| 2006 - May 17 |
What Engineering Managers Really Need To Know About PDM: |
| Institute of Management & Administration, Inc. (IOMA) |
Interest in PDM systems by engineering managers is growing despite the cost and time involved in setting them up. A recent informal EDMAR poll suggests that most respondents, especially those in small and midsize organizations, are in the investigation or the information-gathering phase. Similarly, another poll conducted by Meta Marketing, shows an almost even split between firms with more than 1,000 employees and those with less than 1,000 employees having "active" PDM projects. Says Mark Lacker, principal, Meta Marketing, of smaller and midsize company respondents, "Some 18% are at the curiosity stage; they want to know what they may be getting into. Another 17% say they have a team in place and are evaluating technology. About 20% of the Meta Marketing smaller-company survey participants are already at the phase where they are evaluating and selecting PDM vendors, while 17% are about to implement a pilot PDM program. The remainder (28%) offer that they are at the "roll-out" stage or in the process of installing a full PDM system.
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| PDM wish list from engineering managers of small and midsize users: |
PDM, many agree, is currently an immature but emerging market, so there are a lot of dynamics. This also lends to confusion for many just starting to consider such systems. Janet Gray, PDM Project Manager, Ventritex, a veteran of setting up four major systems, says that the chief concerns of engineering managers in both large and small companies, with perhaps one exception, are often the same. At the recent EDMS Focus 95 conference, sponsored by the Kalthoff Group, she detailed the primary concerns that many medium size company engineering managers have and should consider when investigating PDM.
- Use PDM system "right out of the box," and customize it "any way I want." While using PDM right out of the box may be a top priority for many PDM neophytes, she said, "Unfortunately, you can and you can't do it." PDM vendors are "finally buying in to that concept," she notes, "We're coming closer, however." When referring to using it right out of the box, Gray says, "I'm not talking about the technology as much as I am about the ability to do actual engineering change, or actually do a vault with alerts already built in." As she assures, "You might want to modify them a little, but the point is that the engineering change process among the different vendors is, in a lot some ways, similar."
Midsize companies are not as overwhelmed with the process. "We don't have 40,000 folks we have to change to a new system," she offers. "We have a smaller group of people and are better able to look at new technology and make changes as we see fit. That's why this ability to use a system right out of the box is so incredibly important."
- Establish "real" partnership with vendor. That's one area in which there's almost universal agreement. "By a real partnership with a vendor," she explained, "we look for one that is there during the implementation, which meets with us at least once a week, and also calls us to find out how things are going." Further, when a problem presents itself, as it often does, the vendor could probably tell you how another customer handled this problem, and even refer you to the appropriate person. In addition, a real vendor partner will also "let you know when you are about to go the wrong way, and sit with you through good times and bad," she details. That's also now starting to happen; as she told the audience, "I also think vendors are beginning to understand this as well."
- One-stop technical help. "I like to call and say, `I want to integrate such-and-such a product,' and have them work the issue with me," Gray said. "What I don't want is for the vendor to say, `Call the CAD product vendor, or whomever, that's really not us you're dealing with there.'" With the limited staff and resources that most small and mid-size engineering managers have, she relates, "I don't want to be sent elsewhere." However, she does look favorably on a vendor's suggestion of bringing in outside help for the implementation, or problem, and an offer to help locate the experts.
- Experienced implementors for hire. This is an important concern for many engineering managers in smaller organizations. They don't have available staff to handle the PDM systems implementation internally. "By implementors," Gray explained, "I don't only mean customizing software, but having an individual who can sit with you and discuss your implementation. What I'm looking for when I call my vendor is to get somebody in to help me out with either getting it up and running or handling some smaller projects that need to be done as part of the implementation." She continued, "If they can point me to a person who is ready right now as a consultant, fine," she says. "It's even nicer if the vendor itself has a staff that's available to do that."
Reflecting on her current project, she told the audience, "We're going through the process of putting our structure in place and trying to figure out exactly what documentation we need and how we are going to go together with our MRP system." The more information and help she can get from the implementor, she says, "The more choices I will have that I may not have thought of before."
- Valid report writer. PDM vendors believed, for many years, that all the user did was to put information into the system and view it on a screen. Vendors always questioned the need to produce a report. "You still must present reports to management, and others," she explained. "The ones they give you now, and what they claim are easy to use, usually end up with you either learning to do C programming or accepting an unpolished report." She said, "My one technical wish is to have a much more valid report writer."
- Participation in software changes. This separates smaller companies from larger users. "This area is one of the hardest for us," she laments. "How do we get our vendors to really listen to us when we find something that needs to be changed in the product, or something we personally find that is going to make it difficult for us to continue to do the job we want to do?" As a case in point, she told of a software addition she asked of a vendor six years ago. It lay dormant until recently, when the vendor's major customer asked for the same change, she explained, "Now they're working on it." As a possible answer, she expressed the idea that perhaps "we could band together, either through a local users group or a larger user group of midsize companies." She reasoned, "Enough of us together can approach the size of the larger users and have an impact on what we want our software vendors to do." Gray explained, "I'm pressing for that in my area of Sunnyvale, Calif. A local users group would be helpful, in understanding what other people have done, what they're trying to do, and to try to make sense and get impact with the vendors."
- Better documentation. This would not only help the small and midsize companies, but the larger companies as well. Like so many companies, Gray complained, she doesn't have the staff to read the "tomes of documentation," only to find that when you call the vendor later, that the documentation has been changed. "It would be great to have decent documentation so we could do as much as possible and understand what's going on," she said
Price and vendor relationships bring up the rear when it comes to top PDM systems buying influences. There were two surprises when Lacker offered the list of top buying criteria for PDM systems by midsize companies (see accompanying table): the low rankings of price (number 7) and vendor reputation (number 9, and last). "Price," maintains Lacker, "cuts across the total response, including larger companies, where it also ranked in seventh place." Part of the rationale was explained by Gray: "You've got to put down your requirements and then allow the price to move based on that. To go into the market and say `I've got $X, and that's what I'm going to pay for a PDM process' is a mistake," she advised.
A quick poll of the EDMS Focus 95 audience showed an almost unanimous opinion: "Don't get a mindset that price will determine what you're going to buy." As one audience member stated: "We came here not with a set budget, therefore, not of a mindset that a potential solution may be too expensive. We'll go back to our senior management and tell them what will work for us, and then justify its cost."
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| Vendor relationship moves up in the ranking, often after the fact: |
In looking deeper into the respondents' answers, Lacker found that those just beginning to look into PDM systems were the one who often placed vendor relationships near the end of the list. However, the more involved an individual became in the overall process, the vendor's ranking rose. "The closer the individual came to installing a PDM system," he said, "the more they realized what they needed from vendors. For this group, vendor relationships moved all the way into second place, just behind `easy to learn and use.'"
Concurring strongly was Gray, who said, "I just can't stress how important that relationship with the vendor will be once you get into production." The discriminator between PDM products is getting fewer and fewer, she continued. "They all look alike on the screen, but what does make a difference is the type of support the vendor will give you in the long term."
Top Buying Criteria for PDM Systems by Midsize Companies:
- System is easy to learn and use
- Fits in and works with existing technical infrastructure
- Can be cost justified with "hard" dollars
- System is scalable, expandable, and easily modifiable
- Work flow is easily reconfigured
- System can be up and running within 90 days
- Price
- Runs on a variety of hardware platforms
- Vendor relationship/reputation
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