Foreseeing Design Evolution

Can you imagine a car design engineer designing a car on a smart phone or a tablet? In the current situation the answer might be an obvious “No” for smart phones and “May be – Yes” for a tablet. Well, in 2011 – it might sound antic and little complicated stuff to perform design tasks on smart phones but can we ever do it in the future? This struck my mind when I heard about Facebook launching apps after apps for mobile device users. A big question is how fast can the PLM vendors adopt a similar strategy or do they really have to do something similar? Facebook might be trying to reach out to the majority consumers and tapping it’s users from every walk of life and this strategy may not hold good for the PLM world fully. Unlike Facebook company, the PLM vendors might have a slightly varied vision here – their focus would be to concentrate more on the PLM users such as Design Engineers, Program Managers, Product Managers, etc., we see that these set of people belong to a class of skilled workers. This might be an uphill task for the PLM vendors and I’m sure the PLM vendors might be finding it extremely difficult to convert all the heavy weight applications to something light which could be run on mobile devices and not compromising on the outcome. I am reckoning if someday full-fledged CAD apps would be made available on smart phones. To some extent all the collaboration tasks that are currently accomplished through  via desktop/laptops over the internet can be seen replaced by light weight apps on smart phones someday soon. This success would eventually provide a lot of flexibility for the PLM users particularly the collaboration software users.

At present my thoughts are mixed and some of the foremost pros I could count on right now are  -

1.PLM users could work from any remote location – Design Anywhere Manufacture Anywhere
2.Lesser space required on the shop floor or wherever PLM is currently used

Also, it would gradually create a never before process where in the PLM users would find it handy and have all the freedom to verify the physical unit manufactured by comparing it with the virtual design thereby reducing the use of several resources such as papers for printing.

There could be some less likely disadvantages aswell and the foremost could be Usability – at first instance it would be difficult for the human mind to welcome the compactness or smallness of the smart phone as a design platform but over a period of time and also provided that we see some great advancement in smartphone technology the human mind would atempt to give a try and adopt it naturally.

I’m not sure how many PLM implementing organisations would also see this as a security issue but someone definetely would be interested in foreseeing an evolution and I’m eagerly waiting to see this drastic change in the PLM world happen soon and would be very interested to find out more and be updated.

Your views on this might be different and appreciate if you could type in your perspectives in the form of a comment here or provide a few references to a similar topic on the internet.

Best Regards, Ajit Kini

The intention of this blog post is to list down various Collaborative Business Processes(CBP) followed across the niche manufacturing industries at a very high level and appreciate the current(Year 2011) scope of PLM (ENOVIA, Teamcenter) according to my understanding. The niche manufacturing industries refer to those who participate in launching niche products to the market more so frequently and for instance cars, aircrafts, consumer goods, etc. CBP plays a very important role in entire product development lifecycle since all the Design Engineers (CATIA users, NX users, etc), Manufacturing Planners (DELMIA, Technomatix, etc) and Analyst Engineers (SIMULIA) have to finally store and securely share their data (Intellectual Property) using CBP solution. Please note that same processes are referred to with different names by different PLM vendors.

Many hands make light work ! ! !

Program Management Process

 Any industry would have some product launch strategies in order to remain competitive in the market. The best way to be competitive and progress ahead is to learn from past mistakes and have a complete control of the present. Product companies fail to make a significant ROI mainly due to the lack of awareness on launching right products to right market and at right time. All probable mishaps or risks could be averted only by having a proper product launch plan. Most industries these days capture product launch process in the form of “Program”. Boeing-787 program is one such revolutionary program launched in the year 2003. Boeing OEM contracted with more than 50 suppliers, 28 of them outside the U.S thereby functioning only as a final assembler and integrator. The Program Managers in such companies need to be equipped with enterprise level Product, Process and Resource management solution. Ideally a program management solution would comprise of the following:

