Understanding the organizational impact of PLM systems: evidence from an aerospace company

Abstract

PurposeThe implementation of product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies poses different challenges in comparison to the ones faced by companies using other information systems. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of PLM on both new product development (NPD) process and on users' individual work, and also to analyse the linkages between PLM's organizational impact and users' attitudes towards technology.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on a survey of PLM end‐users in an aerospace company.FindingsThis paper shows that in the NPD process, PLM favoured a tighter workflow logic, easier product carryover, and more efficient product data retrieval. At the individual level, this has led users to spend more time on technical work, without impacting their productivity. This was true in the product design department and for older workers with low job seniority in particular.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the findings were drawn from a single case, this paper highlights the contribution made by technology acceptance models in explaining the organizational impact of technologies that support complex knowledge‐intensive tasks.Practical implicationsThis paper points out that for a technology like PLM, each user needs different supporting mechanisms depending on his/her role and age. Young workers primarily need adequate sponsorship by top management and compatibility of new technology with their job. Older users, given their higher initial scepticism, need more training in the early phases of a new technology's introduction.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to existing literature by providing empirical evidence of both the impact of PLM systems and the determinants of their acceptance among end‐users.

Organizational adaptation for using PLM systems: Group dynamism and management involvement

“…To engage in a collaborative R&D process, the enterprise and its supply chain partners needed to integrate of a variety of data and processes, and previous studies have shown that PLM can provide this kind of integration (Cantamessa, Montagna, & Neirotti, 2012;Cassina, Tomasella, Taisch, & Matta, 2009;Gunendran & Young, 2010).…”

Managerial Best Practices to Promote Sustainable Supply Chain Management & New Product Development

“…Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) addresses the information integration through all phases -including NPD -to every supply chain member [79]. PLM enhances cross-functional collaboration, reduces product data inconsistencies, and improves coordination and control of product engineers to improve NPD [80]. Information on revenues, costs, time, energy and material information is exchanged across the organization and companies by integrating product-specific processes, skilled people, and product data [29].…”

Using the Product Lifecycle Management Systems to Improve Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Practices: The Case of Aeronautical Industry

“…The benefits of extending PLM to production can be realized quickly with manufacturing operations software tightly integrated to a manufacturer's PLM system, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) customer relationship management, management of supply chain (SCM) and design applications (CAD) [21]. Supported by PLM, Aircraft manufacturers could improve their ability to enforce as-planned execution results with fewer mistakes, integrate engineering data facilitating faster decision making and communicate manufacturing data to engineering and providers [20,22].…”