Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Critical Issues and Challenges in Implementation - Information Technology and Product Development - page 78

Chapter 5
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Critical
Issues and Challenges in Implementation

Andrew Hewett

Abstract Product life cycle management (PLM) has emerged as perhaps the most
important enterprise IT application for supporting product and service innovation.
This chapter examines the unique challenges associated with implementing PLM.
Specifically, the chapter focuses on three primary organizational challenges: (a)
cultural issues around the “product engineer”; (b) a lack of standard engineering
processes as a foundation for PLM; and (c) the failings of the PLM technology
itself. The discussion enables a better appreciation of the value a strong resource
like a “senior engineering fellow” adds to the project team and underlies the differ-
ences between truly standard functional activities (such as accounting) and product
development processes, and how these differences could potentially reduce the
repeatability of PLM implementations. The discussion also highlights the technical
complexity in most PLM solutions that arises from bolting together diverse modules
needed to address the different business functions associated with product develop-
ment. The chapter concludes by identifying several important directions for future
research on PLM implementation.

5.1 Introduction

Managing the end-to-end process - or life cycle - of new product development
efforts is a critical function of a product company's operations. However, the
systems and practices that underlie such product life cycle management (PLM),
commonly referred to as PLM, has undergone significant changes in recent years.
New and emerging information technologies, rapid globalization of businesses, and
evolving core functions such as collaborative design and outsourced manufacturing
have forced companies to re-examine their product development practices. A sig-
nificant part of such a change in the management of new product development has
been the introduction and adoption of a new type of enterprise-class IT application
referred to simply as PLM.