White Paper Three steps to global product design mastery

Transcription

1 Three steps to global product design mastery Digital-driven PLM enables manufacturers to meet global demand and adapt to changing markets

2 Innovation is the wellspring that companies depend on to satisfy consumer demand and remain competitive. But innovation doesn t generate revenue. Products do. That s why it s critical to maintain an effective, efficient process for turning ideas into goods and getting them to market. The growing complexity of products, and the life-cycle management involved in creating those products, makes that easy to say and hard to accomplish. Product life spans that were once measured in years now span just months or, in some categories, weeks. Missing a launch window in a market can create a profitless product. Globalization means access to markets worldwide, but that opportunity comes with its own price tag: the need to manage multiple versions of the same product to meet differing country regulations or consumer expectations. Companies are also under continuing pressure to contain costs, which produces the need for more efficient design practices, such as a higher percentage of part reuse in product designs. These are just a few of the drivers that are pushing companies to reexamine how they manage their product life-cycle management (PLM) processes. What that investigation often reveals is a collection of business processes divided by silos, calcified by habits and riddled with technical workarounds that can make transformation seem unachievable. There is a way forward. Companies that have succeeded in creating a culture for digital-driven innovation and product development processes improvement are thriving. This paper examines three significant trends companies will face as they chart a course toward digital-driven product development and PLM. Sell locally, design globally Globalization has done more than expand market opportunities for companies. It has also changed the way they need to think about developing products and managing design resources, especially skilled engineers and developers. Through growth, whether by acquisition or internal skunkworks development, companies have built out large product portfolios with design teams scattered in locations around the world. This approach is effective at keeping skilled workers and maintaining product momentum. But as companies look to push products through channels in other regions, the limitations of a stove-pipe strategy to product development become more apparent. Siloed development teams limit a company s flexibility to leverage unique worker skills most effectively. For example, a company moving from corded to cordless products in the Americas could move faster across product lines and regions by drawing on motor design help from an expert in Europe. With limited access to the expertise of teams in other regions, that connection might be missed. Differences in design tools and the latency of sharing data would hamper collaboration efforts even if the specialist s skills were widely known and accessible. 2

3 The lack of design collaboration carries another cost: Parts and software can t be reused as much. This has the follow-on effect of reducing buying power, adding drag to margins and revenues. It leads to more product rework and a potential lack of uniformity among products manufactured at different facilities. Even worse is that issues that have already been addressed could be reengineered or missed. Digital transformation can help companies overcome these issues, effectively blending mechanical, electrical, firmware and software design teams globally. Digital workers are equipped to reuse parts, assemblies, code, and engineering plans and to collaborate effectively on product design, security and version control well before a product reaches production. Building new products with more global and collaborative PLM teams that share and reuse parts and code will help organizations work more flexibly wherever they are located. Instead of operating as separate business units with separate teams of engineers and software developers, chief executive officers can challenge their teams to look for the best people wherever they are in the world and use their capabilities globally. This adds efficiency and reduces costs because the company won t need to hire multiple engineering and design teams for each location around the world. The right resources can be added to the team wherever they are located, and if needed, any team can pick up a project in process and continue its development with minimal interruption. Connectivity breeds complexity In the home, the workplace and on the road, devices are becoming smarter and connecting in new and novel ways. The home thermostat, once little more than a glorified on/off switch, is now a smart device that learns a homeowner s temperature preferences, offers detailed energy use reports and works with other devices such as smoke detectors to take action if a problem is detected in the home. A web of interconnected devices creates new opportunities and markets that product companies are just beginning to explore. The need to manage the complexity of these products as well as the connections between them will only continue to grow. At the same time, companies are discovering the tremendous challenge presented by products that contain a growing share of software-defined features. Vehicle manufacturers, for example, must be certain that the firmware and software updates they issue for a fleet of vehicles won t render some of them inoperable due to differences between car models and years. Any small mistake can be costly. Differences in firmware on a smart light bulb might render a smartphone control app useless on certain bulbs, leading to a costly recall process. What s managing this process right now for many companies? An Excel spreadsheet. Growing product sophistication and the need to maintain better version control among all phases of product iteration mechanical, electrical and software will require companies to make much more effective use of PLM systems and the digitally managed bill of materials they can produce. Companies will also need to integrate teams to ensure that all design variables are considered, as products move from concept through design and into production. 3

