PLM contrasts with two traditional approaches to managing the lifecycle of a product, which include:
1) Using “paper” based systems (note the term “paper” refers to the system of record which may be supported by loosely controlled electronic file stores)
2) Using “point systems” which include systems that are focused on one process of dozens that comprise a product’s lifecycle (from cradle to grave)
By housing the product lifecycle information in one single location the PLM system can ensure a seamless flow of information between processes, this is essential in a similar way to how blood flows around a body. When an artery is cut off and blockages occur things break down. Can you imagine how well a body would work if there was a blockage between each major organ? Yet this is how 93% of companies run (we determined this based on a 120+ company study performed several years ago). How much better and productive could the companies be if we remove these blockages?
There are 2 other major enterprise systems that the PLM system will interface with. These include ERP and MES which carry out the “leg work” in managing physical assets before, during, and after the physical manufacture of the product and are not within the domain of PLM. The paper approach suffers from numerous problems including:
- Lack of control of information in a way that complies with quality and other standards (such as ensuring the “date of occurrence” is captured on a complaints record)
- Inability to find things reliably, expediently, and consistently (such as a document, a CAPA, or a change order)
- Difficulty reusing information (such as a product design or a DNA extraction technique)
- Requiring people (expensive assets) to have tribal knowledge of how the process is supposed to work to spend time doing things that could be done through automation (such as routing something around)
The point solution approach is a slight improvement over paper as some of the issues fall away, but suffers from:
- Inability to easily allow information to flow between two processes
- Lacks consistency with GxP and industry regulations that imply and/or directly call for interfacing between business processes
- May necessitate building and maintaining expensive electronic interfaces between systems
- Multiple software & hardware stacks, forcing additional validation activities, and competing security models
- Overly burdensome investment in IT resources
- Duplicate information stored in each point solution, often leading to inconsistencies, leading to compliance and quality risks
With PLM, these problems vanish as all the processes and information/knowledge recorded/acquired flows without hesitation, without plaque, without resistance. The information is where it should be. Product definition management capabilities are often the first areas implemented as these provide a foundation for managing the product lifecycle from which everything stems. PLM systems grew out of the CAD industry and are much stronger at managing core product definition data than point solutions.
