Günther Schuh

Process oriented framework to support PLM implementation

Product lifecycle management (PLM) innovates as it defines both the product as a central element to aggregate enterprise information and the lifecycle as a new time dimension for information integration and analysis. Because of its potential benefits to shorten innovation lead-times and to reduce costs, PLM has attracted a lot of attention at industry and at research. However, the current PLM implementation stage at most organisations still does not apply the lifecycle management concepts thoroughly. In order to close the existing realisation gap, this article presents a process oriented framework to support effective PLM implementation. The framework central point consists of a set of lifecycle oriented business process reference models which links the necessary fundamental concepts, enterprise knowledge and software solutions to effectively deploy PLM.

Integrative Production Technology for High-wage Countries

Manufacturing companies in high-wage countries are increasingly set under pressure in international competition due the lower production costs in low-wage countries. In order to counteract this development, many manufacturing companies respond to this issue by relocating their production facilities. Due to industrial production’s high dependence on other sectors such as the services sector, this trend threatens Europe’s medium and long term prosperity since outsourcing generally leads to subsequent relocation of services as well as of research and development activities (Lau 2005). With over 40% of German employees assigned to the manufacturing sector, production plays a key role in the national economy of Germany. Consequently, relocation of production poses huge risks for the country’s future economic development (Statistisches Bundesamt 2010).

Erfolg in Netzwerken

So wenig Verlassliches wir uber das vor uns Liegende wissen — dies eine durfte feststehen: Die Welt, auf die wir zugehen, wird nicht mehr die alte sein, die uns so vertraut ist.

Design for Changeability

Numerous markets are characterized by increasing individualization and high dynamics. A company’s ability to quickly adjust its production system to future needs and conditions with minimum effort is a key competitive factor. Especially in high-wage countries, two conflicts increasingly complicate the design of production systems: the conflict between scale and scope on the one hand and the conflict between a high planning orientation and maximizing value-added activities on the other hand. For future production systems in high-wage countries, effective means are needed to minimize the gaps resulting from this poly-lemma. This contribution introduces a measurable target system to assess the degree of target achievement with regard to these criteria. Based on this target measurement system, a new approach that introduces object-oriented-design to production systems is presented. The central element of object-oriented design of production systems is the definition of objects, e.g. product functions, with homogeneous change drivers, which are consistently handled from product planning up to process design. Both product and process design are driven by interfaces between the defined objects and their inter-dependencies. The findings show that a consistent application of objectoriented design to production systems will significantly increase the flexibility in implementing product changes, minimize engineering change and process planning efforts and support process synchronization to achieve economies of scale more efficiently. Two case studies illustrate the implementation and impact of this approach.

Integrative Produktionstechnik für Hochlohnländer

Produzierende Unternehmen in Hochlohnlandern werden im internationalen Verdrangungswettbewerb immer starker durch die augenscheinlich im relativen Vergleich niedrigeren Produktionskosten in Niedriglohnlandern unter Druck gesetzt. Um dem entgegenzuwirken, reagiert eine grose Anzahl produzierender Unternehmen mit einer Verlagerung der Produktionsstatten. Auf Grund der starken Abhangigkeit weiterer Wirtschaftsbereiche (wie beispielsweise der Dienstleistungsbranche) von der industriellen Produktion, gefahrdet dieser Trend mittel- und langfristig den Wohlstand in Europa. (Lau 2005) Produktionsverlagerungen fuhren in der Regel auch zu nachfolgenden Verlagerungen von Dienstleistungs-, aber auch von Forschungs- und Entwicklungstatigkeiten. Da uber 40 % der sozialversicherungspflichtigen Erwerbstatigen in Deutschland dem produzierenden Gewerbe zugerechnet werden, nimmt die Produktion eine Schlusselrolle ein und ihre Abwanderung birgt immense Risiken fur die Entwicklung der Volkswirtschaft des Landes. (Statistisches Bundesamt 2010)

Service provision as a sub-model of modern business models

Today’s turbulent economic environment confronts Germany’s tooling industry with new challenges. To compete with China and with the new eastern members of the European Union, German companies must come up with innovative products and services to stand out from their competitors. New types of business models shall offer individual solutions to the customers, integrating product and accompanying product-services to a product-service-system.

High resolution supply chain management: optimized processes based on self-optimizing control loops and real time data

The efficient dealing with the dynamic environment of production industries is one of the most challenging tasks of Supply Chain Management in high-wage countries. Relevant and current information are still not used sufficiently, to handle the influence of the dynamic environment on intra- and inter-company order processing adequately. Among other things, the problem is caused by missing or delayed feedback of relevant data. As a consequence of that, planning results differ from the actual situation of production. High Resolution Supply Chain Management describes an approach aiming on high information transparency in supply chains in combination with decentralized, self-optimizing control loops for Production Planning and Control. The final objective is to enable manufacturing companies to produce efficiently and to be able to react to order-variations at any time, requiring process structures to be most flexible.

Managing complexity in industrial collaborations

Joining collaborations and maintaining relationships has become a major concern for managers in industrial companies. This change, to a large extent, arises due to the globalization of markets and the ongoing specialization of companies, fostered by the possibilities of information technology and data-communication. However, such a structural change requires adaptations by companies to fit the characteristics of industrial collaborations. In particular, the increasing complexity of collaborations in highly dynamic environments oftentimes is underestimated. This paper demonstrates an approach to cope with this increasing complexity and to find an adequate—not necessarily minimum—level of complexity by the application of principles of complex systems from various sciences to industrial collaborations, considered as socio-technical systems. The industrial relevance of this research approach is illustrated through the example of the tool and die industry.

Condition based factory planning

Consecutive planning approaches, common in the theory of factory design today, fail to support planning projects in practice. They neglect the interactions and dynamics in the planning task and project as well as the subjectivity introduced by the different stakeholders. Unconsidered interactions, conflicting motives and inflexible project structure lead to time-consuming, expensive and late adaptations. Local optimisation and deviations from the overall objectives are consequences of insufficient synchronisation and coordination. The approach proposed in this paper strives for a paradigm shift from consecutive processes to a modular, parallel approach, which can be reconfigured according to the specific conditions of the planning project and enterprise. This new approach integrates the modularisation and configuration of the planning process as well as aspects of management of instability and second order observation. It has been successfully employed in industry cases, which will be introduced in this paper.

Self-optimising Production Systems

One of the central success factors for production in high-wage countries is the solution of the conflict that can be described with the term “planning efficiency”. Planning efficiency describes the relationship between the expenditure of planning and the profit generated by these expenditures. From the viewpoint of a successful business management, the challenge is to dynamically find the optimum between detailed planning and the immediate arrangement of the value stream. Planning-oriented approaches try to model the production system with as many of its characteristics and parameters as possible in order to avoid uncertainties and to allow rational decisions based on these models. The success of a planning-oriented approach depends on the transparency of business and production processes and on the quality of the applied models. Even though planning-oriented approaches are supported by a multitude of systems in industrial practice, an effective realisation is very intricate, so these models with their inherent structures tend to be matched to a current stationary condition of an enterprise. Every change within this enterprise, whether inherently structural or driven by altered input parameters, thus requires continuous updating and adjustment. This process is very cost-intensive and time-consuming; a direct transfer onto other enterprises or even other processes within the same enterprise is often impossible. This is also a result of the fact that planning usually occurs a priori and not in real-time. Therefore it is hard for completely planning-oriented systems to react to spontaneous deviations because the knowledge about those naturally only comes a posteriori.