts such as Digital Thread and Digital Twins of the solution, there is also the need to change the company’s business model.
In the old way, customers buy the product; in the Product Service System, the customer becomes a user. We should align the company and business to become user-centric and keep the user inspired by the experience of the Product Service System.
In this context, there are two interesting articles to read:
- Jan Bosch: From Agile to Radical: Business Model
- Chris Seiler: How to escape the vicious circle in times of transformation?
The change in business model means that companies should think about a circular customer journey.
As the company will remain the product owner, it is crucial to understand what happens when the customers stop using the service or how to ensure maintenance and upgrades.
In addition, to keep the customer satisfied, it remains vital to discover the customer KPIs and how additional services could potentially improve the relationship. Again, AI can help find relationships that are not yet digitally established.
Step 2: From product to experience can already significantly impact organizations. The traditional salesperson’s role will disappear and be replaced by excellence in marketing, services and product management.
This will not happen quickly as, besides the vision, there needs to be an evolutionary path to the new business model.
Therefore, companies must analyze their portfolio and start experimenting with a small product, converting it into a product service system. Starting simple allows companies to learn and be prepared for scaling up.
A Product Service System also influences a company’s cash flow as revenue streams will change.
When scaling up slowly, the company might be able to finance this transition themselves. Another option, already happening, is for a third party to finance the Product Service System – think about car leasing, power by the hour, or some industrial equipment vendors.
Step 3 Towards a doughnut economy?
The last step is probably a giant step or even a journey. An economic mindset shift is needed from the ever-growing linear economy towards an economy flourishing for everyone within economic, environmental and social boundaries.
Unlimited growth is the biggest misconception on a planet reaching its borders. Either we need more planets, or we need to adjust our society.
In that context, I read the book “The Doughnut Economy” by Kate Raworth, a recognized thought leader who explains how a future economic model can flourish, including a circular economy, and you will be happy.
But we must abandon the old business models and habits – there will be a lot of resistance to change before people are forced to change. This change can take generations as the outside world will not change without a reason, and the established ones will fight for their privileges.
It is a logical process where people and boundaries will learn to find a new balance. Will it be in a Doughnut Economy, or did we overlook some bright other concepts?
Conclusion
The week after Black Friday and hopefully the month after all the Christmas presents, it is time to formulate your good intentions for 2025. As humans, we should consume less; as companies, we should direct our future to a sustainable future by exploring the potential of the Product Service System and beyond.
Jos Voskuil's Weblog 
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