It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on PLM as an Enterprise Backbone. With the global economy the way it is, it is a good time to be alive, economically speaking. This blog post covers the third pillar of the PLM enterprise backbone: sustainable development and regulatory compliance.
The core product and design data managed in PLM is crucial for today’s businesses to manage for their environmental impacts as well as their ability to comply with regulations.
Eco-Design / Sustainability and Regulatory Compliance require integration of the design and development systems with the extended enterprise to manage product impact across engineering, supply chains, manufacturing, distribution, after-market service and maintenance, as well as end-of-life processes (disposal, energy conversion and / or recycling).
Suppliers and engineering can be incorporated into the material compliance evaluation process to ensure the component library contains the most current material compositions and compliance certifications for supplied parts, such as RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) in electrical and electronic equipment, IMDS (International Material Data Systems) reporting and ELV (End-of-Life Vehicle) in automotive, and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), across many discreet and process manufacturing industries.
Working from a PLM basis, companies can explicitly manage their environment posture, from straight compliance-based, to systematic management, all the way to being full pioneers on the leading edge of industry.
PLM enables companies to implement Design for Compliance functions as an integral part of product development. With PLM solutions, product development teams can check material content information from any design early on and throughout the product development cycle. Reports can be generated to compare the compliance of manufacturing equivalents, list recyclable content, or evaluate best and worst manufacturing locations. This information can be cross-referenced against multiple regulations in all geographies, allowing designers to make changes sooner rather than later.
In medical device markets regulatory compliance also needs to be validated to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements throughout the product introduction process. These regulations cover Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPAs), Nonconformance Reports (NCRs), Product Complaints, Design Control Deliverables, Design History Files, and Quality Audits. Enterprise-wide change control needs to be in place to manage modifications to all documents, specifications, procedures and product configurations to minimize the risk of FDA audit driven plant shut-downs.
From a regulatory compliance standpoint, PLM needs to be managed as a mission-critical enterprise system.
Product companies can avoid late-stage design changes and explore ways of improving product designs while still meeting compliance requirements. Companies can also reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials and substances in their products, thereby avoiding problems such as launch delays, recalls, fines, poor customer satisfaction and a damaged public image.
In addition to regulatory compliance, PLM systems are critical to a company’s overall environmental performance. More than 80% of the ecological impact of a product across manufacturing, usage, maintenance and repair, and end-of-life disposal is determined during initial product design.
Upcoming regulations may even impact the energy efficiency of an entire value-chain, as well as its carbon footprint. This will require companies to manage a portfolio of eco-design initiatives for a product’s material, energy and carbon impacts, necessitating lifecycle analysis and product management through design, sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, and end-of-life processes.
Figures 1 and 2, below, depict a large complex enterprise framework for managing a portfolio of project for sustainable development. Other PLM backbone capabilities come to play including Project and Portfolio Management, Direct Material Sourcing, and Extended Enterprise Collaboration capabilities.
Just a blog article doesn’t really give the space to treat this topic in-depth, but Dassault Systemes is making major investments and initiatives in solutions for Sustainable Development. Those wishing to read further on our company’s approach can review our new corporate report.
The last pillar of PLM as an enterprise backbone will complete the innovation spiral enabled by PLM in a discussion of Integrated New Product Market Launch, as facilitated by PLM.
More later about the fourth pillar of PLM as your enterprise backbone . . .
Best,
Brian
Related posts:
PLM as the Enterprise Backbone: Emerging with Advantage
PLM Enterprise Backbone Pillar 1: Product Portfolio Management
PLM Enterprise Backbone Pillar 2: Working with the Supply Chain
