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

Should PLM develop its own process tools?

Should PLM develop its own process tools?
olegshilovitsky
olegshilovitsky
20 February, 2009 | 1 min for reading

There is no discussion – PLM is very oriented towards processes. In order to be able to coordinate multiple organizational activities around product lifecycles it seems like process tools is  a “must to have” component in PLM tool box. But is it really true?

In today’s world, process tools are becoming available as part of many non-PLM products. Starting as workflow automation, process tools were developed and/or acquired by platform vendors (IBM, Microsoft and others). Large ERP vendors also provided process tools as part of their packages. In addition to these big behemoths, many BPMS (Business Process Management Suites) are focusing on process definition, execution and improvement. In addition, some standards initiatives around BPMN and BPEL are also focusing on process management and tools.

So where does PLM play into this game? I see two possible options: (1) PLM providers will focus on the development of process management tools; (2) PLM providers will allow the integration of PLM information and IP  (Intellectual Property) into existing process tools provided by platforms. I believe that option #1 will be very helpful in integrating PLM systems into the enterprise software already available within the vast zoo of software within the organization, option#2 can simplify deployment and and keep the implementation of PLM simple.

From a customer’s standpoint,  I see great significance to maintaining single organizational process. Therefore, a promising alternative is to align the PLM process implementation with the growing adoption of standards like BPMN /BPEL. This allows customer to run multiple tools around the same process…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7K53XR6A1c&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFlKuPRpHoM&feature=related]

 

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
31 March, 2016

I spent today in Detroit attending annual PLM Market and Industry Forum by CIMdata – one of the leaders in PLM research and...

26 January, 2025

A long time ago, I came across a simple formula for building enterprise software: find a stakeholder in a company,...

18 September, 2017

When you present about “cloud” and “PLM” topic, the question of security was always the one on the top.For many...

27 January, 2009

I’d like to open a series of discussions related to business intelligence and PLM. I had a chance to speak...

3 September, 2019

In the past few weeks, I found the topic of “PLM standards” came across multiple times. I brought the discussion...

15 February, 2016

In a traditional engineering, “over the wall” approach is a reflection of sequential operations – marketing, design, manufacturing, testing and...

18 June, 2010

Say “PLM” to anyone, and you hear the words “complex” and “expensive”. However, thinking about trajectories of different technologies, I...

15 March, 2016

Innovation platform is a new name in the competition of PLM and engineering software. The message is widely supported by analysts...

5 November, 2011

Cloud conversation is taking a sharp turn. Private cloud vs. public cloud. This is actually can be a very interesting...

Blogroll

To the top