What can we learn from PLM Elders?

One of the presentations during last ConX19 event last week in San-Diego, was from Craig Brown, former PLM leader of GM, today CIMdata Executive Consultant or how he called himself during the presentation – “PLM Elder”.

I captured a few slides to share as well as wanted to share some of my thoughts after Craig Brown’s presentation. Here are the three biggest challenges of every PLM strategy and implementation – product complexity, process complexity, and organizational complexity.

How to solve the problem of complexity? You can do it with the integration of knowledge and a foundation of consistent data and change management process? The important element is capturing knowledge alongside the process.

Here is Craig Brown’s vision of PLM – Connect People, Visualize it, Apply Knowledge. All together is done across the entire lifecycle of the product from the initial concept to the maintenance and service.

From vision to execution, it comes down to 5 points – framework for successful execution.

One of my favorite slides is about how to prioritize portfolio spending. Don’t miss this slide, because losing the priority is one of the biggest problems that can happen during large PLM implementation.

Final comments from Craig Brown. Check this out.

I found one comment very interesting. Usually, large PLM implementations have a tendency to be very customized with the high demand for flexibility in everything. The point about “less customization” is something that was very interesting to hear from former GM PLM leader. I look forward to finding an opportunity to discuss it with Craig in the future.

What is my conclusion? Connect vision and execution with the right set of priorities. It is very easy to say, but very hard to do. However, my favorite things I learned are about integration of engineering systems, capturing and applying knowledge, to make PLM measurable and streamline information flows. The last two are the key in my view. There is where these recommendations are connecting to the future of digital lifecycle and the role of data flows I shared earlier. 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.