7-step Guide To Implementing a PLM

It is no surprise that implementing a PLM system requires substancial investments in terms of time, effort and financial resources. Therefore, these projects require advanced project management and leadership. Even though it is certainly not easy and can affect the company’s routine both in the short and long term, some companies tend to be more afraid of PLM implementation than they should be. By following this simple 7-step guide, you can ensure that the implementation process is as successful as it can be.

1. Set the goals for your PLM

Each PLM implementation should start with defining the benefits of the project; as these help set a direction. It is important to involve the stakeholders in this phase, as they can play an important role in the project kick-off, by supporting the identification of the goals.The phase is finished when basic system requirements are defined. However, following a lean management approach, the project’s target should not be fixed but aligned throughout the whole process.

2. Assemble the team

It is crucial to take project management seriously when implementing a PLM, as it is a complete and complex system that affects the everyday work of the whole company. Furthermore, if an automated system is not implemented correctly, it can cause more issues than it intended to solve. This phase should contain selecting a senior project manager with excessive experience in leadership and assembling the team. It is advised not to have a homogenous team, as people from different departments and positions can contribute with different aspects to the team. It’s important to assemble an experienced and decision capable team within their respective fields. With the project manager’s lead and management, the team should construct the project plan, including the budget and time frame estimates.

3. Map the production data and business processes

As described before, a PLM system automates given business processes and keeps product data in a single environment. This indicates that PLM implementation is only possible if the current state of the available data and processes is known.

Do not be surprised when your vendor’s first questions aim towards these. Ensure that the data you have is reliable, up-to-date and complete and that your processes are wellmapped. In order to define need-to-have and nice-to-have requirements for your future PLM system, your current processes must be clear.

A PLM will undoubtedly require changes to be made in the setup, thus in the well-known business processes. These changes are not only challenging for the management, but also for the people working with the system. They will be required to change their routine and learn to use a new system. Because of this, it is important to include, inform and support them during and after the implementation. People might fight against change – ensure them, that these changes will have a positive effect on their everyday work too, as their role is critical in such a project. Lack of support from employees equals non-successful implementation/deployment of the PLM system.

For better information exchange, you should find the perfect balance in the frequency of the meetings and announcements:

  • Having too few could make it hard for the stakeholders to track the progress. This can lower their confidence and increases general uncertainty.
  • Making it too frequently means that there is smaller progress in between two meetings, which can make employees lose interest in the change and raise concerns instead. Allocating more time for meetings means spending less on production.

4. Settle on the ideal PLM solution

This can easily be the most demanding phase of the project, as deciding upon a solution can affect the company’s life for years. However, this investment can pay off easily by finding the ideal solution. When searching for a PLM, bear in mind the resources allocated and the requirements set towards the ideal system.

Various factors can play a role in deciding a system, such as:

  • Your current ERP and CAD system(s)
  • The number of sites and users you have
  • The costs of implementation and maintenance
  • Market specialization (some PLMs are for generic usage, while others are specialized in a given industry)
  • Provided support and guidance in best practice
  • On-premise or cloud-based system
  • Level of integration with other business apps

Furthermore, implementing a PLM usually comes with longterm commitment towards the PLM vendor. It is important to find a reliable and trustworthy vendor; look for feedback and reviews about them online or participate in their webinar or demo.

Finding a solution that fulfils all your expectations and requirements is hard, but not impossible.

5. Shape the selected PLM

Selecting a PLM vendor and its solution gives you an image of the final system. However, that image is still blurry. What makes it crystal clear is configuring the PLM. This configuration can include system scaling; setting up country, region or industry-specific settings; selecting the modules or addons that are required for the ideal PLM. Mapping the possibilities for integrating the PLM with the other business tools is also often started at this stage.

The configuration of the PLM is done by the vendor in close collaboration with the customer company to ensure that the final system meets all customer requirements. Different vendors have different ways of gathering the needed information used for configuring and customizing the PLM. These can include one or more of the following:

  • Filling out detailed and long data gathering forms
  • Using web conferencing tools such as Teams, GoToMeeting or TeamViewer
  • Having facetoface meetings on the customer’s site

6. Train the stakeholders

PLM solutions are not selfexplanatory. Not even the ones embedded into an ERP – where the user interface might be familiar, but the group of new functions is definitely not. To be able to confidently use these complex systems, stakeholders should be properly trained first. Fortunately, most PLM vendors provide some sort of training for their customers. Usually, they train the super users, who will train the other members of the company. The forms of training can vary:

  • Giving access to written or video user guides
  • More complex: webbased elearning system
  • Classroom training

The training often takes place in parallel with the system testing and deployment, to shorten the projects. Formula 1 cars might be the fastest race cars in the world, but in the hands of an untrained driver, it can be both slow and dangerous. The same is true for PLM. It does not matter that you just implemented the absolutely best PLM on the market if your employees cannot use it at its fullest. Our advice: do not try to save money or resources on training the user!

7. Close the project and measure the results

PLMs are configured and customized for individual companies. This means that throughout the system development and implementation, multiple tests need to be run to ensure the system’s correctness and optimization. This also includes step-by-step testing of data migration, to minimize the risk of losing or corrupting data in the final master data migration. In most cases, this is the last phase to request and apply minor changes in the system. This is a very important stage where full commitment from the stakeholders as well as the vendor is of highest importance. When all the test results are verified, the master data is safely migrated to the final system, all super users receive training, and the after-sales services are clarified. Then, the PLM is ready for deployment.

However, the PLM implementation does not end at the point when the PLM vendor hands over the final system to the customer. It is recommended having a closure meeting at the company, where the project can be summarized, and the first reports can be presented. This can also include the first comparison of the desired and the finalized system (if all the goals, requirements, budget and time frame was met; or if not, then why not). Of course, the real effects are only visible in the long run, which can be measured using both quantitative (KPIs and ROI) and qualitative (stakeholder feedback) methods.

Afterword

The process of implementing an ideal PLM solution might be a time-consuming process. However, PLM is beneficial for optimizing the product lifecycle by automating the non-value adding processes and increasing productivity by lowering product-re-lated costs via a centralized database. It is definitely worth the investment. If you would like to aim for a smooth PLM implementa-tion, fully embedded within your Microsoft Dynamics ERP system and integrated with the market-leading CAD systems, you should take a look at Bluestar PLM, by Microsoft partner PDM technology.

Download our free whitepaper below and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions you might have.

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