Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) in Process - Part 3: Process PLM Requirements
Olin Thompson - January 2, 2002

Introduction

In <a href="/Research/ResearchHighlights/Erp/2001/11/research_notes/MI_ER_XOT_11_20_01_1.asp" target="_blank">Part One</a> of this series, we discussed Product Life Cycle Management as a proven concept in the discrete industries and as a growing concept in process. In <a href="/Research/ResearchHighlights/Erp/2001/12/research_notes/MI_ER_XOT_12_24_01_1.asp" target="_blank">Part Two</a> we examined the motivations for a process company to undertake a PLM project. In this part, we explore the requirements for PLM in the process enterprises. In Part Two of this series, we stated that a comprehensive approach was required in order to meet the time-to-market requirement. Key to that comprehensive approach is a central repository that completely defines the information needed for the life cycle of the product. This repository must store the information to support the entire cycle, from idea, through R&amp;D, through commercialization and into the many revisions and eventual retirement of the product. Some of the data stored in the repository is common with the needs of discrete PLM systems but much is unique to the process industry. Common data includes project information such as workflow, basic project management information, approval information, and high-level product concepts. The data unique to the process industry includes product information such as formula (ingredients only) and recipe (formula plus processing procedures), packaging specifications, processing steps, test procedures, and plant independent production requirements. A comprehensive approach also means that many organizations and individuals must collaborate in the process. Because this collaboration spans different levels of the organizations, the solution requires seamless integration between the project information and the product information in order to allow for a coordinated, collaborative business process. The organizations and individuals are both internal (marketing, legal, advertising R&amp;D, production, etc.) and external (testing labs, outsourced production, ad agencies, etc.). Specific Process PLM Requirements include: <ul type="compact"><li><p align="justify"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Web-Based Deployment</font></p></li><li><p align="justify"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Process Specific Tools</font></p></li><li><p align="justify"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Global Standards</font></p></li><li><p align="justify"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Centralized, Integrated Project and Product Information</font></p></li><li><p align="justify"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Product Portfolio Management</font></li></ul>..