A blog by Oleg Shilovitsky
Information & Comments about Engineering and Manufacturing Software

PLM: Data vs Process – Wrong Dilemma?

PLM: Data vs Process – Wrong Dilemma?
Oleg
Oleg
7 August, 2013 | 2 min for reading

Recent debate on Tech4PD brought back one of my favorite topics in PLM – data vs. process. The topic isn’t new, but it is not diminishing the importance. I found first appearance of my debates with Jim going to back in 2009. Navigate to the following link and read my old blog – PDM vs. PLM: Is it about the process? Another perspective on data vs. process in PLM was presented in my blog post – PLM: controversy about process vs. data managemen. The last one was inspired by Bell Helicopter presentation made during Dassault Customer Conference back in 2011.

Take a moment of time and watch the debate. I gave my vote to Jim. I like his broad perspective on setting organization on the right path with their working procedures. Jim also “packaged” his process opinion together with “file management”, which made me assume that engineers will be able to identify right versions of a specific file/design. What made me feel sad a bit with regards to  Chad’s position is his wiliness to focus on how to control all data in PLM – something I have hard time to believe as needed and even possible. To me PLM cannot control all data, but should rely on technologies to make data available for decision (and not only) processes.

The debate made me think about why Data vs. Process is probably a wrong dilemma in the context of PLM. In my view, the right focus should be on “lifecycle” as a core value proposition of PLM and ability of PLM to support product development. In a nutshell, product development is about how to move product definition (in a broad sense of this word) from initial requirements and design to engineering and manufacturing. If I go future, next stages of product definition will be related to maintenance and disposal. To define what represent product on every stage together with what is required to move product from one stage to another is a core value of product lifecycle and PLM.

What is my conclusion? After many years of debates about data vs. processes, I think time came to get to the next mature level of understanding how to get PLM work for companies. The focus on product definition for every stage of product lifecycle bundled together with procedures or requirements needed in order to move between stages can be a new way to define what PLM is about. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Disclaimer: I’m the co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM, a digital-thread platform providing cloud-native collaborative services including PDM, PLM, and ERP capabilities. With extensive experience in federated CAD-PDM and PLM architecture, I’m advocates for agile, open product models and cloud technologies in manufacturing. My opinion can be unintentionally biased

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
3 June, 2009

Short and powerful message – 3D is coming! Microsoft announced VR camera availability on xBOX 360. Delivered by 3DVIA Virtools...

15 April, 2023

I attended the Imagination in Action – Future of Business with AI (artificial intelligence) event at MIT earlier this week....

2 June, 2016

Do you have a dream? How do you want see manufacturing in a decade from now? Did you try to...

10 January, 2019

PLM was started few decades ago and it looks like coming to some sort of mid-life crisis. I can see...

26 January, 2010

I had chance to read CIMData paper figured out interesting facts related to the future trajectory of Autodesk as a...

22 June, 2009

I was reading a review <PLM Extends Reach in Product Development> over the weekend. My short conclusion – PLM is...

1 March, 2013

What is the right PLM size? This question is continuously debated and discussed by PLM vendors. This topic remains active...

24 April, 2017

The debates about “out-of-the-box” OOTB PLM implementations seems to be endless. I posted many articles sharing opinion about OOTB PLM...

13 April, 2020

Sunday quarantine time is the best moment to reflect on the history of PLM and future trends. Lionel Grealou gave...

Blogroll

To the top