It is hard for non-PLM experts to know all the aspects and possibilities of PLM solutions. I have seen it over and over again. How can companies looking for a PLM solution make the right choices? Should they start specifying what they need or should they just trust their hunch and pick the one on top of their mind?
The topic is also valid for companies that have had PLM for a long time and are stuck. It is hard to know how and in which direction to go. In this blog I focus on first, or even second time buyers that don’t have large PLM organizations and a lot of internal PLM knowledge.
PLM can be so much
There are as many opinions about what PLM is as there are people. On an overall level you can probably agree that the core is:
- Part Management
- BOM Management
- Document Management
- Change Management
Throw in some CAD integrations and an ERP integration. Maybe variant management or project management. Or maybe PLM are all the tools and processes creating or managing product information?
An enterprise PLM solution like Teamcenter, Windchill, Agile and Enovia has an enormous breadth, but there is also a challenge to understand the details in a selected PLM area. For example CAD integration or the change management process.
The core functionality mentioned above is really not more than classical PDM and which what most companies still need the most. But it can be hard enough. There are so many details that you probably didn’t think you had to care about.
- What should the naming rules be? Running number? Any logic?
- What metadata do you want need, and can you agree on it? How does that match for instance ERP?
- What are the approval steps for different object types? What is an object type by the way?
- Easy revisioning in development and full blown change process in productionmanufacturing?
- How do you get a BOM from CAD? Can you use it directly?
- Etc.
There is so much detail in core PDM that you will not be able to cover it all during an evaluation phase. The devil is in the details and some of these differences can have significant impact on your way of working. Unless you really know what to look for you will not be able to identify the details that matters for you until you implement or even roll out the solution.
The evaluation process
Buying PLM is like buying a house. You visit the house one or maybe two times for half an hour. You read the prospect and then pay more than you planned. Then you get surprised a couple of months later when you get the house as there are so many details you see now that you could not possible see during the sales process. The good thing is that the human brain usually rationalizes bad decisions to look good. The good things about the house is exaggerated and the bad things are ignored. It can be the same with PLM. However, problems with PLM tends to be visible to others than the ones making the decisions, and that makes the bad things hard to ignore.
The problem with buying a PLM system, and a house, is that unless you are an expert you don’t know what to look for. You look at all and end up looking at nothing and make a decision based on who did the best demonstration and who you trusted most in the sales process. By the way: those people you trust the most are not likely to be part of the implementation anyway.
The sales presentations (and the information you find on the vendor’s websites) from the competitors can probably be switched without you noticing. On a sales level all solutions can do everything. You have to find the differences yourself.
I like this quote from David Stewart at Zerowait-state: "..it’s hard to discern which is the better (PLM) choice. I still feel like the best way to know or choose is based on experience".
To compensate for not being able to see clear differences between the PLM solutions you typically describe what your requirements are and send out RFQs with a lot of details. If you are considering any of the enterprise tools the problem is that the solution providers probably can say yes to almost all and do the same things as the competitors. It is very hard to distinguish PLM solutions based on a list of requirements. See this
blog for some insights to why traditional RFQ processes is a problem.
The typical tendencies when specifying needs/requirements as first time buyers are:
- Not to specify at all or on a so high level it does not give any value. The answers all look the same. You end up picking the one you know or the one you believe the most in.
- Or specifying in detail everything you can think of. You spend tremendous effort in detailing a very long list of requirements to be sure you cover all aspects. You end up with a complex solution.
The first one might be as good as the second. A big requirements phase is a danger in itself. You easily end up specifying today’s way of working. You don’t see all the changes a PLM solution should bring.
I suggest that you spend more time on reference visits and focus on the supplier, and not that much on the PLM solution itself. Find some of the references yourself. Don’t just take the ones that are picked by the suppliers. The key question: Is the supplier capable to be a long-term partner ensuring your success?
Hard to differentiate the PLM tools (even for experienced people)
I have been both on the specifying side as a customer, on the response side as an implementer and now on the customer side as an advisor in many PLM evaluations. And I see it again and again. The people evaluating PLM solutions are not able to distinguish clearly and rationally between the different options.
It is very hard to find facts about the differences. And the truth is that on a high level the differences among the enterprise PLM tools are quite small. You will see differences if you consider some lighter “PLM” solutions that are more CAD management oriented or ERP with PLM functionality. But even there it might be difficult. For CAD management oriented tools they might fall short on multi-CAD and integration to ERP. For ERP they might fall short on CAD integrations or on advanced PLM functionality like systems engineering. But for the core functionality it will seem that they all can do it.
The vendor’s tendency
The vendors tend to fall into one of two categories:
- The oversimplifyers – They oversimplify the message and the effort. This makes it easy to understand for management and other stakeholders that are not experts in this field.
- The scope-extenders – They want to extend the scope to show all the magnificent solutions they have that you didn’t ask for in the beginning
Be very aware of people in the extreme end of these two.
- The too good to be true is usually that. You will end up with a limited solution and realize you got less than you expected.
- The large scope might be too large. You end up with a very long and complex project which is more expensive than you thought and it is hard to get the organization on-board.
The sales guys anyway will paint a nice picture. The challenge for you is to see behind the fancy slide decks and prepared sales messages.
What should you do?
It is hard for first time PLM buyers to grasp the totality and at the same time identify the crucial details that can make or break your PLM project.
Don’t over-specify to compensate. You will not be able to specify up front how the solution and processes should be in 3 years. Even if you could the world will change in the meantime. It is more important to draw up the big lines and have a long term vision, strategy and plan. You should start with the most important areas and specify to such a level that you can differentiate. There are differences between the PLM solutions, you just have to know what to look for. If the differences is in an area that are of great importance to you it is better to find that out during the evaluation phase than in the implementation phase.
To be able to do this you could recruit or hire people who have done PLM evaluations and implementations before. It might seem expensive, but it will pay-off with a solution that is better fitted to your needs.
You might consider running a proof of concept (POC). But you risk going in the same trap. You have to know what to look for in the POC to get any value of it. Done properly a POC based on your data, products and your wanted way of working can be a really good approach.
You should look at other factors than just the feature list. The most important is the supplier itself: Have they done this many times before? Do they have understanding of your business? Do they act as real advisors guiding you in the right direction? Do they have references in your region?
See our
How to select a PLM system blog post for more details about how to run a PLM evaluation.
Summary
PLM buyers: You don’t know what you don’t know about PLM. That means it is hard for you to distinguish the tools and the suppliers. Don’t try to specify everything. Have a clear vision of where you want to go and what you want to achieve and what is important for the business. Establish a commonly agreed strategy and a high level plan on how to get there.
Don’t go too much in detail, just where it matters. The challenge is to know which areas and details that are important for you and at the same time can differentiate the different tools and suppliers.
Focus instead on the suppliers and identify the one that is most likely to become a long-term partner ensuring your success. It is far more important to select the right supplier than selecting the right tool.
Tore Brathaug
