What are the key challenges and risks of implementing a PLM strategy and how to overcome them?

I've seen a lot of organizations come up with big, grand vision statements that are often too vague or too broad, and it becomes impossible to come up with a meaningful set of objectives for the quarter/year to actually meet any goals. One thing I've found to be helpful is to be hyper-focused on 1-3 things that either bubble up to the organization's top business goal or significantly move the needle with customer acquisition or retention. Otherwise, too many initiatives end up taking up too much time or resources, and you end up not moving very far in any positive direction.

A successful implementation is only as good as it is defined to begin with. Unless there are measurement indices defined to measure the success of a PLM implemented, there is no way that the elephant in the room with several blind men around can say the same thing about it. It can be as simple, yet deep as said to me by one of my customers once - 'I shall certify that the PLM implementation is successful, if my designers can go back home in time' he had said. It is therefore good to define the indices in terms of real 'resources'. It would be best to start by defining measurement indices in real savings in - - man - material - money - time. Sounds simple, yet, very difficult to achieve :-)

We’ve learned it’s important to realize your customer’s continuous improvements may require products to be enhanced to satisfy future operational requirements. Innovation breeds future relevance and new customer relationships. Dare to be great…! Be the creator that dreams and sees how the future can be a success.

Based on our experience with multiple PLM implementation, the top factors to consider in PLM design: Prioritization: Align projects with strategic goals for impactful resource allocation. Performance Metrics: Measureable results aid data-driven decision-making and ROI evaluation. Risk Assessment: Proactive risk mitigation demonstrates responsible strategic planning. Change Management: Smooth transitions and engagement underscore successful implementation. Communication Plan: Transparent updates foster alignment and stakeholder trust.

Some manufacturing companies create a hole for themselves (and eventually for their implementation partner) by not starting with a well defined RFP. If they are themselves not clear what they need, it is least expected for a foreign body (implementor) to assume things on their behalf. A roadmap therefore starts with a clear definition of the requirements. It can be a good practice to begin with hiring an agency to first create a 'requirements document'. Only can then the implementation partner give near to accurate effort estimation.

There are several modules that a PLM solution would have. Siemens' PLM solution, Teamcenter apart from having authors and consumers of the data, project scheduling, classification (of standard parts), BOM, change management, formulation and packaging, Reporting and analytics, and more such modules. The authors would be subjected to the standard capability of access control, check-in, check-out, etc.

Change management is a key step that many organizations gloss over too quickly. Change is always difficult, and for some people it is more difficult than others. It is important that proper training is provided to all stakeholders, and the very important step of user acceptance testing (UAT) must not be rushed. UAT is where bugs, glitches or challenges will be uncovered. You want to find, document and solve those issues before going live with you PLM solution. There should be a period of hyper care after the deployment of the new system, where there is support for users readily available to troubleshoot and answer questions. This will help with a smooth rollout and alleviate risk.

This is a skill that all product managers really need to be good at, particularly as they level up in their careers. It's not enough to build a feature and measure success- product managers should be looking at holistic performance and engagement and cross-sell opportunities, particularly across different dimensions such as segment, geography, size, industry, and etc. A good PM can say that a recent release was below or at or above projected outcomes but a great PM can identify adjacent opportunities for fixes or new features or entirely new markets.

Clearly defined measurement indices such as - - percentage reduction in design cycle time expected - percentage reduction in searching time - percentage saving in rejection - etc.

This is the exciting part! You’ve already accomplished the mission critical goals, how can you extend PLM to connect more people, processes, and data? I know a PLM manager who said he should have retired 2 years ago but was having too much fun building out his companies PLM to do even more!

It becomes mandatory to have a system administrator who would be tasked to check the usage of the PLM system deployed. The role would include trainings, capturing user experiences, managing users as per the project needs and creating reports. Most PLM solutions would have a reporting and analytics module (Siemens' Teamcenter has a TCRA). This gives reports, typically for management reviews that give a summary of the daily / weekly / monthly performances.