4 Crossing the digital divide Businesses have readily embraced modern operating systems and devices for the added productivity, convenience and security they provide to the enterprise. But not all parts of the organization benefit equally. It s easy for design and engineering teams to become technologically isolated from the rest of the enterprise. Specialized engineering tools may operate only in an older version of software, while sales, marketing and other corporate users transition to Microsoft Windows 10 and cloud applications such as Salesforce.com. Complicating matters is the fact that many company PLM systems barely resemble the solution first deployed. As custom additions and modifications accumulate, companies have created solutions that prevent users from transitioning to newer versions of the products they use. Some companies are so tied to a custom system and so resistant to change that new hires may be younger than the PLM solutions they operate. These groups are also less likely to benefit from the collaborative features that cloud platforms offer because they continue to store design and engineering information locally. Many teams continue to coordinate projects with Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint services instead of modern PLM tools that easily share ideas, bills of materials and data across teams anywhere in the world. Moving teams out of these old environments requires planning, but it is fully achievable. For example, engineering teams can begin to split out some functions that can be moved into Microsoft Azure, taking advantage of the latest operating system and updates. Solutions that don t yet operate in a current environment can be run in virtual engineering workstations that offer engineers access to Windows 7 and Windows 10 environments from the same endpoint. Similarly, companies will need to house data in ways that make it more accessible to global teams inside and outside the company. One approach is to build a central in-house data center that feeds locations around the world. Or, they can leverage services such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure to store data. A cloud approach may offer more flexibility and scalability than a centralized solution and improve team access to data with lower latency, improved security and tighter version control. Looking ahead Shrinking product life cycles, expanding global markets and growing product complexity have pushed legacy PLM solutions to their limits. Companies that can successfully migrate from legacy solutions to digital-driven PLM systems will gain the flexibility they need to leverage design teams and resources more effectively, provide teams with the modern tools they need and support the development of complex, connected products. While the task seems daunting, it doesn t have to be done alone. 4

5 Any company contemplating the journey to a digital-driven PLM solution should consider working with an experienced partner that can help it build a roadmap to its best next-generation solution. That partner can help it evaluate considerations such as: Understanding how and when to use the cloud to enable global design and scalability throughout an organization Enabling creation of collaborative teams to ensure that compliance, compatibility and security are built into products from the beginning Creating a modern computing environment with the latest applications and operating systems Deciding whether a centralized data center or a cloud platform is the best solution for data storage, security and management Improving testing to catch more issues before a product reaches production Providing secure connectivity to employees, contractors and joint-venture partners as business models change Building a computing environment that embraces mobility and is device-agnostic Learn more at manufacturing For several decades, DXC Technology has helped companies and government agencies solve complex business and technology challenges like these. Our experts understand the special complexities and concerns that product manufacturers face. They are prepared to build a roadmap for the digital transformation that will keep your organization competitive. They understand how to look into the future with integrated robotics and automation being part of the design process and where PLM solution capabilities include artificial intelligence and tools of voice recognition and repeatable geometry. About the Author Nicholas Holian Nicholas Holian is a DXC Technology Distinguished/Chief Technologist and the lead PLM consultant responsible for PLM and engineering environment integration, focused on developing solutions that enable clients to build a flexible and scalable engineering ecosystem. His more than 17-year career includes management and technical roles encompassing engineering, software and automation development, operating system testing, and quality practices, among others. Nicholas holds several U.S. and foreign patents and has extensive international experience working with and developing teams in EMEA and APJ, Nicholas graduated with honors from Texas A&M University. About DXC Technology DXC Technology (DXC: NYSE) is the world s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, serving nearly 6,000 private and public-sector clients from a diverse array of industries across 70 countries. The company s technology independence, global talent and extensive partner network deliver transformative digital offerings and solutions that help clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. DXC Technology is recognized among the best corporate citizens globally. For more information, visit DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. MD_7957a-18. April 2018