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

PLM Cloud Journey Acceleration

PLM  Cloud Journey Acceleration
Oleg
Oleg
10 September, 2021 | 3 min for reading
cloud computing acceleration

While cloud and the internet are a way to live and breathe for many of us, the adoption of SaaS and cloud technologies was not so obvious for engineers and manufacturing companies. As much as engineers are the biggest powerhouse for innovation when it comes to their own tools, you can see engineers still using flip phones and afraid to step outside of their comfort zone of a powerful desktop and tools they have been using for the last 20-25 years.

My attention was caught by Jim Brown of Tech-Clarify video interviews. Check them out, Jim has an interesting new style of “NYT” (not your typical) tech interview where he touches on a variety of topics with tech and product leaders in PLM and other companies.

Here is one with Paul Brown, Senior Marketing Director at Siemens. Jim and Paul discussed the topic that is near and dear to my heart – cloud technology adoption and acceleration.

The topic of cloud adoption is interesting. Engineers and manufacturing companies are among the latest cohorts of businesses that are still using old systems (eg. Solid Edge and its competitors from Dassault Systemes and other vendors are 25+ years old products).  Siemens made a sharp turn in cloud-enabling its existing portfolio to the cloud. Check my earlier blogs about Teamcenter X and some others – Teamcenter X How to Sit On Two Chairs.

Here are my 3 takeaways from Jim and Paul’s short conversation.

1- Pandemic was one of the biggest accelerating factors to adopt cloud technologies for the last 18 months, engineering and manufacturing companies. The multiple lockdowns closed offices, and travel restrictions forced companies to work remotely and find a way to communicate without interruption.

2- Customers are coming to realize that cloud is not an either/or discussion. It is not a situation when the company must switch to the cloud completely. As Paul said, sending a memory stick with UPS is not a good collaboration. It is about how to use the right tool. For example, if a company is using Solid Edge, Siemens has a vision of cloud-enabled design and they can use partners’ cloud services integrated with the desktop tools to share data and collaborate.

3- Cloud-connected products are smart and the main reason for that is because cloud and SaaS products have much better tools to manage data and communicate. The industry is switching from CAD files to engineering platforms and data is a new software in this move. The future PLM is brutally dependent on how solutions will be able to connect data and lifecycle together regardless of what tools they use and where they are located.

What is my conclusion?

When big and established vendors like Siemens speak about cloud adoption, you realize that cloud is coming and you might not retire with existing PLM systems you implemented 20+ years ago (opposite to some belief of people managing engineering and manufacturing software for many industrial companies). Therefore, it is an alarm clock to check your surroundings and look at what cloud solutions and technologies are available, how they are different and is the right path for you and your organization to explore and adopt new cloud and SaaS tools. Just my thoughts…

Want to ask me questions about it? Contact me.

Best, Oleg

Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing a digital network-based platform that manages product data and connects manufacturers, construction companies, and their supply chain networksMy opinion can be unintentionally biased.

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
24 November, 2010

My blogging friend Deelip Menezes (www.deelip.com) wrote few days ago in his twitter – “Mapping engineering processes to PLM backbones...

30 December, 2013

End of the year is traditionally associated with “top stories” and “next year predictions”. So, it is hard to resist…...

31 October, 2013

It is not unusual to hear about technological clusters these days. Cluster development emphasizes the importance of geography, or more...

13 April, 2020

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

22 June, 2017

The history of PLM is heavily intertwined with aerospace, defense and automotive industries. Back those days, these industries introduced the...

23 April, 2012

The complexity of engineering and manufacturing software is a well-known fact. The topic isn’t really new. For the last couple...

29 July, 2011

Let me talk again about Part Numbers. The last time I wrote about Part Numbers, it created a healthy discussion....

19 April, 2010

I can see multiple debates these days related to the social software – Social Networking, Microblogging and others. Despite the absolute...

11 June, 2022

The last three years were one of the most turbulent in the history of PLM. COVID, supply chain challenges and...

Blogroll

To the top