-Program consisting several Projects

-Dashboards used for staff monitoring and maintain project metrics

-Meetings and discussions to arrive at some decisions

-WBS based on business goals

-Stages/Gates/Tasks

-Financial aspects – Budget, Benefit & Forecasting

-Resource Management

-Risk Management

Requirements Management Process

One of the best ways to launch right products to right market is to capture the voice of the customer in the form of requirements. This enables the Product Manager to perform requirements analysis and helps them review, assess, prioritize and balance the needs of the customer. It reduces the overall development costs and rework by bridging the gap between product requirements, design and product launch processes and disciplines. Since the requirements keep evolving, it is important for Product managers to have traceability throughout the evolution of requirements. An ideal requirements management solution would comprise of the following:

-Product Planning

-Requirements Capture

-Requirements Analysis

-Change Management

-Requirements Traceability

Configuration Management Process

Configuration management is a vast subject and plays a very important role in reducing product diversity, but how? Let’s see how most industries organize or classify their offerings. At the top most are “Product Lines” having various “Models” under it. Each Model represents specific products available to customers. Product Managers are responsible for managing the content of each product release for their assigned models. These products in turn have a feature hierarchy typically classified as Configuration/Logical Features. It is possible to arrive at multiple Product Configurations based on the configuration features. These configurations satisfy the customer’s requirements and are building blocks of the end product. Reusing of the same features helps reduce product diversity and at the same time ensures customer’s requirements are also satisfied. An ideal configuration management solution would comprise of the following:

-Product Definition

-Product Decomposition

-Configurable Rules

-Variants

-Product Configurator

-BOM Generation

-Build Management

-Change Management

BOM Management Process

BOM has played an important and inspiring role in conceptualizing PLM. Bill of Materials association with PLM has been there for more than a decade. Some of the very basic solutions that most PLM vendors provide as BOM management solution have been listed in one of my blog post “Smooth handlers for Bill of Materials or BOM users” and I am repeating the same over here:

-BOM Markup

-Compare Tools

-Where Used/ Where Referenced

-Specifications/Reference Documents

-Enterprise Search

-Variant Configuration & Effectivity Filters

-Subscriptions

-Change Management

Compliance Management Process

Compliance Management w.r.t PLM refers to the regulatory compliance management and not with some financial audits like Sarbanes Oxley. It’s got more to do with how, where and with what the end products are being manufactured and also end of life of products. It’s about Carbon emission, it’s about plastic and yes it’s about global warming. Please refer one of my blog post “Dear Stakeholder, beware of Material Compliance Directives!” where you can find a list of compliance directives that are to be followed by product manufacturing industries. The compliance management solution can be best utilized when you have a BOM management solution in place. This enables you to link each of those items in BOM to Manufacturing Equivalent Parts (MEP) and have an association of “Substance Used” to those MEPs, thereby allowing the computation of compliance according to the directives. A best-in-class compliance management solution would ideally provide you the following:

-Materials Data Management

-Materials Compliance Analysis

-Manage Supplier Material Declarations

-Supplier Data Collection

-Determine Engineering BOM Compliance

-Integrate and Analyze External BOM Structures

-Export of Product Compliance to Customers

-IMDS Integration

Sourcing & Supplier Management Process

Sourcing & Supplier Management Process is all about linking buyers and suppliers. Imagine you own a car manufacturing company and you have outsourced most of your car parts manufacturing activities to various suppliers across the world and all that you would need as an OEM is a full fledged supplier management solution to monitor and bridge the gaps. This solution requires collaboration of suppliers and is a very key process in product development it naturally gets associated with PLM. Ideally a sourcing and a supplier management solution would comprise of the following:

-Buyer Desks

-Sourcing Templates

-Electronic RFQ

-RFQ Line Item Power View

-RFQ Quotation Power View

-Decision Support and Analysis

-Where Used RFQ for Parts

-Cross-functional Sourcing Collaboration

-Negotiation

-Generate Costing Information from RFQ Quotations

Manufacturing BOM Management Process

A Design Engineer or a Product Manager releasing the engineering BOM for manufacturing marks the beginning of Manufacturing BOM Management Process. This process enables industries to improve quality and reduce scrap and rework by ensuring pre-conceived “design intent” is followed across multiple manufacturing locations. All the assigned Manufacturing Engineers would work together to manufacture the end product as per the voice of the customer. An ideal manufacturing management solution would have the following:

