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Two weeks ago, I wrote about the PLM Innovation Forum, a virtual conference organized by TECHNIA, where I described some of my experiences with the event and the different ways of interaction in a virtual conference.

The content remains available till May 31^st, so I had time to stroll through the rich content offered. In particular, if you are already familiar with the Dassault Systèmes & TECHNIA offerings, the content is extremely rich.

From the “auditorium“, I selected four presentations that have a logical relation to each other. I believe they will help you understand some of the aspects of PLM independent of the PLM vendor. Let’s start.

Value-Driven Implementation

In this session, Johannes Storvik, you can identify three parts. In the first part, Johannes talks about how to select the best PLM-approach, discussing the various options from custom, standardized, or even fully Out-Of-The-Box, comparing these options with building types. An interesting comparison, however, there is a risk with this approach.

Many companies are now stating they only need a collection of Commercial of the Shelf (COTS) systems and prefer only OOTB. The challenge with this approach is that you start from the tools, constraining the business from the start.

I would state start from your business goals, and ultimately they will lead to requirements for the tools. And then, if available, you find solutions that require no or minor adaptation. Starting from the business is crucial, and Johannes elaborates more on that.

The second part discussing PLM benefits, and if you are looking for confirmation PLM brings value, have a look at the topics, areas, and numbers mentioned. Most benefits and areas are quite traditional, related to a coordinated organization (if you follow my coordinated to connected typology).

The last part, connecting the dots from business to enablers, a Benefits Dependency Network, is a methodology that I recommend. Originally developed by Cranfield School of Management, it allows you to connect your PLM-needs to the company’s business needs and strategies. You can read more about this methodology in this HBR article: A tool to map your next digital initiative.

Benefits Dependency Network: note the potential storyline you can build

My experience from this methodology is that it allows you to extract one, two perhaps three storylines. These storylines then help you to explain why the PLM enablers are needed connecting to a business case into one understandable storyline, suitable for all levels in the company

With Johannes, we went from PLM-characteristics towards connecting PLM to the business and exec management, making PLM implicit visible at the management level. Now the next step.

Industrialization of the Construction Industry

The theme of this session might be misleading. Arto Tolonen, from the LETHO group, has a long history in PLM as a practitioner and at the University of Oulu, where he specialized in Product Data Management and Product Portfolio Management.

The last part of his presentation is dealing with transformational thinking for the construction industry from a one-off construction towards thinking in repeatable processes, using PLM practices. With his dry humor, he asks:
“Why are all buildings prototypes ?” and more.

For many years, I have been preaching PLM practices to be valuable for other industries too. See this 2013 post: PLM for all industries?  The most common challenge was to respond to the question:  “What does your tool do?”   PLM practices only become valuable if you think in repeatable processes.

The exciting part is when Arto talks about the disconnect between the exec level in an organization and reality in the field. Understanding how products are performing, and how each product contributes to the profit of the company, is usually blurred with subjective information. Your company’s love baby might be the worst performer but never dropped from the product portfolio for sentimental reasons.

Arto explains the importance of (digital) portfolio management, connecting the economic data with the technical data. And by doing so, use portfolio management to drive the development of new offerings based on market needs and numbers. Or to decommission products.

I am fully aligned with Arto and believe that a digital transformation should include a connected product portfolio management environment, driving new development projects. Product Portfolio management is not the same as BOM-management.

The portfolio items are facing the outside world, your customers. How the products are built, is defined in the inside world of BOMs and design data.

Now combining product portfolio management with product management makes a lot of more sense if you are going to use it to support the modularization of your products. Based on solution platforms, you can design your products to become modular, leading to a lot of business benefits.

With Arto, we discovered the need to have digital portfolio management connecting business performance and product development. Another implicit reason for PLM to your business explained with humor. Now the next step.

Modularization

Closely related to product portfolio management is the topic of modularization.  If you want to optimize your offering with a great variety of choices for your customers, without spending more time to develop an individual solution, you need to implement modularization for your products.

Daniel Strandhammar van Brick Strategy explains this topic in his session. So many companies I am working with a claim that they want to move from and ETO (Engineering To Order) model to a CTO (Configure To Order) model. Unfortunately, many of them keep on talking about that without making steps towards more configurable products.

Although in many PLM-infrastructures, the capabilities exist to support the modularity of a product portfolio, it requires thinking and analysis outside the tools. The tools are there to support the modularization. Still, it depends on your engineering teams to transform the company’s portfolio step by step into a more modular product.  Brick Strategy is typical such a company that can help you and coach you in a modularization process.

If you look at the benefits Daniel is mentioning related to modularization, these benefits are significant. However, as Daniel also explains per type of business, the effects of modularization might be different, still in every situation worth to invest.

It is interesting to know that many of the modularization methodologies come from Scandinavian countries. Perhaps a region, with companies like Scania (master of modularization), IKEA and others leading the ways towards modularization. Is it a surprise that LEGO is also a Scandinavian company?

Daniel continues by explaining how a roadmap for modularization could look like. If you are struggling with that point, have a look at the video. It is a crucial part of the story.

Note: There is also a presentation from Anders Malmberg fro Scania talking about their Starling project. Not particularly related to modularization, more related to how to organize significant PLM transformations.

With Daniel’s presentation, we see the relation between a product portfolio and modularization. Another implicit reason for PLM to improve your business explained. Now let’s do it.

Making Multi-view BOM a reality

My ultimate dream was that James Roche from CIMdata would complete the storyline. We went from business initiatives through product portfolio management and modularization through a flow of organizational topics to enhance your business outcome using PLM.

With James, I was hoping we now would get the final necessary part, the need for a multi-view BOM, and how to establish this. As I mentioned before with modularization, many companies started with a kind of ETO-approach to deliver solutions for their customers. The downside of this approach is that, when designing a product, the manufacturing process was already leading the way the BOM will be structured. Many of the companies that I work with are in this situation. There is no clear EBOM and MBOM, the situation is a kind of hybrid BOM, blocking modularity and multi-plant manufacturing.

James’s presentation unfortunate started with a 10 min technical delay, and then the next part is crucial to understand. He explains nicely what it means to have a “hybrid” single BOM and more to a multi-view EBOM/MBOM. James addressed this topic, both using an example looking at it from a technological and organizational view.

As James is the CIMdata Practice Director for Aerospace & Defense, this was the industry in focus and even example provided above is not necessarily the best solution for every A&D company. Organizational change and managing risks are crucial in such a transition, and that is where James spent even more time. It would be great, and I consider it one of my next blog options, to discuss and share best practices for other types of industries. Is there always a need for a multi-view BOM and are they all the same?

With James we concluded the PLM value story, making it my fourth pick of the PLMIF conference, giving you an end-to-end storyline why PLM is important and how it is connected to your business results.

Conclusion

The four presentations that I highlighted here show a storyline that is crucial to understand and pitch when you talk about the business value of PLM. It is not about technical features and functions. It is part of a business strategy, building the right portfolio, manage it in a modular manner, and use multiple BOM views to optimize the delivery of your products.

Note: two more weeks to see the full presentations of PLMIF – go and have a look in case you haven’t done so: http://www.plmif.org