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

Why I haven’t bought PLM yet.

Why I haven’t bought PLM yet.
olegshilovitsky
olegshilovitsky
26 June, 2009 | 2 min for reading

Well, Product Lifecycle Management sounds like a very profound concept. I can see organizational benefits, values, etc… etc… But I’m not buying yet! You are probably familiar with such behavior – it all sounds good, but people are keeping their positions and not moving. So, I tried to analyze and talk with a few of our customers.

Here is my list of “why I’m not buying yet”?

1. Complexity. This is key. I mentioned it yesterday in a separate blog post called “Complexity Kills…”. It’s too complex to be true. I’m afraid that when I start following all the processes, recommendations, models, and user interfaces…. I see too much. So, in this situation, my reaction is – you guys are too smart and too complex for me.

2. Need to change the way I work. PLM comes with a state of mind “We know how to change it — believe me!” My user’s position here is that I want be able first to see how PLM handles my environment. So, from this standpoint, I want the company to be able to implement PLM, see how it works in not optimized way and then optimize everything.

3. Additional hassle to handle. Unfortunately, this is another system on the table. I need to learn it, handle it separately, ultimately work on this system separately. So, I don’t like this idea 🙂 …

4. Want LEGO approach. This is want I want. I want my PLM LEGOLAND. I want to add blocks as easily as possible – to play with them, allow to users to play with them, and only after we’ll see how it flies in the organization – by moving it to the user’s daily work. And… one more thing: Users need to be part of this process. They need to provide inputs interactively– not only to see it.

So, what is my bottom line? I want to go with the Toyota approach – “test before design”.  So, afterwards, we will make the system simple — the main approach will be to see how the system can work in the organization AS IS, use it, and improve it with small steps. All this will help people want to buy PLM to improve their daily work within their organizations.

What do you think?

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
7 September, 2015

Once upon a time, all my files lived on my computer. I was able to control it, backup and even...

1 August, 2022

Manufacturing is under pressure. Increasing global competition and the need to reduce manufacturing costs are putting pressure on companies to...

27 November, 2014

MBOM (Manufacturing BOM) is a tough problem. Initially, you might think about it as an easy problem. Especially, since companies...

9 July, 2015

You cannot stop innovation. Global manufacturing environment and changing technological landscape is a good foundation to think about how to...

5 August, 2009

Product Lifecycle Management is going full speed to social tools and technologies. With two companies, PTC and DS articulated their...

26 September, 2010

COFES Russia is a history now. I wanted to put some thoughts and links for non-Russian speaking readers about what...

9 December, 2013

CAD, Cloud, Browser…  Since SolidWorks first started CAD in the cloud debates by making SolidWorks in the cloud announcement back...

10 August, 2018

In the pre-digital world of the last 100 years, oil was one of the main sources of conflict. Multiple articles...

18 February, 2025

Have you ever tried playing billiards on a boat? No? Well, let me paint you a picture. Imagine setting up...

Blogroll

To the top