The Datamation PLM Model
PLM how it can drive your business

The Datamation PLM Model forms a solid foundation for a better  understanding of Interoperability Problems and how to solve them. Based on this model, Datamation has shown that the value of computer aided technology is derived in the main from maximising the reuse of corporate/product information. Enterprise Integration is key to enabling seamless reuse and hence fostering innovation and business growth, as more and more organisations are finding out today:

“Our experience supports the Datamation PLM Model and its central plank that seamless integration of corporate information is THE key driver for business improvement. The integration of all our business processes, through embracing PLM technology to the full, has helped us transform our business over the past decade from a small operation to one of the world’s leading shipbuilders. We are now able to work seamlessly with all stakeholders including Owners, Vendors, Business Partners, designers, builders, operators and IT suppliers leading to less rework, lower Capex and Optex costs and improved delivery times.” 
Brian Chang, Chairman, Yantai Raffles Shipyard Limited, China

Datamation has defined Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) as:

" a strategic business approach for the effective management and reuse of Corporate Intellectual Capital."

Where a ‘Product’ is the output of an organisation, be it a widget, an aeroplane, a process plant, or a service, and where:

"Corporate Intellectual Capital is the sum of retained knowledge that an organisation accumulates in the course of delivering its objectives."

This definition uses the term 'Corporate Intellectual Capital' (CIC), because it is the use and reuse of 'Corporate Intellectual Capital’ that actually delivers an organisation's objectives. This applies to small as well as large businesses; to profit making organisations, non-profit making organisations, and to service providers. When PLM is put in this context, it is easy to see how it can help organisations in general, and engineering companies in particular, drive their business forward.

Corporate Intellectual Capital (CIC) consists of the following:

1. Product and Process Definition: All the information relating to what the product (or service) is, its specification, how it is designed, manufactured, delivered and supported.

2. Product History: Any information relating to what the organisation has done in the past that is of relevance for the delivery of the organisation’s objectives, e.g. audit trails required for legal or regulatory purposes, archives relating to past products.

3. Best Practice: Encapsulates experience gathered by the organisation in the course of the delivery of its objectives.

The optimum way to manage each of these components varies from one organisation to another. A PLM solution should therefore be assessed on its effectiveness in managing all three components through the ‘Product’ lifecycle.