Measure This Part 7:D-I-Y- If you want it done right Do it yourself

After all the dust settles you will have to live with whatever is built at your company. We have reviewed the virtues and perils of the "free" process audit. We have analyzed the best way to leverage the "hired gun" but ultimately those inside a product development organization bear the responsibility and are probably most qualified to assess their product development process and determine the value PLM will bring. No one knows the challenges and issues better than someone who is in the trenches every day dealing with getting product to market. Metrics and measurements are very company specific and it is difficult to extrapolate a measurement methodology or results from one company to another. Consultants and vendors have experience which should not be underestimated but those inside a company really have the knowledge for identifying and measuring product development processes. The best approach to validation is to strap on the tool belt and build your own process that can be used over time to gauge your effectiveness in addressing your company's bottlenecks in product development.

The reason I think this is a better option than leveraging third party resources is that measurement should be an ongoing constant activity. Leveraging consultants creates an "event" mentality. The idea that this is going to be a one time activity and then you will move on to other things. Quantifying process and validating the impact of process improvement should be built into a company's product development process. At any point in time you should be able to pinpoint your inefficiencies and have strategies ready to address them. Consultants can play a key role and share their knowledge to help set up your measurement process but you need to own it and be able to extend it as your company grows. The elements for measurement are pretty straightforward. There is data acquisition which can be done through surveys and interviews. Then the data can be entered into some kind of spreadsheet or form and from there you should be able to derive cost . Obviously this can become quite involved and there are pretty sophisticated tools for business intelligence that go very deep into analytics and executive decision support. We are really talking about some basic measurements like time to find data, time associated with engineering change and the time associated with new product introduction. Most of this information can be gathered from empirical information based on current experience and with input from people involved in the current process. Once PLM is in place you will find it even easier to gather this information based on the reports available from the application. The biggest challenge you might encounter with this approach is getting executive support to spend the time building out measurement methodologies. There is enough information available about the benefit of measurement and PLM that it should not require too much effort to build a compelling case. Leveraging external resources to justify the activity and to help construct some of the framework is acceptable but again the activity should be company driven if at all possible.

The key is to build in a constant monitoring system and to use it. Consultants can provide spreadsheets, questionnaires and advice but in the end a successful measuring solution must be customer driven. Making sure that metrics gathering takes place pre and post PLM implementation is a great way to ensure success and to establish the right tone for PLM. Many process improvement initiatives built around PLM and ERP falter because of ambition or lack of direction. Measurement lets you identify the critical areas in your company and document your success which leads to future projects. No matter how tight a company is run there are always improvements that can save money or generate revenue. In today's competitive business climate you must be smart and make every effort count.

I hope this series has been useful. Our next article will explore some of the mechanics of measurement in greater detail and provide a perspective on measurement from the manufacturing side. Lean methodologies have been touted particularly on the manufacturing side of product development companies for several years and measuring processes is a staple of this philosophy. We will have a guest blogger from the ranks of Lean who will share his thoughts on measuring effectively and the role of consultants in the process of metrics gathering and process optimization. Andrew Cahoon, is the Managing Director of the Clarum Group, a company that specializes in helping product development companies achieve maximum productivity through methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma. He has worked as a Lean specialist at AMD and was the Director of Product Engineering at Texas Instruments. He has his MBA from the University of Oregon and brings a wealth of experience to the industry. His company's website is http://www.clarumgroup.com/.