Product Lifecycle Management: Driving the Next Generation of Lean Thinking

CHAPTER3Characteristics of PLM

THERE ARE CERTAIN underlying characteristics that are an integral part of PLM. These characteristics need to be articulated for a robust understanding of the forces moving organizations to adopt PLM. These characteristics include

• Singularity

• Correspondence

• Cohesion

• Traceability

• Reflectivity

• Cued availability

We obtain these characteristics by examining an ideal model of PLM, the Information Mirroring Model, which captures the relationship between physical products and the data and information about those physical products. Before we do that, we need first to understand how that product information is organized today.

Information Silos

A common theme throughout the discussion of organizational structure ...