Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Critical Issues and Challenges in Implementation - Information Technology and Product Development - page 79

Just like in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the enterprise resource planning
(ERP) application was emerging, in the 2000s, the PLM application has assumed
considerable importance in most corporate IT budgets and activities. There are many
parallels that can be drawn between some of the initial ERP implementations and
the current PLM implementations: improperly set executive management expec-
tations, high application implementation costs, frustrated end-users, armies of IT
consultants, and evasive returns on investment.
For many years, there was healthy skepticism and debate on how successful ERP
implementations and the resulting business solutions actually were. PLM applica-
tion implementations are drawing many of these same criticisms. Similar to the
history of the ERP project, some of these PLM implementation problems will dis-
appear with the growing maturity of the software solution and the increase in the
exposure and experience of the product development management team. At the
same time, the challenges related to implementing a successful PLM solution are
still considerable. In fact, there are surprisingly few truly successful PLM imple-
mentations in existence today! While there has much effort expended on installing
PLM solutions in companies across industries, the business value these applications
have delivered is still debatable. And, much of that can be traced to poor PLM imple-
mentation and an inability to boldly address the critical challenges associated with
PLM implementation.
This chapter identifies some of the more important challenges related to
implementing a PLM application. Our discussion does not address the com-
mon IT implementation challenges such as lack of project sponsorship or
poor project team management. Instead, the chapter focuses on the nuances of
implementing PLM.
Specifically, the chapter is organized around three primary challenges: (a) cul-
tural 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 will contribute to a deeper understanding of the value as well
as the challenges a strong resource like a “senior engineering fellow” will add to
the PLM implementation team. This includes the potentially dysfunctional political
influences that such an “end user” would bring to an implementation team. The dis-
cussion will also distinguish between a truly standard business process (for example,
accounting process) and product development process and how the implications of
this on the repeatability of PLM implementations. Finally, most PLM vendors have
bolted together different applications (components or modules) to address all of
the PLM functionalities and this has increased the level of technical complexity
associated with the PLM solution. This, in turn, poses unique challenges related to
interfaces to existing enterprise IT applications.
It is true that the nature and extent of these challenges would vary with the
product development and organizational context. However, if PLM application
implementation costs, durations, and risks are going to be reduced, then these chal-
lenges have to be addressed. And, the first step in this direction would be enhancing
our awareness of the challenges. We start with the first challenge.