-MBOM Management

-MBOM Navigation

-Reporting

-Manufacturing Change Processes

Unit Tracking Process

All unique customer requirements are captured into what are known as Product Configurations. Each product configuration is manufactured and shipped to the customer. Each shipped item or build are known as Units. It becomes very important for the industries to track the units. Tracking and managing exact configurations of products already shipped to customer enables a business to quickly review product information to resolve issues with production, warranties and product recalls. This process enables customer satisfaction and retention through endless support and maintenance activities. In order to track each unit, the unit tracking solution should have the following:

-Solution to manage the As-Built BOM

-Unit Part Marking for tracking purpose

-Lot Support

-Unit Tracking and Allocation

Are there any other Collaborative Business Processes or PLM related processes missing over here? Do post in your views or comments right away !

Best Regards, Ajit

If you may wish to, then every single thing in the universe could be configurable or rather in most common terms customizable. From eatables like ice-creams,burgers,pizzas to cars like Audi, aircrafts like Boeing-787, Formula 1 cars like McLaren to planning holidays to Switzerland or any of your favorite destinations. Everything is customizable ! ! !

If we look at it closely, then one common thing observable behind the scenes is the application of configuration management principles.

Pizzas, Burgers or Boeing-787 - Configuration Management Principles Apply

Lets try to find out How?

Its been the nature of we human beings to try something different always and that is what has lead us to think beyond sometimes. We seem to always have never ending preferences or a sense of satisfaction with what we already own. In such a demanding situation its very important for the vendors/retailers to bring about more variations in their offerings more frequently to remain competitive in the market.

Imagine you are an ice cream vendor required to keep the sales ticking regardless of the summer, winter or rainy seasons of the year. You would be very happy selling ice creams in summer whereas in winter and rainy you may require to be more strategic and smart. The first thing you would do is to have a detailed look at what are your current offerings for the ongoing summer season and do a what-if analysis on the offerings to come out with a practical offering plan for the next seasons. The situation becomes more demanding if you are a global player and require to sell across geographies according to variable prices and tastes.

Now, imagine you are an aircraft manufacturer or a formula 1 car manufacturer. Both are equally demanding environments and we do get to see conceptual similarities in these environments. Configurations, customizations, handling variations, performing what-if analysis, controlling changes, change approvals are some of the prevailing principles across these variety of businesses.

Dassault Systemes ENOVIA Variant Configuration solution together with other ENOVIA governance products like Program Central could be a perfect mix of solution to handle such demanding situations.

So from the above instances what are the key principles of configuration management that you and me can think of at this moment -
1.Product Planning
2.Product Definition
2.Product Variations/Variants
3.Product Configurations
4.Bill of Materials based on Configurations
5.Resolution or Change management

If you are interested about the solution then do have a detailed look at 3ds website.

Best Regards, Ajit

Off late, Sustainability is a buzz word for the OEMs and Suppliers ever since global warming was discovered as a threat to our beloved earth. I tried to google more about various regulatory compliance directives followed across geographies and to my surprise I had to browse several websites to find out all the norms followed and I felt its wise to collate general information about compliance in one place and again based on my understanding I thought of putting into perspective when is the right time to introduce material compliance as a PLM solution in the Product development phase.

First of all lets see what are the various compliance directives or norms or definitions available as of today:

Material Compliance

Restriction of Hazardous Substances(RoHS) pronounced as “ros”

RoHS is often referred to as the lead-free directive, but it restricts the use of the following six substances:

1. Lead (Pb)
2. Mercury (Hg)
3. Cadmium (Cd)
4. Hexavalent chromium (Cr6+)
5. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)
6. Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)

Everything that can be identified as a homogeneous material must meet the limit. Homogeneous here refers to individual substance, all of the same or similar kind or nature or that can be separated mechanically. The maximum permitted concentrations are 0.1% or 1000 ppm(Parts Per Million) by weight of homogeneous material. This means that the limits do not apply to the weight of the finished or end product but applies to single substance that could (theoretically) be separated mechanically — For instance, a circuit board is composed of PCB, ICs, resistors, capacitors, switches, etc. The limit(0.1%) is applied on individual similar substances.

