Shortfall shown in PLM user group activity

As the time of year for surveys crashes upon us, some interesting figures are showing that only six per cent of PLM user group cooperation actually taking place.

Subsequently, 39 per cent of PLM user groups are now defunct, with fewer than 10% of the remainder having any activities planned. The survey from the Product Lifecycle Management Interest Group (PLMIG) offers reasons for the decline that include the workload placed on unpaid officers, and the lack of relevance and interest in the agenda.

A spokesperson for the PLMIG, said: "This represents a major lost opportunity for PLM implementers, because the more significant and intractable problems in PLM can be resolved only by effective exchange of ideas and methods between experienced users."

In response to their findings the PLMIG are conducting a two-day user forum in Reading on 13-14 November, giving delegates the opportunity to present an overview of their own PLM environment as input to the discussions and generate the common material they need.

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VW commit to Teamcenter

Siemens PLM Software came up with some interesting news, that it recieved a major order from Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft for Teamcenter and its implementation. VW will use Teamcenter throughout its vehicle design and manufacturing process to "create transparency in its processes, so that obligatory information on product maturity, productivity and cost will be available at any and every point in the process."

The product data management project (known as K-PDM ) at Volkswagen is laid out over several years and will include up to 45,000 users in the final implementation stage. According to the press release, the essential goals are to establish "efficient and consistent processes within the global development and planning network through the entire product development process -- with K--PDM as central point for the product process within the Volkswagen group."

Contributing to the success of the program are several elements – accurate data and a synchronous supply for all brands, locations, individual sectors and levels, including suppliers and development partners. The K--PDM project also encompasses the existing IT landscape, which will be consolidated and the costs optimized. The goals will be achieved through a specific Volkswagen change project that is based on a unified company wide product data management solution.

VW states that "The decision to standardize on the Teamcenter portfolio was based on the software's ability to integrate and provide a consistent solution beyond PLM, the market maturity of the software and Siemens PLM Software's experience in the market."

The project will be executed over the next few years in committed car projects and different levels throughout the entire Volkswagen group. Following the successful completion of phase 0 and the "Go Live" decision in November 2007, Teamcenter will be used in production for future vehicle projects at Volkswagen and Audi.

This is an interesting insight into the work that organisations like VW and Audi are going through -- while many still don't understand the concept of PLM, this is changing and changing at a rapid rate. Call it PLM, call it PDM -- what matters is that organisation are using the wealth of tools avialable (from Siemens and its competition) to drive out inefficiencies and costs from their processes, by working more intelligently -- something we can all learn from.

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