Integration is still the major challenge in PLM adoption

I want to continue the discussion about data ownership and synchronization between islands of information in a company. EBOM and MBOM synchronization I mentioned in my previous post is probably the most typical one. But there are many others. Supply chain, contract manufacturing, regulation, customer support and services – this is only very short list where data stays under control of different systems. Even the idea of pulling data under a control of single system was an option a decade ago, my hunch that these days, the idea of PLM one big silo is getting less popular.

Control Engineering Asia published an article Hitachi Sunway Talks PLM Opportunities and Developments. Thammaya Chuay-iam of Hitachi Sunway Information Systems in Tailand, shared his thoughts about some of the major trends happening in the PLM sector in Asia, the opportunities and challenges. One of the topics caught my attention. It was specifically related to the issue of integration. Here is my favorite passage:

[Q] What are the biggest challenges being faced by manufacturers when it comes to their PLM activities? [A] Even though PLM initiatives within global companies have developed significantly over the years, the core challenge of the manufacturing industry remains the ever-growing need for consistent integration between PLM solutions and other enterprise systems. Another challenge is the need for focused solutions that address the needs of targeted groups within the PLM environment.

It made me think again about integration topic. The problem is here for the last 20-25 years. In many situations, the solutions companies are using remain unchanged for decades. It is brutal export/import/sync of data. It brings complexity and it cost money.

What is my conclusion? I guess the fundamental idea of “data pumping” between different systems should be replaced by something better. I’ve been touching it in my post about data ownership and data sharing. Web technologies can give us a better way to share, link and intertwine data. I believe it can be a better way and it will replace brutal data synchronization. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing cloud based bill of materials and inventory management tool for manufacturing companies, hardware startups and supply chain. My opinion can be unintentionally biased