RoHS started by European Union is a mandatory norm for 25 countries like  Austria, Latvia,Belgium, Lithuania,Bulgaria, Luxembourg,Cyprus,Malta,CzechRepublic,Netherlands,Denmark,Poland,Estonia,Portugal,Finland,Romania,France,Slovakia,Germany, Slovenia,Greece,Spain,Hungary,Sweden,Ireland,United Kingdom and Italy.

RoHS directives are also adopted by -

1. California RoHS – January 07
2. China RoHS -  March 07
3. Korea RoHS – July 07
4. Japan RoHS
5. Taiwan RoHS

RoHS is mainly applicable for High-Tech,Semiconductor,etc.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive(WEEE) pronounced as “we”

WEEE directive imposes the responsibility for the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment on the manufacturers of such equipment. Those OEMS and Suppliers should establish an infrastructure for collecting WEEE, in such a way that “Users of electrical and electronic equipment from private households should have the possibility of returning WEEE at least free of charge”. Also, the OEMS and Suppliers are compelled to use the collected waste in an ecologically-friendly manner, either by ecological disposal or by reuse/refurbishment of the collected WEEE. One important thing to note over here is that the consumers return their used e-waste free of charge.

Despite such rules on collection and recycling only one third of electrical and electronic waste in the European Union is reported as separately collected and appropriately treated. A part of the other two thirds is potentially still going to landfills and to sub-standard treatment sites in or outside the European Union.

WEEE is mainly applicable to High-Tech industry.

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals(REACH) pronounced as reech

REACH entered into force on 1st June 2007. It streamlines and improves the former legislative framework on chemicals of the European Union (EU).  The main aims of REACH are to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, the promotion of alternative test methods, the free circulation of substances on the internal market and enhancing competitiveness and innovation.

REACH makes industry responsible for assessing and managing the risks posed by chemicals and providing appropriate safety information to their users. In parallel, the European Union can take additional measures on highly dangerous substances, where there is a need for complementing action at EU level.

REACH is applicable to most of the industries which includes High-Tech,Automotive,Industrial Equipment, Aerospace & Defense, Consumer Goods etc.

End of Life Vehicle(ELV)

ELV lays down specific requirements for the management of end-of-life vehicles. The Directive’s main objective is the prevention of waste from vehicles and, in addition to this, the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of end-of-life vehicles and their components so as to reduce the disposal of waste. The Directive also aims to improve the environmental performance of all economic operators involved in the life-cycle of vehicles and especially the operators directly involved in the treatment of end-of-life vehicles.

The directive aims to make vehicle dismantling and recycling more environmentally friendly,also set clear quantified targets for reuse, recycling and recovery of vehicles and encourages producers to manufacture new vehicles which are easy to recycle.

ELV is mainly applicable to Automotive industry.

If you are aware of any other Material Compliance directives please direct me to those links.

When to introduce Material Compliance?

Compliance can be and should be introduced in the Product Conception or Product Definition phase and also what goes into the actual product can be monitored during Product Design phase. To a great extent compliance can also be at the back of your mind during the Testing or Simulation of the product and of course compliance matters most during Manufacturing of the product, transportation and also very importantly End of Life of the product where the waste management becomes a very important aspect in adhering to product compliance. If you observe closely everything mentioned so far can run in a cycle(Conception-Design-Testing-Manufacturing-Waste-Conception) and its obvious that more the number of cycles the same material goes through, its quite an indicative factor that the manufacturer is introducing a highly compliant product to the market.

If you are aware of any other directives apart from the directives mentioned above, please direct me to those links.

To summarize, its a fact that human population by virtue of their wants and needs have already thrown huge amount of harmful substance into the atmosphere across the globe and it becomes highly important to put a break or minimize the usage of these harmful substances and be wise to reuse or recycle the wastes.

ENOVIA Material Compliance solution is one such product which can come to the rescue of the product stakeholders. Try this product at a very early stage of your product development and reap benefits effortlessly.

