Creating aftermarket value for telecom equipment manufacturer through efficient product management

By Antti Saaksvuori, Sirrus Capital Ltd.

The case company is an international electronics manufacturer. Its products are sold and delivered to global markets. The products consist essentially of standard electronic components, mechanical parts and pieces of software. There is some configurability and scalability in the mechanical and electronic assemblies; however most of the product variation is done in the software side.

The company has operations at five sites, two of which are in Nordic Region, two in Central Europe and one in Eastern Europe. Product development and production have been divided across the sites in such a way that some product lines are designed and manufactured and assembled in one site only and others at all the sites. All software development and related support has been centralized to the company headquarters in Finland, however one offshore partner is responsible for some parts of the SW-development. Additionally, one global contract manufacturer makes products ready for distribution i.e. for sales packing (box build).

Efficiency as a goal

The strongly increased international competition of the 1990’s and early 2000 created pressure inside the company and provided the impetus to develop product management. The intensification and streamlining of the operation of its main processes had been the biggest challenge to the company over the last few years. The products were good, but it took too long and required far too much labor to bring them to market. The product information creation processes were laborious and the quality of information was low. The company had very high activity costs in knowledge management of critical product information. In other words, the productivity of the product creation process and related information management systems had not evolved in the desired way during the early years of the first decade of 2000. It was also too slow and expensive to make changes to products at later stages in the life cycle; in other words, the company was unable to achieve the best possible margin for its products in the market. The company also struggled in with slow capacity implementation due to lack of electronic information transfer in value network.

There were problems also in the aftermarket processes. The company lacked the traceability of delivered product units with related critical component BOM and software set-up information as they were unable to transfer data automatically between information systems.

The company understood that the root of their problems were the lack of comprehensive product
management framework and turned to me for advice. My team designed and implemented a series of PLM development projects:

1. PLM vision and RoadMap creation with product process GAP analyses and PLM maturity analyses as well as baseline definition for success measuring
2. PLM development planning
3. PLM concept creation with new PLM related product management model
4. PLM system selection and business requirements definition
5. PLM implementation and roll-out (delivered by a system vendor)
6. Process for continuous PLM redevelopment

When the set of projects were launched, the company decided to nominate one full-time in house project manager. His task was the planning, management and carrying through each of the projects. Furthermore, it was decided that a clear framework for the whole PLM development should be made by deciding the objectives of the development work and drawing up a coarse progress plan or Road Map. This was made in a common workshop, with the top management of the company, in order to get the necessary commitment and set targets for the development work. In a way one of most important outcomes of this management workshop was a common level of expectations for the PLM development shared in the top management of the company.

While the first project revealed the current state of the product management and product development including the challenges explained in the first paragraph. The PLM development planning focused on resolving the existing problems with product creation and aftermarket processes.

The first issue in the PLM development path was to align the product management to the quite recently set strategic goals of the entire company.

The second stage of the development project was to pinpoint the operational improvement points in the supply network.

Then it was decided in the project to focus on the most significant problem areas of the product creation and management processes as well as to the after aftermarket process which was seen as one of the most important areas of strategic development.

Product creation process

• Faster capacity implementation – Time to Volume (volume production ramp-up)
• Streamlined information processes and quality of information
• Electronic information transfer in value network

After market process

• Traceability (product creation process, product unit)
• Automate information processes to streamline information transfer and enable eBusiness opportunities (e.g. SW / HW upgrades)

At this point of the project the project team consisted of selected top managers of the company as well as couple of other key stakeholders and experts in the company. This team set the priorities for the development work so that there would be two phase approach model for the PLM development in the company. The priorities were set to be the following:

Launching the system implementation

Based on the list of priorities set by the project team, it was decided that the actual system implementation (full functionality) will be executed in two phases. And both relese roll-outs will be done site by site.

In the first phase the whole spectrum of product lifecycle management was brought into use at one go, though at first only at one site. All the product data, items, structures, documents, and related software were brought within the scope of the system. The system allowed paper based processes to be transferred immediately into an electronic form. One great advantage of the move to electronic documents was the ability to see the information in real time. Uniform modes of action in the company’s departments and simplification of core processes could be clearly seen.

The product lifecycle management was made to cover all the sub processes of product creation sub-processes from establishing a new item to the process of killing the old item, the approval procedures for new products and the change processes of products in production. In addition to physical components, in this case an item refers also to the software installed in the products and to documents connected to the items describing the products and defining the assemblies or their manufacturing and actual assembly work (e.g. assembly instructions).

