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Engineering: Synergies of Integrated PLM and ERP
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is synonymous to mammoth monolithic software heavy in features and capabilities. The goal of ERP is to manage and coordinate all resources, information, and functions of a business.
On the other hand, Product lifecycle management (PLM) software is closely tied to managing engineering and manufacturing data. It involves the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, and ultimately to service and disposal. PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise.
ERP and PLM systems typically live in isolated worlds within a company, classic examples of separate stove-piped applications. But many are finding that bringing the two world together can bring benefits. Combining ERP with PLM can result in greater efficiencies that include shorter time-to-market, lower manufacturing costs, and higher customer satisfaction.
One area where the two worlds could be made to have a large intersection is with engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing. ETO manufacturers design and build products that meet very custom specifications. For this type of manufacturing, product and process changes need to be highly flexible and require frequent changes. For this industry, there is a strong coupling between the ERP and PLM processes.
In ETO manufacturing, requirement changes occur often and those changes in turn drive product design changes which in turn affect the types of parts or supplies that are used in the manufacturing. Even after sales, quality support can be more readily delivered to customer questions when information can be provided about both the design, manufacturing and delivery process. For ETO synchronization among customer, manufacturer, and supplier is crucial, and integrating PLM and ERP more tightly could help.
Both ERP and PLM vendors are sensing synergies between the two technologies in applications like ETO and that is causing them to add features from each of the other systems. Increasingly the line between the systems is becoming blurry. ERP vendors are picking up on the need for PLM capabilities, and many ERP vendors are adding modules to their offerings that provide PLM capabilities. Similarly, PLM vendors are adding more capabilities to their systems touching more on the ERP and services side.