For further information about the compliance solution please visit ENOVIA ->Governance-> Compliancy.

Best Regards, Ajit

At least 55 percent of the seafood in Walmart stores is certified as having been caught with sustainable fishing practices, all its large electronics equipment and personal computers are manufactured without hazardous materials.

Wow…!!!

Walmart is one such retailer who have completely changed the way they handle logistics, operations, and sales practices. This has naturally altered the mindsets of consumers making them all the more cautious of what they consume and their buying habits have witnessed a drastic shift. Consumers are now more aware and are demanding for greener products. Surely a right way to go isn’t it !

Material Compliance Management

We have already started to see such a growing awareness among consumers and without any second thoughts I believe its the consumers who would be key drivers in making product companies adopt compliancy without any kind of ignorance.

While most of the companies have started viewing Materials Compliance as a means to fulfill Corporate Social Responsibilities, a few others have ignored. For instance sometime back it was estimated that the value of noncompliant automotive aftermarket parts exported to the United States exceeded $2.7 billion. A real worry ! ! !

In a highly competitive consumer market following compliance and bringing greener and sustainable products to the market is the need of the hour and also an important survival startegy.

Walmart Fish store is quite an inspiration ! ! !

So, how Materials Compliance solution  help companies???

1.Enables to build trustworthy products
2.Provides a competitive differentiation in the market
3.Promotes product innovation
4.Helps branding on the grounds of sustainable products
5.Very importantly helps avoiding penalties from government or regulatory bodies

The companies are at greater advantage when compliance is implimented earlier in the design phase of the products thereby minimizing percolating costs if implimented at a later stage.

Dassault Systemes ENOVIA Material Compliance Central provides a comprehensive compliance solution that enables companies to track, analyze, and report a product’s environmental compliance.

For more information please click here

Wishing You A Very Happy New Year 2011 ! ! !

Best Regards, Ajit

In my quest to find out what are the features that a BoM customer would love to have in a BOM Management solution, I have listed down a few key capabilities that will add value to the BoM users.

Car Assembly Structure - A Complex BoM

BoM Markup
It is one unique feature that allows BoM users to save the changes or modifications to the structure.The modification refers to the adding or removing or replacing of the parts. This feature lets the user save the modifications and resume back.The changes are marked using some color codes which enables the BoM users easily identify the previous changes applied to the structure.This way the BoM users reduce rework and also save a great amount of time.

Compare Tools
This feature for surely makes the BoM users life a cake walk.On a higher level any user would like to make two kinds of comparisons 1-Object Comparison and 2-comparing the BoM structures itself. Object compare lets the user compare the basic attributes of the objects and allow the users to make dependent decisions and the structure compare would help the user compare two different assemblies and to some extent allow the users to even synchronize the structures after comparing the structures.This really makes life very easy by letting you avoid the complexity of traversing the structures repeatedly to do the necessary structural modifications.

Where Used/ Where Referenced
Imagine you have traversed to a very complex structure and now you really need to know the roots, where used /where referenced is one such utility that makes you breathe some fresh air. With the increasing amount of product complexity in today’s world Where Used/Where referenced plays an angels role in letting you find the roots regardless of the complexities involved.

Specifications/Reference Documents
Of course BoM would just be a skeleton without the appropriate specifications or reference documents.The specifications are basically the CAD files or the 2D or most recently the 3D files. This lets the engineering team to check in the appropriate(manual justification) CAD files into the part object representation in the BoM.

Enterprise Search
The current generation can’t imagine a life without google. Applying the same principles, a BoM user would require to quickly search the parts in the system and kind of assign the parts and come up with a perfect assembly. Enterprise search is another very dependable capability in the eyes of a BoM user.

Variant Configuration & Effectivity Filters
Mass Customization is the order of the day. The user must be able to generate a BoM based on Product Configuration and same time should be able to filter the BoM based on different Product Configurations.

Subscriptions
Subscriptions could be email based or even RSS feeds based. Its one of the quickest way to inform end users about the modifications and enable a faster approval process. Subscriptions are preference based and its mandatory for the user to subscribe to the events to avail the subscription features.

