This blog is the first in a two part series we will be discuss best practices to ensure a successful PLM implementation.

1. Recognize that you already have PLM

Basically every company has Product Lifecycle Management whether they realize it or not. Let’s call anything provided from a company (goods or service) to another entity (most generically, a customer) a product. Any given product goes through lifecycle stages or phases. Some products may never go beyond a conceptual idea or thought, while others make it well past “End of Life" to an elevated status of historic or legendary - there may even be an instance of the product that makes it back to a display case in a company lobby or a museum. For any product, the various lifecycles happen along with varying behavior in how the product is handled, discussed, managed, tracked, recorded, and transacted, and so on. There may be no formal taxonomy for the lifecycles and no system to manage the product information and its evolution. However, if the product happened, it certainly had a lifecycle. During that lifecycle, things happened to the product and the product happened to things. Product Lifecycle Management occurred; therefore, a PLM solution was in place. It may have been a completely undefined solution with no governing business rules, no controls, and very little tracking of information or it may have been a very well defined solution with lots of names for the various elements that make up the solution. However, some solution of people, activity, and systems existed that enabled the product to happen.

Without getting into a discussion or debate about the elements of the solution, what to call them (PDM, PLM, ERP, MRP, MDM, CAD, etc.), or where the boundaries lie, let’s simply recognize that a solution, however formal or informal, does exist. Recognizing this opens the doors of opportunity to take control of your solution. Your solution can simply exist and evolve with very little deliberate planning or you can decide to take control and make sure that your solution is enabling what you need. To quote a great band and probably many historic philosophers… “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” Recognize that you have PLM and decide to take control of it.

2. Define your Vision for PLM

Given that you have decided to take control of it, the next step is to set the direction for improving it. The extents of “PLM” are broad, so defining your vision for PLM is important. Identify where the efforts should take (or support taking) your company. Are there key business objectives, a strategy, mission or vision for your company already defined with which to align?

3. Drive Intentional Continuity and Alignment

Support the vision with an aligned mission and high level objectives, then make sure that within each step and at each level of defining goals there is continuity back to these. This strategic alignment provides a foundation for motivating efforts and a means of defining goals and measuring success.

This applies whether there is support from the top down or a lack of leadership has created a void being filled from the bottom up.

4. Gather your Core Team

This is listed this far down because without the above it may be hard to rally, motivate, and inspire resources. If you already have a team and have done the above together, that is great. After gathering the core team, it may be wise to revisit the vision and add, remove, or modify goals - the key with #3 is continuity and alignment with what is important, while specific goals may change based on input from the team and experience.

5. Be Outcomes Focused

This means focus on WHAT, not how - Take a Business Architecture approach.

Spend time to understand and define the key outcomes that should be enabled for your business to operate. Make sure these outcomes are not simply identified by looking at as-is processes. In fact, try to identify them devoid of current processes - step back and identify the outcomes that are truly needed in order to operate your business - at an individual or functional level: What do I need from others to do my job? What do others need from me to do their job?. As this all pieces together, it creates a blueprint for smooth operation. A clean business architecture blueprint should then be your guide, not the traditional as-is to-be approach that tends to mimic old processes in new tools. There is something worse than spending gobs of time and money on a new system that does nothing other than result in a new interface to do all of the old things. That something worse: Wishing you still had the old system. The traditional as-is to-be is likely to get you both. If you want real improvements and positive business transformation, make sure you define what you really need and create that blueprint.

Remember #3 and verify continuity and alignment. After all, the high level objectives and vision should speak of outcomes. The blueprint is suddenly not just a guide moving forward with your implementation, but a map with markers that can highlight areas of focus and sources for metrics.

Stay tuned for the second part in this series, “Top 10 Steps to Ensure a Successful PLM Implementation.”