Recession - a good time for PDM and PLM?
Hi there.
It's been quite a long time since my last post, so I thought with the global credit issues I'd drop the blog a line and talk about how this technology could help in these cash strapped times.
First of all I believe that lower costs by getting rid of employees can be a false ecconomy. I do understand it is a necessary evil, but I also believe that before doing that companies should be more creative about identifying cost savings. Some ways are not necessarily anything to do with PDM, such as asking skilled people to consider wage cuts (not popular, but preferable to losing all your salary for six months!).
However the main focus of this article is around how PLM and PDM can help. In a number of discussions with former colleagues we've discussed can the technology really cut costs. My general feeling is it can, the main problem is that most engineering companies work without realising how much time people waste looking for information. I think I've mentioned the "2 hour 20 minute" rule before; where people spend 2 hours looking for a part when it would take 20 minutes to re-create it. So if you implement PDM you would save that 2 hours. Well maybe.
First off for company manager's I would suggest looking at what time this is. I think many people would be suprised. So how can you get around this? Parts classification where you document the attributes of a part such as length, shape, function. material etc. can have significant benefits. The down side is that the results obtained are only as good as the data input. Also there is a reliance on engineering people adding these attributes. This is a difficult sell sometimes since designers often only see additional time and no real benefits. This is why it's critical to know how much time people spend looking. Some companies are now offering graphical query tools where you can draw a shape and ask the system to find similar parts.
The second part of the picture is understanding how much it costs your company to create a new part. This can be very large indeed, so being able to reduce duplication of parts can benefit companies.
Design re-use is another area where companies typically do not know what types of cost savings can be made.
Also PLM/PDM is ideal for capturing processes and insuring people adhere to these. I would say that the efficient use of engineering change within a corporation can save a great deal of money, but you will need to understand what your current costs are and also if the tool can really deliver savings.
So implementing some areas of PDM/PLM can assist in elimination of these issues. But be careful, full blown PDM/PLM implementations are expensive! So in the credit strapped times I would propose working with a good consultant or company to identify "low hanging fruit" such as part duplication and BOM->ERP transfers (see earlier articles). Once you have some savings and have built up an understanding of the technology then it would be good to move on, and maybe the recession is over by then too!
It's been quite a long time since my last post, so I thought with the global credit issues I'd drop the blog a line and talk about how this technology could help in these cash strapped times.
First of all I believe that lower costs by getting rid of employees can be a false ecconomy. I do understand it is a necessary evil, but I also believe that before doing that companies should be more creative about identifying cost savings. Some ways are not necessarily anything to do with PDM, such as asking skilled people to consider wage cuts (not popular, but preferable to losing all your salary for six months!).
However the main focus of this article is around how PLM and PDM can help. In a number of discussions with former colleagues we've discussed can the technology really cut costs. My general feeling is it can, the main problem is that most engineering companies work without realising how much time people waste looking for information. I think I've mentioned the "2 hour 20 minute" rule before; where people spend 2 hours looking for a part when it would take 20 minutes to re-create it. So if you implement PDM you would save that 2 hours. Well maybe.
First off for company manager's I would suggest looking at what time this is. I think many people would be suprised. So how can you get around this? Parts classification where you document the attributes of a part such as length, shape, function. material etc. can have significant benefits. The down side is that the results obtained are only as good as the data input. Also there is a reliance on engineering people adding these attributes. This is a difficult sell sometimes since designers often only see additional time and no real benefits. This is why it's critical to know how much time people spend looking. Some companies are now offering graphical query tools where you can draw a shape and ask the system to find similar parts.
The second part of the picture is understanding how much it costs your company to create a new part. This can be very large indeed, so being able to reduce duplication of parts can benefit companies.
Design re-use is another area where companies typically do not know what types of cost savings can be made.
Also PLM/PDM is ideal for capturing processes and insuring people adhere to these. I would say that the efficient use of engineering change within a corporation can save a great deal of money, but you will need to understand what your current costs are and also if the tool can really deliver savings.
So implementing some areas of PDM/PLM can assist in elimination of these issues. But be careful, full blown PDM/PLM implementations are expensive! So in the credit strapped times I would propose working with a good consultant or company to identify "low hanging fruit" such as part duplication and BOM->ERP transfers (see earlier articles). Once you have some savings and have built up an understanding of the technology then it would be good to move on, and maybe the recession is over by then too!
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