These are some of them I could quickly think of….

What are your thoughts and what other functionalities could add value to a BoM user?

Best Regards, Ajit

Basically, rules help in

1. Increasing Reusability
2. Reducing time
3. Validating and Generating Preview BOM

Never Break The Rules

Listed below are some of the rules that are put to use by various Product Configurator vendors. Again we have a high level classification as

1. Programmable rules
2. Constraint Based rules

Programmable Rules are those that are procedure based where every product configuration is achieved by writing complicated codes. For instance if you want to configure a mobile phone with camera you would be writing a method/function as

mobilePhoneWithCamera(){ if(mob==camera){genrateBOM();}}

Progam based approach would be very cumbersome and reusability is almost impossible to achieve. On the other hand, Constraint based rules help us overcome a lot of above mentioned issues. Constraint based engines are used where configuration decisions are made dynamically based on inputs provided by the customer. Constraint based rules help domain experts to easily and flexibly represent a constraint model. Constraints can be expressed in several forms as mentioned below:

1. Compatibility Rules
2. Inclusion/Exclusion Rules
3. Resource Rules
4. Feature Selection – May or Must selections of features
5. Quantity Rules

In this case if we take up the same mobile phone with camera as an example, constraint based rules would provide the user a combo box with 2 options say “Camera” or “Non-Camera” to make the right selection. Upon selecting an option, rules (constraint based) are validated dynamically and Product Configuration can be created instantly.

Now my query to you is do you know any other advanced way of configuring a product with or without rules approach?

An interesting LinkedIn thread related to a query on rules can be accessed by clicking here.

With Dassault Systemes ENOVIA Variant Configuration Central, companies can define conceptual product definitions that can be reused across a multiple series of products, satisfy market specifications, and provide many possible optional capabilities. These conceptual product definitions serve as a framework for defining variant products that are configurable and drive the generation of design bills-of-material (BOM). This product provides both programmable and constraint based representation of rules. Check Out !

Best Regards, Ajit

According to my perspective,One of the foremost reasons why Philips home theater works with Videocon TV is because both these vendors follow common electronic standards.

“A electronic standard is generally a documented agreement, established by a consensus of industry experts and approved by a recognized body,that provides rules, guidelines or characteristics to ensure that certain materials, products, and processes are fit for their purpose. In many cases, standards in electronic industry are voluntary. However,voluntary consensus standards developed by industry are often subsequently adopted by the governments as part of the regulatory framework. The state laws also establish some mandatory electrical characteristics such as those related to energy efficiency and power consumption.”

Open PLM Standards

Its high time the PLM world adopts certain standards to solve many such industry issues by cultivating a Live and Let Live attitude and having some PLM standards,rules, guidelines to ensure that the different Business Process Applications talk well with each other regardless of its origin.

So do you agree the PLM world requires  a governing body to solve the related issues of industrial worlds? Do post your views.

Best Regards, Ajit

Looking at our current industries how many industries would ever wait till the end of the program to find out if the program was executed well? It’s all about money these days.

All's Well That Ends Well

According to Dassault Systemes classification of industry segments, ENOVIA  Program Management solutions also has something to offer for Automotive, Aersopace, Hightech, CPG, Consumer Goods, Energy, Industrial Equipment, Shipbuilding et all.

It’s the versatility of the ENOVIA Program Management solutions that it can be used by various industry verticals for various program management reasons. Let’s have a look as to how some of the program management solutions are tailor made for certain industries.

