THE PLM STATE

The PLM State: Debunking the PLM Mystery in Mystery Science Theater 3000

LoadState.pngIf you have been paying attention to our many emails and social media posts, Zero Wait-State has themed our appearance at this year's Oracle Modern Supply Chain Experience (MSCE) around the television series Mystery Science Theater.   We have designed our booth at the conference as a movie venue and styled our product offerings as actual movies which we will present in the booth.  We are also hosting a showing of the full length Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie on Tuesday January 26th close to the convention center in San Jose.  I was discussing this theme with a client and he asked what I consider to be a very valid question as to why we chose this theme.   This article will explain the reasons behind our theme and why Zero Wait-State, as a company, has a tendency to take an unconventional route when it comes to marketing our solutions and advocating the benefits companies can realize from Product Lifecycle Management initiatives.

My inspiration for PLM Mystery Science Theater 3000 started with a KickStart campaign launched last year to fund additional episodes of the show.  The response was impressive.   They set a new record for Kickstart raising 5.7 million dollars which will allow them to film 14 new episodes.  Obviously, Mystery Science Theater 3000 has a following but how do we tie it to PLM? If you have read any of my blogs from the past, you may remember articles comparing PLM vendors to the ThunderCats or comparing PLM Modules to Super Heros. I have used TV series like The Walking Dead to highlight the dangers of projects that won’t die.  I even wrote an article comparing entry level PLM to the Jonas Brothers.  It was fun writing these articles and I am sure I got a few clicks driven by curiosity but the underlying motivation was to try and inject some level of entertainment and energy into a very dry topic.  The premise behind Mystery Science Theater is that the main character Joel Robinson, a janitor at a top secret facility, has been marooned on an orbiting spaceship called the Satellite of Love.  Two evil scientists have a plan to drive him insane by forcing him to watch one bad movie after another and as a coping mechanism Joel and his robot companions Crow, Tom Servo , and Gypsy provide entertaining commentary while the bad movies play.   I see parallels in PLM where we are forced to sit through dry presentations or read overly technical articles trying to espouse the virtues of PLM.  I have probably written some of these articles and created some of these presentations in my long history as a PLM advocate.  Much like in the Mystery Science Theater episodes, we are bombarded with jargon and the latest fads in technology trying to convince us that the next disruptive technology is here.

Whether it is cloud based PLM, Internet of Things (IOT), or Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), the underlying technology is still core PLM.  Trying to weed through the information on PLM can potentially drive you to the insanity these evil scientist wished upon Joel.  Myself and Zero Wait-State are attempting to educate and entertain to help you stay engaged without requiring therapy or medication.  We will be presenting at MSCE in this manner and hopefully it will be well received and provide welcome relief from the parade of technical information doled out at the conference.  This is not to denigrate the importance of the information being presented but merely to offer a respite and an alternative way to convey important information.

PLM kind of gets a bad rap in most companies.  It is hard to quantify the value PLM provides and it tends to take a technological backseat to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  Some vendors have sought to try and redefine PLM like PTC with their IOT initiative.  I recently read an interesting article from the prolific Oleg Shilovitsky, titled “Nobody Wants to Use Your PLM Product and that’s OK”.  In the article Oleg discusses the merits of ease of use versus features and functionality saying that the more intuitive and incorporated PLM is into process the better it works.  He cites examples like DropBox and Google as user interface that would work best.  I do agree with him that simpler is better in some cases but I think the real value in PLM whether it is IOT, Cloud or some built in transparent tool, is the process improvements it drives.  PLM like anything else is a means to an end and we often become so enamored with the technology we forget why we are using it in the first place.  It is important to remember the business issues that PLM solves like consolidation and protection of information, the enforcement of process, and the automation of information exchange.  Applying the technology effectively is the true definition of success and this is what we strive for at Zero Wait-State. 

No one PLM vendor has a corner on the market for PLM technology what matters is how the technology is leveraged.  If you keep this in mind you will have a chance like Joel to preserve your sanity as you navigate through all of the information disseminated on PLM.  If you are coming to MSCE please stop by our booth (501) and say hi or register to attend our showing of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on January 26th.   If you can’t attend feel free to stop by our website to see our interesting take on PLM products and classical science fiction.  If you have any ideas on new takes on PLM I am always open for a challenge so feel free to provide me with suggested topics for future articles to break up the monotony.

 

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