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Holistic PLM-model deduction of a holistic PLM-model from the general dimensions of an integrated management Oliver Budde*
Research Institute for Rationalization and Operations Management, RWTH Aachen University, Pontdriesch 14/16, D-52062 Aachen, Germany E-mail: Oliver.Budde@gmail.com *Corresponding author
Introduction/goal
Today industrial as well as services companies are challenged by a highly dynamic environment, which require them to develop and manage products at a high level of flexibility and quality at minimized costs (Nyhuis et al., 2009; Reinhard and Rashidy, 2008). As numerous authors have shown, the intricacy of product portfolios has been
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increased in the last decade. Product lifecycle management (PLM) has become a rather complex topic (Lindemann et al., 2009), which propels the idea of a holistic framework for managing products from the early product idea phase to the market exit of the product on a systemic level. Despite the academic and industrial need, a generally accepted and sound definition of PLM has not been provided so far, covering the various fields of aspects [Eigner and Stelzer, (2009), p.5] (qv. Table 1).
Table 1 Authors Saaksvuori and Immonen (2008) Summary of definitions for PLM Description Addressed PLM aspect
PLM is a systematic, controlled concept for PLM strategy managing and developing products and product related information. PLM offers management and control of the PLM process product (product development, productizing and product PLM IT-architecture marketing) process and the order-delivery process, the control of product related data throughout the product life cycle, from the initial idea to the scrap yard. A strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions in support of the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information across the extend enterprise from concept to end of life integrating people, processes, business systems, and information. Integrated business approach PLM IT-architecture
Miller (2003)
Schuh et al. The product structure plays a major role in product lifecycle management. It defines the structured (2006) relationship among product items and integrates all product related information. To effectively support lifecycle management implementation, initiatives to define product structuring reference models must consider that the process that best fits a specific project may vary according to the development context Fathi et al. (2007) (..) Available PLM methods and tools can be clustered in three groups: Information management (..) Process management (e.g., methods for modeling, structuring, planning, operating and controlling formal or semi-formal processes like engineering release processes, review processes, change process or notification processes Application integration Feldhusen and Gebhardt (2008) PLM is a knowledge based corporate strategy for all processes and their methods in respect to product development from the early product idea to the recycling. Feldhusen and Gebhardt (2008, p.34): A successful PLM strategy includes the building blocks products, processes and organisation.
Taking the five definitions for PLM from the above-named authors, it can be concluded that a mere consideration of the IT-aspect (in terms of improving the information logistics) has to be extended with the consideration of the PLM process, PLM strategy, linked with the corporate strategy, and the product structuring aspect. This argumentation
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is in conjunction with Fathi et al. (2007, p.246), who also identifies the main weakness of existing PLM solutions being the poor support of product lifecycle activities outside the product development phase. Due to the variety of definitions for PLM and therefore different interpretations, this paper will harmonize the PLM perception and provide a holistic framework for PLM, which will be derived from existing concepts of an integrated management. Taking a generalization of these integrated management concepts as a guideline, the general areas of PLM will be derived and being detailed by a descriptive model and finally applied to the communication service provider (CSP) industry. The structure of the paper is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Structure of the paper
PLM Process Product Structure
(Chapter 4)
Specialization
Dimensions of an integrated PLM
(Chapter 3)
rn vio m
En
Deduction
Dimensions of an integrated Management
(Chapter 2)
Staff Strategy
Systems Structure
PLM is part of a companys corporate management. Managing is a systematic, purposive, well planned and controlled activity to run a social system. Thus, management has the objective to design, guide and develop those social systems (Bleicher and Pmpin, 1996). According to Abramovici and Schulte (2004), PLM is a strategic management approach. Strategic management has a long tradition. In the 1980s for example the market-based view emerged and suggests companies to establish market barriers to keep competitors away from home markets. Every management approach should follow a certain pattern, because they all have the same objective: to design, guide and develop social systems. To reveal the pattern the authors have conducted a literature review of todays common integrated management approaches and analyzed the different management approaches with respect to similarities and differences. The next paragraph will show the results of this analysis.
-A P rc LM hi te IT ct ur e
en
PLM- Strategy
Ar PL ch M ite I T ct ur e
PLM-Strategy
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Strategy Structure
Style (management Company-culture as Company culture, culture, leadership) well as individual one ethical value Bleicher (2004) Leavitt (1973) Batenburg et al. (2006) Grouping of modules on a -Strategy and strategic layer in the dimension policy/monitoring structure behaviour, activities and control Dimension structure with Structure task Organisation and process modules on normative, strategic and operational layer Modules for management Technology Information technology systems and disposition systems In the broader sense behaviour People People Module for company culture --Culture
Since Staff and Culture form a close union in many publications, the authors integrate Culture into Staff to focus the analysis raster on more relevant PLM aspects. The remaining four dimensions, strategy, structure, systems and staff, are regarded as being a general guideline for an integrated management. Therefore we assume in the following course of the paper that these general dimensions can serve as an analysis raster, which can be applied to identify the general framework elements for an integrated PLM.
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O. Budde et al. Strategy: Currently there are two distinct meanings of term strategy in the scientific community. On the one hand strategy has an institutional meaning. Strategy defines the organisational structure, which includes the definition of job positions (Steinmann et al., 2005). On the other hand strategy has a functional meaning. Against this background a strategy defines all tasks which are related to plan, organize, execute and control value chain processes. For this paper the dimension strategy refers to the functional meaning and the authors extend the meaning according to Schmelzer and Sesselmann (2008) by the tasks of formulating, controlling and monitoring strategic enterprise goals. Structure: According to Regg-Strm structure in a broader sense is needed on the one side for defining an optimal labour division for gaining efficiency and productivity benefits. On the other side structures are required for ensuring the optimal coordination of processes that are based on labour division and the integration of each process outcome as a whole [Regg-Strm, (2005), p.49]. This general description of structure can be further summarized to the definition of the process organization and the definition of the organization structure. Systems: The dimension systems represents the information technology (IT) within a company. Since the computer revolution in den 80s the IT is an essential element that has increased the efficiency and effectiveness of process execution. According to Mertens (2009), software as a part of the IT-infrastructure can be further concretized in planning and controlling software and operation support systems. Staff: This dimension covers two topics: the company culture and the people management. Having argued that culture is a long term objective, this dimension is focusing on the people management, which has near- or medium-term impact.
In Figure 2, the most important characteristics of the four dimensions have been listed. Based on this description the derivation of the elements for an integrated PLM will be shown in the next chapter.
Figure 2 Characterization of the building blocks for an integrated management
Strategy