The automotive industry can use Program Management for the following

• APQP
• WBS (Work breakdown structure) management
• Project hierarchy decomposition
• Make/buy board
• Risk management
• Program planning
• Program sourcing
• Resource management
• Program financials
• Project template management
• Project content management

The aerospace industry can use Program management for the following

• Partner management
• Contracts management
• Program requirement management
• Configuration management
• Program execution
• Program resource management

The consumer goods industry can use program management for the following

• Project planning and scheduling
• Resources allocation and management
• Financial analysis
• Risk management
• Issue management
• Project knowledge capitalization
• Project tracking and monitoring
• Project deliverable tracking

The consumer packaged goods industry can use program management for the following

• Project template management
• Project content management
• Project work breakdown structure
• Project resource management
• Project planning and scheduling
• Project deliverable tracking
• Project dashboard
• NPI Stage-Gate
• Business/ROI analysis

The high-tech industry can use program management for the following

• Project planning and scheduling
• Resources allocation and management
• Financial analysis
• Risk management
• Project knowledge capitalization
• Project deliverable tracking
• Critical to Quality (CTQ)

The energy industry can use program management for the following

• E-RFx and bidding management
• Project template management
• Project content management
• Project work breakdown structure
• Project resource management
• Project planning and scheduling
• Project dashboard
• Business/ROI analysis

The industrial equipment industry can use program management for the following

• Project planning and scheduling
• Project issues/risk management
• Project work breakdown structure
• Project resource management
• Project dashboard
• Contract deliverables management
• Suppliers/partners management

The shipbuilding industry can use program management for the following

• Project template management
• Project content management
• Project work breakdown structure
• Project resource management
• Project planning and scheduling
• Business/ROI analysis

The life sciences industry can use program management for the following

• Project portfolio management
• Project planning & scheduling
• Project task execution
• Project assessment

Is there any other industry which would require program management?

Best Regards, Ajit

Off late, the ability to let the customers directly configure their needs has proved to reduce the lead time taken to fulfill the order and the cost involved. Having the customers choose their product variations comes with some uncertainties if the system is governed by a mediocre rule management module or a very generic configuration system with an average user interface. Let’s take a simple example where the customer customizes to order a mobile phone with camera and the online order management module bills him for a mobile phone without the camera. The constant evolution of the product or the introduction of new variants periodically offers a challenge for the automated system to live up to the customers’ expectations. A rich user interface together with a lifelike experience is the need of the hour for any online configurator to thrive in the competition.

Online Sales Configurators

According to MIT’s Smart Customization group Mass Customization aims to provide goods and services that best serve individual customers’ personal needs with near mass production efficiency. Mass customization refers to a customer co-design process of products and services which meet the needs of each individual customer with regard to certain product features. The
term was coined in 1987 by Stan Davis. Joe Pine made the concept popular and published the first dedicated book on it, Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition (1993).

Pandora.com relieves people of having to channel-surf through radio stations to find the music they like. Customers submit an initial set of their preferred songs, and from that information the company identifies a broader set of music that fits their preference profile and then broadcasts those songs as a custom radio channel. As of December 2008, Pandora.com had more than 21 million listeners who had created 361 million custom radio stations that play 61 million songs from 60,000 artists every day.

Customers of Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG can use an online tool kit to design the roof of a Mini Cooper with their very own graphics or picture, which is then reproduced with an advanced digital printing system on a special foil. The tool kit has enabled BMW to tap into the custom after-sales market, which was previously owned by niche companies. In addition, Mini Cooper customers can also choose from among hundreds of options for many of the car’s components, as BMW is able to manufacture all cars on demand according to each buyer’s individual order.

My Virtual Model Inc., based in Montreal, is changing the very nature of the buying experience. The software enables consumers to build virtual models, or “avatars,” of themselves that allow them to evaluate (by virtually trying on or using) products from retailers like adidas, Best Buy,Levi’s and Sears. More than 10 million users have already signed up for the service, and the early results are impressive: Land’s End Inc. reports an increase in average order value of 15% and a jump in conversion rate of 45%.

Dassault Systemes ENOVIA V6 Variant Configuration Central provides a competitive configuration advantage to the Engineer-To-Order, Build-To-Order and Configure-To-Order world by optimizing the design of products and their variations. It is a best-in-class system configure-n-engineer solution available in the market that provides a reliable platform for constantly evolving product. It helps in optimizing the design process of highly variant product by allowing design engineers to quickly create an Engineering Bill-Of-Material from a custom order or custom configuration. Basically builds up a connection between product marketing, system engineering and design engineering and thereby improves part reuse by minimizing feature proliferation and thereby reducing product diversity.