Product Lifecycle Management: Driving the Next Generation of Lean Thinking by Grieves Michael

Author:Grieves, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-06-27T00:05:52.722000+00:00

Technology

Because the capability of the information technology aspect of Product Lifecycle Management is heavily dependent on the applications that solution providers develop in this area, any discussion of these applications would quickly appear dated. The companies that have been responsible for the development of PLM applications have continually undergone change. Acquisitions, mergers, and spin-offs have been commonplace. Even the names of the applications have changed, so that references to specific PLM applications would be familiar only to those individuals who had long-standing experience with the industry.

What we can say about the PLM application space is that there are a substantial number of highly capable software developers who view PLM as their primary focus. They continue to expend substantial research and development resources on new and innovative software and to push the boundaries of recording, managing, retrieving, and using product information. Since PLM is in its infancy, we will see the choices of applications increasing and becoming more robust.

Since there is a wide variety of applications targeted at different aspects of PLM and different industry uses, organizations that are in the process of selecting PLM applications need to assess the functions that they require against the functionality of the products in the marketplace, both current and planned. To help with these decisions, there are a wide variety of research firms and consultants who are well versed in PLM and can help with an analysis and assessment of PLM applications.

There are some observations and issues regarding technology that are independent of any particular application and would be relevant to any PLM implementation. These issues pertain to the environment that PLM operates in, or considerations that any PLM application must take into account. These issues are

• PLM needs an adequate technology infrastructure.

• PLM applications should be open and harmonize with other applications.

• PLM applications must be configurable and not customizable.

• PLM applications must be useable and embedded.

• PLM applications must be utility-like in their performance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.