Concerning physical components, a more systematic way was introduced to control the component knowledge of the company. A new issue was the control of sourced standard components and the item numbering schemes for these items as well as the management of the manufacturers and suppliers of these sourced components. In the first stage of the project, the company’s product development processes were also connected to the ERP system. In the first stage of the PLM project a semiautomatic data transfer mechanism, over which new elements could be built later, was carried out. XML format was used, as well as the existing export/import features of PLM and ERP-systems.

The better management of change processes was especially important. Change management immediately informed the people who needed to see the effects of the change. This accelerated reaction and gave more time for carrying out the actual changes. The beginning of electronic product lifecycle management required considerable initial exertions in specifying product data, most of this work was already done in the PLM concept definition project where the framework for all product data definitions was basicly created.

The phase two

In the phase two of the system implementation the main focus was set to the aftermarket processes and to building ebusiness capabilities in the areas of product upgrades and support. One of the key issues was creating the key component BOM and software set-up traceability to all delivered product units as it was absolutely necessary to know exactly the configuration set-up of each delivered product unit in order to make the upgrades possible though the net. The actual realization of the phase two was very smooth due to experience out of the first phase and well documented critical issues from the first release implementation.

The partners came along

When introducing the PLM solution to partners, the objective was to increase the ability of the company to react to changing situations and to ease the routines of information retrieval and transfer within the company. With external partners, the goal was to reduce the mistakes taking place in data transfer between the partners. The idea was also to reduce the work required for serving design partners and to decrease the amount of manual re-entering of information into the information systems by the partners. The partners became better able to fetch the information they needed for themselves and to add information directly into the PLM system. In other words, the objective was really to increase the productivity of the design work.

Summary

The outcome the PLM development initiative is summarized in the following table. The first project was launched in early 2006, the PLM system implementation was in motion in early 2007 and the first release of the system was rolled out in Sept 2007 and the second release in March 2008. The organization has used the new processes, ways to operate with the new PLM system now for year and a half and the results are impressive.

Published in Document Management Magazine

IMAN Implementation Helps Reduce Development Time by up to 50 Percent, Improves Quality

by Pat Walker

Design Engineering Manager

US Marine

Arlington, Washington

“Implementation of the Information Manager (IMAN) product data management (PDM) system is helping US Marine reduce development time by up to 50 percent while improving product quality,” says Pat Walker, Engineering Technology and Process Manager. “IMAN provides a tool to facilitate that information created early in the design process is captured, enabling US Marine to make more informed decisions resulting in better products. Also, the PDM system is helping users to find parts and other related information quickly and easily through a simple to use, single common interface. This makes it possible to better reuse previously designed parts, reducing costs and improving quality.

As a result, instead of designing boats from scratch as in the past, engineers can use existing components for most of the design and focus their energy on the areas of the boat that are really new. By integrating closely with users throughout the development process, the PDM system also provides an accurate definition of the design intent that is now used to create more accurate CNC programs and manufacturing and quality control documents.”

Based in Arlington, Washington, US Marine is the worldwide leader in the marketing and manufacturing of pleasure boats, including such well-known brands as Bayliner, Maxum and Robalo. The firm is a division of Brunswick Corporation, a multinational company serving the outdoor and indoor active recreation markets with consumer products that include such leading brands as Zebco and Quantum fishing reels; American Camper and Remington camping gear; Igloo coolers and ice chests; Mercury, Mariner and Force outboard engines and many others. US Marine’s Maxum sport boats include features such as insulated ice wells, drainable ski lockers, lockable gloveboxes, flush-mounted compartment lids, a deep freeboard, aggressive non-skid, well-positioned grab rails, clutter-free cockpits, premium upholstery, upgraded sound systems and optimized performance and handling packages. What does it all add up to? A unique sense of ease and elegance that makes Maxum sport boats fun to run.

US Marine first invested in the Unigraphics® CAD/CAM system in the early 1990s and achieved substantial improvements in productivity and accuracy by gaining the ability to define the complex curves that make up a boat’s hull and other components as a mathematically accurate solid model. The plug used to create the mold that produces the hull and other tooling is now machined directly from the solid model. Tooling durations on typical hulls are now only 4 weeks, compared to the 12 weeks that were required in the past using traditional manual methods. Accuracy is greatly improved because the plugs produced by the new approach more accurately reflect the design definition. “We felt we could continue to improve our quality and time to market because each boat still had to be designed from scratch, in spite of the fact that many of the components were very similar to earlier designs,” says Walker. “One problem was that many changes were made to the design during the prototyping process, making it risky to rely on the accuracy of the model. Secondly, engineers found it almost impossible to find files containing earlier designs that might be of use. This meant that improvements could be made if information could be better shared and made available to these users earlier in the process.”

