Product Lifecycle Management Software

You shoul dhave a look at www.arenasolutions.com - they’ve got a nifty web-based system that’s ideal for the consumer products industry, particularly good at handle some thing (such as early stage tendering etc) that TeamCenter can’t handle.

If you’re into teamCenter, then you should know about the whole new Velocity Series thing - prices are unconfirmed, but you’ve looking at around 5K (USD) for five seats, including Solid Edge, Femap (for FEA) and TeamCenter - and it’s much easier to implement.

You may want to take a look at PTC windchill etc. That is unless I am miss reading you and you are currently using UG

Long, long time since I used Windchill. What’s it like now from user pov?

To be perfectly honest I am not a particularly big fan of data managment system generally whoever makes them. As a design consulant I sometimes have to work on a client site which means that in most cases I have to develop an understanding of how that company utilises the system which can be quite stressful sometimes.
However, beyond tha I generally find it ok, it has come quite a long way and PTC is spending a lot of money developing the PDM and PLM products, some would argue at the expense of Wildfire. From what I have heard and this is not gospel the latest version is quite another jump. On the flipside though I also heard that the latest cut of Intralink has lost some of its nice features (i will have to wait and see, yipee).

Thanks. People I know just aren’t really using it yet. But some of them are at companies plunging into it right now. I see PLM merging with videogames in the future. It’s already started. Makes for some interesting possibilities.

When evaluating and selecting solutions for:

  • Digital Asset Management
  • DAM / VAM systems
  • Graphical Lifecycle Management
  • Pharmaceutical CSV ready systems for Digital Artwork approval
    and more…

Check out: http://www.paxonix.com (a division of MeadWestvaco)

Paxonix delivers an intelligent digital workflow system for the routing and approval of critical color graphics for labels, new products, POPs, catalogs, shippers, brochures, and all marketing and sales materials. The system also utilizes industry the leading technology from Kodak for on-line visualization and collaboration. Paxonix works seamlessly on both MAC and PC platforms - this is essential in any graphical workflow solution.

The per seat cost is well below any pricing mentioned here on this site and we have an established track record in both pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies. This is a true SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE offering and provides all of the benefits/FTE savings you would expect.

We offer 1/2 hour webinars on an individual basis and look forward to hearing from you. Contact me directly or stop by the website for white papers, presentations, case studies, webinar requests, etc

Thank You,

Robert Shroll
Director of Implementation Services
Paxonix (a MeadWestvaco company)
rshroll@paxonix.com
Direct: 1-805-690-1077
Toll Free: 1-866-PAXONIX

Good Afternoon - A little info regarding our services… Email me for a live web-demo invite.

Hello, I’m Justin Smith, Sales Manager with

Design2Launch.

Link to Design2Launch brochure:

http://www.design2launch.com/images/downloads/D2L_Company_Brochure.pdf


We have a system which streamlines and integrates

marketing and creative development efforts both

internally and with outside agencies, while increasing

speed to market and reducing lost time in the creative

and approval process. Our digital workflow system

provides easy to use tools for real-time

collaboration, on-line proofing and project tracking

with instant visibility into “in process” projects

and increased control of all brand assets.



Design2Launch is cutting months off of new product

launches and saving millions for leading companies

like Playtex Products, Estee Lauder, Pernod-Ricard,

Pfizer and others, by providing a digital workflow

system that is FDA 21 CFR Part II compliant with full

digital audit trail. But more importantly it is

reducing the number of mundane daily tasks required

today by individuals in Marketing and creative

departments.



We’re emailing to invite you to a Design2Launch

Web-Seminar. This Web-enabled seminar will show you,

quickly, why we have a 100% customer retention rate

and glowing testimonials for users of our system.

We’ll outline how seamlessly our modules provide

company wide control of intellectual property,

workflow and approval of artwork, packaging and

marketing materials internally, as well as digital

assets submitted by outside agencies.



The Web seminar will encompass 30 minutes and cover

all modules of our integrated system and take a

look at our partner’s, Kodak and 3M’s, contributions

to our success. In addition we will look at how the

worlds 2nd largest Liquor Company is supporting over

300 employees needs for trafficking and controlling

every aspect of brand asset development.



This system is extremely easy to use and integrates

with existing systems your company may presently be

implementing to get control of the workflow internally

and with your agencies and suppliers. Most of the

larger companies, like yours, have initiatives in this

area and in many cases are attempting to hobble

together different systems to achieve what D2L is

currently offering as a proven, full scale, workable

solution to gain control and speed time to market.


Please email me back for an invitation to a demo

when ready.


Regards,


Justin

Justin Smith
Sales Manager
Design2Launch, Inc.
1Dock Street, Suite 500
Stamford, CT 06902
Ph. 203.348.1173 Ext.118
Fax 203.348.0213
jsmith@d2ls.com
www.design2launch.com

I see invitations have been extended both companies have been having a lot of difficulty gaining traction in the market. Each having solutions that have failed to gain acceptance for more then 3 years. For the first the primary complaint has been it is difficult to use and not at all intuitive. They may have fixed that and they do have a big company behind them. The second invitin company continues to have problems with a scalable and reliable solution and licenses the Kodak viewing engine. Reliable information says that Kodak has abandon deelopment and will son abandon support for this viewing and collaboration technology. Also be careful to insure that you select provider that does not suffered from funding problems. You need a stable company that is ableto support additional software and new product development.

