Product lifecycle management (PLM) can enhance every aspect of a business, from improving productivity on the shop floor to enabling more informed decisions in the board room. Despite these benefits, achieving buy-in for implementing a PLM solution can be challenging.
The problem is that communicating effectively about the value of complex PLM systems is difficult. Managers must bridge the gap between technical teams and company leadership to translate technical details into strategic insights. Without clear communication, leadership may struggle to see how a PLM aligns with your organization’s goals or produces a measurable return on investment (ROI).
This guide takes a close look at how to craft effective messaging for PLM implementation and clearly communicate the impact of PLM benefits.
Employees in different functions within your business may see different benefits from PLM. Shop floor employees focus on enhanced operational efficiency, mid-level managers focus on stronger collaboration, and executives focus on increased profit.
Operations, product, and IT managers may struggle to communicate with executives about PLM because of these different priorities. It’s also difficult to translate technical jargon into business language and convey the intangible benefits of PLM.
You can address these communication challenges by tailoring your message to explain how PLM can benefit executives’ priorities. You can also use data visualizations to make your case and encourage more communication between employees at all levels of your organization.
A solid understanding of how a PLM system can benefit all aspects of your business, from the shop floor to the board room, is critical to communicating its potential. So, let’s consider some of the key advantages of PLM.
Shop floor: Operational efficiencies
PLM enhances operational efficiency on your shop floor by streamlining manufacturing workflows and eliminating bottlenecks that can hold up production. For example, NEL Hydrogen was able to scale up production by 10x after transitioning to a fully automated manufacturing line with the help of CLEVR and Siemens Teamcenter software.
PLM also reduces production errors, which improves product quality and saves money.
Mid-level management: Collaboration and data accessibility
PLM supports your organization’s mid-level management by centralizing data, improving communication, and assisting in decision-making. These systems can make design processes more collaborative and ensure that design and production teams are fully aligned.
PLM can also break down data silos and enable more seamless information flow between your organization and vendors.
Board room: Strategic impact and ROI
At a high level, PLM reduces time-to-market for new products and cuts the cost of new product deployments, which boosts your company’s bottom line and ensures a positive ROI for your PLM system. Enhanced collaboration supports innovation, while supply chain management tools benefit strategic goals like sustainability.
PLM also helps companies manage increasingly complex regulatory requirements across a wide range of markets.
Operations, product, and IT managers face three main hurdles in communicating PLM benefits to executives.
Misaligned priorities: Shop floor teams are often focused on enhancing efficiency and view a PLM through this lens. However, executives focus on profitability and growth and may not view productivity gains on the shop floor as an immediate priority.
Translating technical jargon to business language: Managers frequently discuss the benefits of PLM in terms of operational metrics. However, executives may not understand how these metrics relate to bottom-line impacts or strategic priorities—the language of the boardroom.
Intangible benefits are difficult to measure: Many of the most important benefits of PLM, including enhanced collaboration, faster innovation, and long-term scalability, are difficult to measure. That makes it more challenging for managers to make a case to executives that a PLM system is worth the investment.
We recommend four key strategies to help managers address the challenges of communicating about PLM and get through to company leadership.
Tailor your message for your audience
Show that your priorities align with those of company leaders when communicating about PLM. Identify what executives are concerned about and focus on how PLM can address those concerns. Be sure to connect improvements in key operational metrics to impacts on your company’s bottom line.
As an example, instead of framing PLM-enabled automation as a way to boost granular productivity metrics, operations managers can present it as a way to make your business more competitive and pave the way for future growth. This approach speaks to executives’ strategic initiatives and enables them to see the potential ROI of a PLM system.
More broadly, you can make PLM part of your organization’s growth narrative. Be specific about how PLM can drive critical outcomes like innovation, sustainability, and market competitiveness. Speaking the language of the board room can help company leaders fully understand the strategic value of PLM.
Leverage data visualizations
Data visualizations can be extremely effective at breaking down communication barriers and enabling everyone in your business to speak the same language, whether you come from the shop floor or the board room. It gives you an opportunity to contextualize key operational metrics and clearly show how they correlate with large-scale business outcomes like profitability.
Visualizations can illustrate everything from productivity gains and compliance improvements to time-to-market reductions. In addition, data from past operational changes can show its impact and help project the potential impact of implementing a PLM system.
Encourage cross-functional communication
More communication between shop floor teams, mid-level managers, and company leaders is critical to getting everyone on the same page. When company leaders understand the challenges that shop floor employees face, they’re more likely to find solutions. Likewise, operations, product, and IT managers need to understand executives’ strategic goals to communicate effectively about PLM and its benefits.
Many options exist for facilitating cross-functional communication. For example, executives can hold town hall-style meetings or launch an internal newsletter to communicate their strategic vision. Operations managers can invite product managers and executives to the shop floor. Mid-level management can also organize task-specific groups of employees from all levels of your organization.
Communicate about PLM success
Once your business takes the first steps towards implementing PLM, it’s essential to be transparent with executives about the process and share early indicators of success. Set milestones for the implementation process and keep company leaders informed as you reach these milestones.
After implementation, share data with executives about the indicators you mentioned in earlier discussions and clearly connect them to business impacts. Company leaders can then evaluate the success of the new PLM system and gauge its potential ROI. Demonstrating success early on is key to encouraging further investment in PLM.
CLEVR has experience working with businesses across a wide range of sectors to create tailored low code PLM solutions that support priorities from the shop floor to the board room. We offer end-to-end support to help your company identify goals, implement a custom PLM, and prepare for future growth.
Ready to take the next step in empowering your organization with PLM? Explore how our PLM solutions can drive organizational alignment and innovation today.