Selection and implementation

“We asked four leading PDM vendors to submit proposals of how their offerings could meet the company’s needs,” says Walker. “Of the four, two demonstrated the ability to meet the company’s essential needs. The final deciding factor was the ability to integrate with the product development environment. It was clear that the information created in design development was key and would need to be shared with users throughout the organization. We selected the IMAN PDM system because IMAN provides such a seamless interface that engineers barely need to be aware that they are using a PDM system. Another advantage was IMAN’s ability to deliver a joint application development methodology that allowed them to guarantee completion of the first phase of implementation including producing an engineering bill of materials (BOM) quickly from the design environment in only 10 weeks. This was especially impressive considering a sister division struggled for 15 months with a PDM implementation before giving up in frustration.”

The maturity and stability of IMAN, evidenced by the fact that it has provided a common architecture and migration path for nearly a decade, was a critical factor in successfully completing the first phase of the implementation on schedule. IMAN® product data management system stores, tracks and manages product and process information in a single logical database, creating links that allow easy access to improve enterprise-wide collaboration. US Marine was also looking for a solution that would enable it to link its development to production. This required a link between IMAN and its enterprise resources planning (ERP) system. The requirement was to share multilevel bills of materials to the ERP system. The resulting electronic transfer of information speeded up the product development process and improved data handling. IMAN provided the tools needed to help US Marine meet its requirements and link together the engineering and production environment.

Design Collaboration

Simultaneously, US Marine knew there were improvements that could be made in the way its engineers worked together. They implemented the master model concept, the ability for multiple engineers to work on a single design simultaneously. This significantly improves their ability to collaborate early in the design process. The master model concept, one enabler for design collaboration, allows multiple users to make changes simultaneously to the product package. All related information is automatically updated when changes are made to the master part file.

If, for example, the engineer forgets a hole in a bulkhead or if the manufacturing engineer needs to break the assembly into smaller pieces for handling purposes, the CNC technician is able to make the change on the master part file. The next time the product package is accessed by the engineer the changes made by the technician are easily seen. The next time the documentor accesses the page describing the assembly, it is automatically updated. The next time the BOM is accessed, the item master and assemblies also have been automatically revised and are correct. Everything is updated in real time from the master data. When the team says the product is ready, the entire master model is formatted and passed to the ERP system.

This eliminates the previously time-consuming job of writing down every item used in the boat and later entering it into the mainframe MRP system. Since this task lay on the critical path, the time savings translate directly into faster time to market. IMAN is focused on providing the infrastructure, the applications and the rules to enable collaboration including the support of the master model concept.

Downstream applications

The information created early in the development process represents the actual boat. This makes it possible to use visualization tools to fully leverage information throughout the product life cycle. “We are planning to use this information, made available graphically, visually, immediately and in a format easily understood by downstream users, to help manufacturing, customer service, dealers and customers make decisions faster based on accurate information,” says Walker. “This will improve the overall quality and time to market for US Marine. For example, shop floor manufacturing personnel will be able to obtain online access to the latest, as well as historical, geometry in 3-D without having to go to paper-based drawings. The need for physical prototypes will be reduced by using a combination of visualization technologies and IMAN. The recent release of a no-installation Web browser interface to the PDM system opens up the opportunity to provide access to a wide range of downstream users, including purchasing, sales support, real-time parts catalogs, services manuals and customer service.”

Dramatic time savings

The 23-foot Maxum Cuddy was the first boat designed using IMAN. As often with new technologies, the challenge was to communicate and train users on the value of learning and adapting to the new systems. The benefits of reduced costs, improved quality and improved time to market were easily seen by management but needed to be communicated to the actual users of IMAN. “Within about a month, nearly all users had exceeded their earlier productivity levels and became comfortable with the master model concept as its advantages started to be realized even by those who initially were doubters,” says Walker. “We knew they had achieved a significant milestone when midway through this project one of the most skeptical users in an unguarded moment said: ‘You know, I think this thing is going to work.’ Significant time savings were achieved on this project, and even greater savings are expected in downstream activities due to the existence of a master model that actually reflects the boat being built.”

