July 9, 2018 – CIMdata, the global PLM strategic management consulting and research firm, announced the publication of an eBook titled "Connecting the Value Chain to Accelerate New Product Introduction."
Many industrial and consumer engineered products comprise between 40% and 70% of procured-in content. Engineers must work with components, sub-modules, and whole products that come from outside their organization; that they did not design. These items must be evaluated for performance, price, availability, and form, fit, and function properties along with internally designed engineering content, yet PLM systems don't manage the situation of mixed procured-in and internally authored content very well. An industrial engineering manager recently said: "90% of engineering design is shopping." A reference to the amount of time engineers spend away from productive engineering design work, concentrating on non-productive activities related to procured-in content.
In a recent survey titled "CIMdata Cloud PLM survey 2018" respondents were asked: What Are the PLM Challenges Today? The number one issue respondents face is cross-functional coordination between members of the product stakeholder network.
This eBook confronts the trend toward engineering designs comprising a high percentage of procured-in content, and the organizational issues of cross-functional coordination especially between engineering and procurement.
According to Mr. James White, CIMdata Director, Additive Manufacturing Strategy Consulting Practice, "This eBook highlights the increasing issue facing engineers who grapple with mixed procured-in and internally authored engineering content; something engineering centric PLM systems historically didn't anticipate."
