cPDm Market Trends
by Kenneth Amann, Director of Research, CIMdata, Inc.

Introduction
As manufacturers have been hit by the recent economic crisis, they have become more focused than ever on making themselves more competitive. Whether the motivation has been a renewed commitment to excellence, or a heightened fear of failure, the result is often a serious introspective on their organization's approach to their business. In this environment of change, product innovation and a clear focus on management of the entire product lifecycle have emerged as critical areas for investment.

Companies are integrating the management of product definition data that has classically been used only within engineering and manufacturing organizations, with other business areas such as sales and marketing, customer service, maintenance and operations, and across their supply chain to share with their business partners and customers. The scope of groups using the technology now reaches far beyond engineering to include areas throughout the expended enterprise such as the shop floor, marketing, customer service, accounting, and field support; incorporation across the supply chain is expected. Applications stretch from the design phase of product development to the entire product lifecycle, from early conceptual development to design, manufacturing, maintenance support, and field service.

In response, suppliers of technology, products, services and solutions that address cPDm are continuing to evolve their offerings to address the requests and requirements of their customers and prospects. Although all industries share the same needs for cPDm, the ways in which cPDm solutions are created and applied are unique. cPDm solution and technology suppliers are creating industry-focused solutions, providing for easy integration of the core product definition data with other types of business information, and offering improved collaboration and visualization facilities. These tailored solutions give customers a rapid and relatively easy path to improving their management of product lifecycles and supply chains.

Market Trends
During 2001, several cPDm market trends emerged. The following paragraphs provide examples of some of the major trends. Requirements for expanded collaboration continue to grow as companies want to make product information more accessible to users that do not have the tools, nor the skills to use, the authoring tools such as CAD systems used to create that product data. The ability to have concurrent, interactive work sessions, coupled with easy to use visualization facilities are being used by companies to improve the ability for diverse groups within the enterprise to work together to create innovative products.

Digital manufacturing - the integration of product definition with manufacturing processes - will be used to eliminate expensive manufacturability problems and production line changes.

The use of product definition information such as the "As-Maintained" configuration is increasing be used by plant maintenance and operations and customer service organizations to:

" Effectively manage the physical assets of a plant " Reduce downtime and improve plant efficiency Product definition information will be integrated with CRM functions and applications to enable a company to: " Provide better service faster and at less cost to users of all types of products " Respond more quickly to customer problems " Reduce the cost to the company for maintenance and repair

Further, integration of product definition information and systems customer relationship management (CRM) is enabling incorporation of customer feedback and requests into product changes and corrections. Requirements management within cPDm will also be integrated with CRM to gather and ensure incorporation of customer desired features and functions.

Portfolio management - managing the mix of product and their variations and options, to be developed and offered by a company - is another capability that customers are requiring. cPDm solution suppliers are beginning to offer such capabilities and will continue to incorporate them into their overall offerings.

New tools to incorporate integrated management of the electronic components of products with the overall product structure are being developed and implemented. In the future, complete configuration management of a product will include the electronic and software components, e.g., chip set, firmware, application code, that are included or embedded within most products.

Today, companies must focus on total management in order to remain competitive. Past initiatives aimed solely at product cost, quality, or time-to-market are no longer sufficient to gain market advantage. The focus today is on innovation: products that clearly differentiate themselves from others while also being affordable, reliable, and early to market. Improved product innovation requires managing the complete product definition, enabling collaboration across the extended enterprise and leveraging previous initiatives. The following figure illustrates the continuing evolution of business initiatives - using technology, best practices and processes to move from reducing cost to creating innovative products.

Figure 1 The Evolution of Product Definition Business Initiatives

Ken Amann has more than 34 years experience in the development of collaborative Product Definition management (cPDm), information technology (IT) architectures, computer-based engineering applications, document and information management systems, and aerospace design. He has held senior positions in cPDm marketing, development, and consulting, and is currently the Director of Research for CIMdata, Inc.

About CIMdata
CIMdata provides worldwide strategic consulting and program support, in-depth research, and education for both industrial organizations and suppliers of technologies and services seeking competitive advantage in the global economy, and within a constantly evolving e-business world. CIMdata serves clients worldwide from locations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. For more information contact:

CIMdata
3909 Research Park Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA
Tel: +1 (734) 668-9922
Fax: +1 (734) 668-1957
Email: info@CIMdata.com
Web: www.CIMdata.com