History of the World Part I is an under-appreciated film by Mel Brooks that attempts to portray the events of world history that brought us to our current state. This article while not as funny or entertaining as Mr. Brooks’ film will attempt to capture the formative events that led to our current PLM technology landscape.
The earliest ancestor of PLM is Configuration Management, CM. It is arose in the 1950s when objects being manufactured for the US Department of Defense, like missiles and airplanes, became more complex and more functions more critical. The anecdote that the instructor at the Institute of Configuration Management gave: after a series of tests and modifications of a missile the Army was finally satisfied with the performance and indicated that they would like to order more of that missile, to which the contractor replied “What missile? The only one we had just blew up.” CM is a system of documenting and tracking properties of a product. In the 1970s MIL standards were created by the DoD to define how contractors should use CM. This was followed by multiple standards including ANSI, ISO etc. Due to the limited power and availability of computers at this time, CM was mostly a paper process.
As Computer Aided Design, CAD, became more popular and available in the mid-1980s, the number and versions of CAD files became unwieldy. To address this issue, Product Data Management, PDM, systems were created. Initially, most of these were created by the CAD companies to manage their own native files like Pro/PROJECT by Parametric Technology. The systems stored basic data about each CAD model, vaulted the model and provided some history and possibly a release method. Because companies create data other than CAD and often use more than one CAD system, independent PDM systems were created by several companies. These independent systems were more rounded; including basic workflows for release and changes to documentation but the focus was still engineering data management.
The biggest problem with PDM is the data silo that it creates, walling off important data from the rest of the company (See the blog about Silos). Engineers seem to think that they know more than anyone else (who am I to disagree?) and want to maintain control of their information. The data that comes into engineering and the data produced is not only important to virtually the entire company, but in many cases, the decisions that are made during the design cycle need to include other departments to produce a better, cheaper, faster and safer product.
Product Lifecycle Management was created in the late-1990s, expanding the scope of the information that is managed and including every functional area. PLM is still a configuration management system that includes the features of PDM, but it also manages product data from concept through end of life. In addition to the engineering and CAD data that PDM manages, PLM includes bills of materials, requirements, quality data, costing information, manufacturer and manufacturer part information, project management, compliance information, analytics and integrates with other systems like Enterprise Resource Planning business systems.
When viewed from a historic perspective PLM seems like just another label to solve an ongoing problem in product development and manufacturing. PLM is a catch all for technology that allows information to be distributed in a more automated and efficient manner and ensures companies are leveraging accurate versions of data and adhering to security policies. The process seems somewhat evolutionary as technology continues to adapt to client needs. Hopefully History of PLM Part II will include further progress toward an environment that allows companies to create and consume information in a way that accelerates their progress towards success.
