Break-out session: PLM Experiences

Photo: Arne Hyckenberg

Tiina Koppinen, Business Development Director at construction company Skanska Finland spoke about how Skanska is pioneering PLM as a corporate-wide standard and strategy in a business that has been slow to use the benefits of precise and searchable documentation.

Skanska Finland started with PLM in 2008 with document management and project management. Soon after, target cost estimate, task planning and other functions were added. In 2010, PLM included invoice and cash flow management modules.

“Instead of having several systems, we have one. It is easier, people have only one system to learn and when we add functions, they recognize the interface,” she said.

Claes-Göran Andersson from Mölnlycke Health Care shared his experiences of working with PLM for the last ten years. He also talked about the importance of benchmarking a company’s PLM maturity. “PLM is an endless journey,” he concluded.

In the BIM vs. PLM presentation (BIM stands for Building Information Modeling) Jan-Olof Edgar from Projektengagemang BPS, explained how the construction industry is very different from other industries in the respect that no one really owns the business intelligence system. An apparel manufacturer, by contrast owns the whole chain of command from design to store delivery.

While maybe not of interest to all industries, the ‘Unit Tracking – Trace all unit specific documentation created in the manufacturing process’ presentation discussed the need for accurate and precise traceability of every nut and bolt in a missile defense system, for example.

And last but not least, Technia representatives discussed ways to increase user efficiency in Enovia in order to increase productivity, and thus get more out of their investment.