I believe Product Lifecycle Management software, and it’s various other acronyms, is in its infancy and should be approached with great care.

I have worked with companies using Primavera, JDEdwards, MatrixOne, SAP, PLMWorks, Enovia, IMAN, etc. All were grossly problematic, universally despised more than any work tool, bad boss or environment. All companies had stupendous, costly installation, training and familiarization time periods, averaging 2 - 3 years from acquisition. In fact, every company had a customized version of their PLM installation as no one package solution was adequate. In some cases, the customization was by independant third party contract as the PLM software company disagreed or disapproved or had exclusive integration agreements with other software companies different than what the company was using.

It adds workload on to the design and technical staff involved in product development. They all hate it intensely, some going to outrageous lengths to end-run around the PLM work flows.

In some PLM installations the investment made alot of sense and was made to work and design staff adjusted to the workflow, adding great value to the product development cycle. No company I worked with decreased cycle time; all eventually increased data integrity, accessibility and traceability. But it sure cost alot, every case was in the millions.

I would recommend the smallest solution possible that is stand-alone. Beware of large all encompassing PLM software that claims to be the product development gateway or front end to all your existing applications. Numerous companies have posted losses or “one-time charges” due to problematic PLM integration, some leading to lawsuits against the software authors and integrators.

I’d like to bump this thread as my company is going to implement PLM in the next year and I’m curious what I have to look forward to.

I have worked at a company that implemented an ERP system, but that didn’t impact me. Talking to colleagues and friends, no one in my network has ever worked directly with one. One friend did work somewhere where the marketing team used a PLM to manage products, but not development projects.

Anyone have any experience out there? Good or bad…

Holy necrothread batman.

We use Oracle’s Agile.

It is the most ironically named software in the history of humankind. Although I still believe Microsoft Word is the most evil software ever created.

What would you like to know?

How much will I need to interact with it? How much will I need to work-around it? How much will my work flow need to change?

Depends.

Us folks in NPD have very little interaction with it. When we ready a product for launch, we get all of the specifications, DFMEA, testing reports, design controls, etc at the ready and hand them off to a different group who actually inputs them into the PLM through an ECO. Those then get routed to get signoff by marketing, engineering, RA/QA, legal, regulatory affairs, etc. As soon as that becomes “baked”, any changes are handled by everyone other than NPD (cost improvements, manufacturing process change, software, testing, etc). If NPD does want to make a change, again, we get the materials ready and they get inputted as a DCO. And again you need the proper signoffs before they can be released.

The signoff process is usually the most frustrating. Want to make a change to the the packing, label artwork? Or the IFU? We need about 20 signoffs. I’m not shitting you. If a comma is out of place, and expect that on your first submission, your DCO will get rejected and you get to go through the signoff up to that point again. It’s especially awesome when the 20th signature rejects the DCO.

I should mention that we are a medical device company and our documentation process is more rigorous than most. We are also mostly class 1 exempt devices with a few class 2 and drugs thrown in there. And the FDA and the EU requirements for class 1 are less than class 2. Unfortunately for us, we were acquired by a company that lives in the class 2 and class 3 world. They want us to complete the class 2 requirements for class 1 devices. That is currently an ongoing negotiation where it does not look good for those who believe in less paperwork.

If I were to estimate, figure a day to get the launch package submitted as an ECO. Your signoffs will depend on the structure you create. Ours can take 1-4 weeks, depending on how hard you birddog the process. A DCO or ACR takes minutes to a couple of hours, depending on complexity to create. Signoffs can be quicker, but that depends again on who is needed to sign. You really need to manage the signoffs. Less is better than more. Don’t let politics drive who is on the list, it will doom your software to failure.

It was described to me as this automated emailer that was going to SPAM me tasks that needed to be done everyday. I could have misunderstood and it is was the sign off process that was being described.

I agree with you about less signoffs, the better. I’m working on decorative lighting, so I feel like nothing should require more than 2 signatures. I’m sure others will disagree:)

i am working with surperior group and we use oracle for any new product development

Another Agile user here, and I pretty much agree with iab’s feelings on the subject. Last year we finally upgraded from Agile 2006! Luckily, we don’t have as exhaustive an ECO process, but it still takes a while. The time suck for me is when I have to convert all files to an ECO-friendly format, then submit for approval, then make changes before the ECO gets signed off. Luckily, I’ve been able to automate a lot of the tedious stuff with scripting in Illustrator and Solidworks. Learning to “Save as” ECOs was also a big time saver.

The big hang ups for my company are when we are waiting on compliance approval - Files can be ready for the factory but not approved for release for up to (or more than) a month!

Overall, it’s a pretty easy concept to grasp -

windchill is may be the good option for you.

I’ve found waiting for approval without a PLM software is just as long and frustrating a process.

I have found an white paper about Product Lifecycle management, here is the link: PLM in the Aerospace Arena

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a business system that provides control of the product record across all development stages—from concept to design to production. With a PLM system in place, a company can manage product data including items, bill of materials (BOMs), and approved manufacturer lists (AML) and product files.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a business system used to manage financials and reporting around activities such as accounting, sales forecasting, manufacturing planning and execution, customer care and support and shipping logistics.