What is your background and PLM expertise area?
I spent over 20 yeas as a Mechanical Design Engineer in the R&D department where I gained experience of a product lifecycle from initial concept through to manufacture and final commercial sales. During this period I was involved in various manufacturing projects, including restructuring Engineering BoMs for manufacturing (including MBOM methodology), outsourcing assemblies and change implementation for manufacturing.
In 1999 Elekta introduced Matrix and I acted as business administrator to implement Elekta’s engineering change processes using Matrix. I then worked for 3 years as a Matrix Implementation Consultant in various companies (Ministry of Defence, Consumer Goods Packaging, Automotive design) before rejoining Elekta. I am now responsible for Matrix application at Elekta which is using version 10.5 Engineering Central and various Technia Value Components.
Why is PLM important for your company?
One of the reasons upgrading to Engineering Central in 2005 was to introduce one Elekta system for PLM, and also act as a catalyst to harmonise processes between UK and Sweden (this has already allowed collaborative design for a new product). This has become increasingly important as Elekta has grown rapidly through acquisition of other companies.
Access to data and sending information to suppliers has been vastly improved as the information is available to all users rather than just the Engineering department. Also we are storing regulatory information for each engineering change so a full audit trail can be easily tracked. This is important as the company has to fulfil FDA and ISO regulations. A new lean project was started in March 2007 and using PLM we can reduce waste by implementing automated flows for Engineering Change.
What has Technia helped your company with, regarding the PLM area?
Technia has been involved at Elekta for 2 years and has helped Elekta with several areas;
The initial roll out for Elekta was in Sweden. The users previously used a manual system for ECRs, ECOs and transfer of information between Design and Engineering. Technia was instrumental in training the Swedish users Engineering Central.
- Implementing customised solutions
There have been several processes that require customisation of Matrix. A method of verifying and validating Product manuals has initially been implemented in the thick client that had to be adapted for the web.
The UK previously had a bespoke data model and advice from Technia ensured a smooth transition to the new system.
- System Maintenance/ Support
As Matrix has grown as a product, the expertise to maintain the system now involves knowledge on more software products, Technia supports Elekta from a system perspective.
What do you think about the future importance of PLM (in your industry/all industries)?
Companies are growing through acquisition and the ability to use one process for the whole business ensures acquired businesses operate in a harmonised way. As there is one system products can be introduced to the market quicker as collaboration between different business units is easier as a harmonised process is used and all the data is stored in one repository.
Product data must be controlled and consistent. Using a PLM system creates the control. It also allows access to information at the right time reducing wasted effort searching, viewing and extracting information. Now all users of the system have the ability to extract information rather than the historic controls of only Engineering having this access.
Some industries are highly regulated, having automatic work flows ensure compliance with regulatory these bodies (e.g. FDA & ISO).