Chemicals Solutions, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is one of the great emerging territories in collaborative manufacturing. Comprised of several inter-related functions, it includes collaborative engineering, sourcing for direct materials, and quality management. A functional concept, PLM is assembled from various software programs, rather than purchased outright as a single commercial off-the-shelf product. Once assembled, a well-designed PLM system will manage product specifications and recipes, provide production histories, create complete product genealogies, and track total product quality. The real value of PLM is realized in the ability to put context around all of your product data and all of your systems.

In short, PLM is what happens when every piece of information about a product is organized and correlated from the specifications, quality history, process history, customer complaints, costs, genealogy, product development history, research and development results, and sales history. It both accumulates and disseminates all of the data about a product, beginning with it's creation and development in R&D, continuing through manufacturing, and even as they are used by the consumer. Imagine being able to utilize every piece of information about every product you have.

Traditional Product Data Management (PDM) or mere stand-alone Specifications are no longer enough. Manufacturers today are required to deliver new products better, faster, and cheaper. Both customers and suppliers need to be involved in this collaborative effort. Many companies lack the tools and software applications for making good use of their product data, so it is never put into a meaningful context. Systems without the processes in place to coordinate product data for end products, raw materials, outsourcing & manufacturing are destined to fail. In order to be successful, systems require an additional set of applications, known as PLM, to manage the delivery of product data across the supply chain. PLM includes:

• Product Data Management
• Specification Management
• Formulation and Recipe Management
• Product Tracking, Tracing, and Genealogy
• Product Quality Management
• Laboratory Management
• SPC/SQC

With the right PLM system, individual groups within a company that can put product data to wonderful uses. Through careful analysis of the data, along with additional experiments that are born from that analysis, Production and Process Engineering can take some huge steps forward. Having all of the information in context allows the Plant Operations personnel, who are actually running the plant, to go into the system and obtain critical information about how the product performs in the process. For Technical and R&D groups, PLM data and analysis provides a scorecard to measure their efforts and helps them begin to understand the plants' limitations. Having a clear picture of the company's manufacturing capabilities allows them to make better products and improve existing ones. PLM also comes into play with Marketing. If the marketing department is planning to put together a campaign for a new product, there are essential bits of information that must be common knowledge, such as an understanding of production capabilities, costs, pricing, and sales strategy. Companies that have a well-designed PLM system fully integrated into their IT structure are ahead of the game.

Learn More:

• For additional information on PLM, read EnteGreat's book, Information Technology for Manufacturing: Reducing Costs & Expanding Capabilities.
• Request a free copy of PLM for Process Industries, a webinar presentation by EnteGreat's Mark Cubine and Tom Bruhn.