With the learning curve behind them, engineers are currently developing a new 23-foot Maxum Bowrider and experiencing dramatic time savings. This design was based on the master model of the Maxum Cuddy, so only the bow of the boat needs to be designed from scratch. The rest of the design simply carried over from the existing master model. With the development process well under way, Walker estimates that 50 percent time savings will be achieved relative to the previous approach and expect to achieve savings of this magnitude or greater on all future new products.

“A good indicator of the time savings can be seen in the fact that 5 gigabytes of product design information were created in typical previous years, while in the last year only 1 gigabyte of new CAD data was needed,” says Walker. IMAN has reduced the number of custom parts being designed and made the information more efficient. Walker expects even substantially greater savings will be achieved in downstream processes since the PDM system touches only 42 engineers but literally hundreds of downstream users.

Thank you very much for your business!

Download our electronic PLM Requirements Matrix

If you have questions or need support, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@plmtechnologyguide.com

Defining a detailed and relevant requirements specification for a PLM solution for your business can take weeks of your time and effort, and in the end you will still not be sure whether you have really captured all applicable requirements.

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The cost for our PLM Requirements Specification is only $250, much less than you would pay for other requirements templates or for hiring a consultant to develop these requirements. With our electronic PLM Requirements Specification you will save many hours of work and get a complete set of up-to-date, relevant PLM application requirements. Payments can be made securely by credit card and PayPal.

Configuration Management in Industry
A Strategic Requirement for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Take away many ideas for real cost reductions and process improvements.

Sponsor: EC3 Corp.
Winter Park, Colorado
September 16 & 17, 2010

An interactive seminar/workshop on the basics of EDC/CM and much more. Two hours from the Denver airport to the “Island in the Rockies” at the height of the aspen color.

By Frank Watts, Author of EDC Handbook and Configuration Management Metrics and consultant to over sixty manufacturing companies.

A copy of Configuration Management Metrics OR EDC Handbook will be included in the course in addition to the course notebook.

Download the Seminar Brochure for more information and to register for the seminar.

The change process is the process of requesting, evaluating, planning and implementing of changes to a product or process.

Usually the change process consists of three phases:

1. Identification of an Issue
2. Engineering Change Request (ECR)
3. Engineering Change Order (ECO)

The process flow diagram below depicts a best-practice, closed-loop change process with activities and deliverables (courtesy of Metafore).

Most manufacturing companies distinguish two main process chains: The operational process chain and the technical process chain. ERP systems largely address the operational process chain, whereas PLM systems automate and enable predominantly the technical process chain.

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Processes that are usually automated with PLM systems include:

Management

• New Product Development and Introduction (NPDI)
• Program Management
• Project Management
• Requirements Management
• Change Management (ECR/ECO)

Sales and Marketing

• Portfolio Management
• Proposal Response

Engineering

• Concept Development
• System Design
• Detailed Design
• Configuration Management
• Variant Design and Generation
• Verification and Validation
• Design Outsourcing

Sourcing

• Early Sourcing
• Component and Supplier Management

Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs

• Quality and Reliability Management
• Regulatory Compliance

Manufacturing

• Manufacturing Process Management
• Tooling Design and Manufacture
• Manufacturing Outsourcing

Customer Service and Support

• Product Support Analysis and Planning
• Technical Information Creation and Delivery
• Performance Analysis and Feedback

The PLM Market is followed by a number of industry analysts. In this section you will find an overview of different market studies.

Aberdeen AXIS

The PLM Solutions AXIS for Hardgoods Manufacturers (Q2 2009)

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Not all PLM systems and vendors are included in this analysis from Aberdeen. You will find a more comprehensive list and more detailed information in the PLM Systems section of the PLM Technology Guide.

Access the full report PLM Solutions AXIS for Hardgoods Manufacturers (Q2 2009).
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Business Level Benefits

The following benefits can be expected as a result of implementing a PLM system. These results were determined in user surveys and show actual improvements attained (Source: VDI 2219 Guideline).

Task Level Benefits

The following benefits have been determined empirically. Generally not all listed benefits will be achieved cumulatively, and some may be redundant.

After determining the specific benefits an organization can achieve they have to be converted in monetary savings to create a business case and to calculate the ROI/NPV that can be achieved through the use of PLM.

VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure/Association of German Engineers)

VDI 2219 Information technology in product development - Introduction and economics of EDM/PDM systems
The guideline VDI 2219 describes proven methods to introduce systems that manage product and process data within product development. See also VDI 2219 Table of Contents (PDF file).