Top 10 Ways PDM and PLM Systems Save You Money
Who doesn’t like saving money? If you’re working without any type of Product Data Management (PDM) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system, then you’re potentially missing a big opportunity for savings. This is especially true when working with engineering data. Let’s look at the top 10 ways that PDM and PLM systems can help you save money.
Topics covered in this post:
1. Reducing Lost Time Searching for Data
While it may not seem like a lot of time for a single search, it can add up quickly. Let’s say you have to spend 10 minutes searching for a file, and you do that three times a day. That’s 30 minutes a day, 2.5 hours per week, 10 hours per month, 120 hours per year. That’s three full work weeks a year just searching for data!
Everyone’s situation is different, but you get the point. With a properly set up PDM and PLM system, you can quickly search for data by title or metadata and filter quickly to find the data you need.
2. Eliminating Document Recreation
There are multiple reasons that data may need to be recreated. Whether someone accidentally deleted it, or it got lost in a sea of poorly organized folders, PDM and PLM systems can help reduce many of these aspects. With proper permissions, PLM systems prevent accidental deletion by the wrong person. Plus, as mentioned with the first point, PLM systems have extensive search capabilities, reducing the chance that data gets lost. Many PLM systems also have revision capabilities which allows users to revert to the previous revision if updates don’t pan out as planned, eliminating the need to manually revert any changes.
3. Reducing Manufacturing Scrap & Rework
This one is a bit more obvious than the last ones. Scrap and rework can be a quick loss of money when it comes to manufacturing. When products are made incorrectly, the material that is wasted is considered scrap. Now that a product has been made incorrectly, there is rework required, which accounts for the machine and machinist time, and the opportunity cost of the lost time.
PDM and PLM systems can help reduce scrap and rework in manufacturing by improving the quality of purchasing information. This can be achieved through improved communication tools or providing manufacturers direct access to a system where only the latest revision exists.
4. Increasing Engineering Producivity
PLM systems can help improve engineering productivity by providing enhanced methods for processes like revision control, design review, engineering change, etc. By replacing outdated practices, such as saving off different copies of files for new revisions, creating PowerPoint design review presentations with countless screenshots, and passing around physical sign off sheets for engineering change approvals, you can improve everyone’s productivity, which compounds the advantage through your organization.
5. Improving Manufacturing Uptime
Time is money. That means you want to make sure your machines are up and running, churning out parts as much as possible. However, that’s not possible if your machinists are waiting on drawings from the engineering team to be delivered. With a properly configured PDM and PLM system, the team on the shop floor can have direct controlled access to the latest drawings. If your shop floor is moving into the digital age of adding screens, that’s even better! Time can be saved from printing off all the drawings and can better ensure that no old prints are anywhere on the shop floor.
6. Increasing Sales
PDM and PLM systems may not provide a direct increase in sales. They do, however, make up for the opportunity cost of all the other factors mentioned in this blog, ultimately driving higher sales. You can think of your organization as a machine and a PDM/PLM system like oil. Sure, you’ll have to spend money on oil, but the machine is going to run a lot smoother and cost you less in repairs in the long run. The same applies to your company, the initial investment will pay off in increased efficiency, letting your company focus on driving sales.
7. Managing Engineering Data, BOMs, Configurations, and Revisions
You may be seeing a trend here, and if you haven’t noticed already, PDM and PLM systems provide much of their advantage by improving efficiency and enhancing the opportunity cost of inefficient methods. As projects grow, it becomes more and more difficult to keep track of Bills of Material (BOM), product configurations, and even revisions. The management of these aspects are at the core of what a PDM/PLM system is all about.
8. Decreasing Time to Market
We already talked about how sales can increase with a good PLM system. We can take that one step further. With all the enhanced efficiencies brought about by good data and lifecycle management practices, you’ll be able to wrap up projects faster. Now you aren’t just selling more, you also have more products to sell. This will allow you to scale your organization more quickly and just so lucky for you, PLM systems are great at many things, with one of those being scaling.
9. Reducing Duplication of Data Entry in ERP System
An ERP system can be equally as important to an organization, especially when it comes to executing the production and distribution of a product. If you are manually creating your BOM’s, then you may need to also duplicate that data manually to your ERP system. This presents a large potential for error in addition to the unnecessary loss of time. Down the road, these errors in data entry can lead to purchasing problems, wasting additional money. By setting up an integration with your ERP and PLM system, you can eliminate the duplication of this data.
10. Reduction in IT Systems
There are two primary ways in which IT systems can be reduced with the use of a PLM system.
Elimination of a homegrown software – it is not uncommon that a company will utilize a homegrown software as they begin data management. As an organization scales, it can take more and more IT resources to upkeep the system. Implementing a feature rich PLM system provides your organization with all the tools they need without the need for internal development and maintenance.
The other way you can reduce IT overhead even further is using a cloud-based PLM system. This provides an organization with all the tools they need to manage their data without any need to manage servers or software updates.
Conclusion
Sure, product data and lifecycle management systems can easily be overlooked if your processes are currently working. It only takes one disaster to make you regret not getting started sooner. Whether your hard drive or server crashes without proper backups (it’s no fun, even with proper backups), or it’s just smaller things like wasting time searching for data, these costs can add up quickly. By implementing a PLM system early on, you can quickly meet your return on investment and more efficiently scale your organization.
Contact us today to start the discussion on finding the right tools for your organization.
Matt is a Customer Success Manager at SWYFT Solutions and started using SOLIDWORKS while earning his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering at Grand Valley State University and has been hooked ever since! He now specializes in 3DEXPERIENCE Works solutions, including 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS. Outside of work, Matt loves to travel, hike, and discover new music.
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