Process industries, particularly CPG and food and beverage, have some real needs for more effectively managing their product portfolios. New PLM solutions may provide an answer to these needs. Three suppliers - Formation Systems, Sequencia, and SAP - offer initial PLM solutions focused on specific parts of the product lifecycle such as design, production, or metadata management. While no current solution meets all PLM needs, they provide opportunities for process manufacturers to better manage product development and information sharing internally and with partners.

1. $UH 3URFHVV ,QGXVWULHV 5HDG IRU 3/0"
7KUHH 6XSSOLHUV 7KLQN 6R
%< -2+1 0225( 2&72%(5 $5 ,16,*+76 (0+03
.(:25'6
Process Industries, Product Lifecycle Management, PLM, PDM, Outsourcing
6800$5
Collaborative design and more recently, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) are tools
being used by discrete industries to facilitate collaboration with strategic partners on the
development of new products. The benefits of such collaboration include faster time to
market and time to volume for new products, as well as enabling a higher level of strate-
gic sourcing with key suppliers.
The process industries, however, have not been as actively involved
3URFHVV LQGXVWULHV SDUWLFXODUO 3* in such strategic collaborative design and PLM initiatives. Part of
DQG IRRG DQG EHYHUDJH KDYH VRPH
the reason lies in the lack of viable solutions to enable this activity.
YHU UHDO QHHGV IRU PRUH HIIHFWLYHO
With the exception of a couple of verticals, the industry itself does
PDQDJLQJ WKHLU SURGXFW SRUWIROLRV
1HZ 3/0 VROXWLRQV PD SURYLGH DQ
not have the same shelf-life issues that, say, the electronics industry
DQVZHU WR WKHVH QHHGV has, wherein a product such as a computer may have a shelf-life of
only 4-6 months.
However, the process industries do have some very real issues when it comes to manag-
ing their product portfolios. For example, how can they work more collaboratively with
research and development partners to accelerate new product development cycles or
how might they share product recipes among their internal manufacturing operations
and potential outsourcers for manufacturing? And of course, how might a process
manufacturer manage and share product information with all constituents, be they in
development, manufacturing, marketing, or customer service in such a way that enables
them to better perform their respective functions. Each of these examples demonstrates
the need for PLM solutions in the process industries, which have been largely ignored by
PLM solution providers, until recently.
$1$/6,6
In the past couple of months, ARC has been briefed by three suppliers of PLM solutions
for the process industries. Two of these suppliers, Sequencia and Formation Systems,
offer tight solutions focused on very specific aspects of a product’s lifecycle. SAP, the
@IU@SQSDT@Ã6I9Ã6VUPH6UDPIÃTUS6U@BD@TÃAPSÃDI9VTUS`Ã@Y@8VUDW@TÃ

2. 6S8ÃD†vtu‡†ÃQhtrÃ!Ã
most recent entry in this market space, has a solution vision that is extremely broad and
comprehensive, but their current product is not.
Before discussing these three suppliers and their solutions, it is important to first pre-
cisely define Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Over the past couple of years, there
has been much confusion, a significant amount generated by suppliers and analyst firms,
about what constitutes PLM. Some refer to PLM as collaborative design or
collaborative Product Data Management (cPDM). Others call it Collabora-
Plan 'HVLJQ
Acquire
RQFHSW tive Product Commerce (CPC). And still others refer to it as Supplier
Relationship Management (SRM). ARC has a broader definition: PLM is a
5HWLUH
Replace 3/0 0DQI
Install
comprehensive collaborative solution addressing the entire product lifecy-
cle, from initial concept and design to production, product support in the
marketplace, and finally retirement.
6HOO
6HUYLFH
Maintain Operate
'HOLYHU
Neither of the three suppliers of purported PLM solutions for the process
industries has a solution that meets ARC’s definition. However, each solu-
tion addresses some of the critical aspects in a product’s lifecycle and provides compel-
ling opportunities for a process manufacturer to better manage this lifecycle, both
internally and with external strategic partners.
:KDWV XUUHQWO $YDLODEOH
Product lifecycle management can be broken down into three sub-cycles; the design cy-
cle, the production cycle, and the operations cycle. While in discrete industries, these
cycles are distinct, in process industries there is greater overlap. Regardless, this delinea-
tion provides a very convenient view of the solutions from Formation Systems,
Sequencia, and SAP. While all these solutions have some application overlap, each one
is distinctive by the sub-cycle where they are best applied at this time.
Formation Systems’ solution, Optiva, focuses on the design cycle. Architected much like
collaborative Computer Aided Design (CAD) solutions used in the discrete industry,
Optiva provides such tools as product definition, design, and workflow to better manage
and accelerate new product development. Within Optiva, research chemists can concep-
tualize, research, and develop a product formula to meet customer or market
requirements. Also, with its requirement matching capabilities, Optiva can accelerate
new product development by identifying formulas that may meet market or customer
requirements with minimal rework of an existing formulation. By providing a common
product data structure, Optiva also allows for detailed information about a product to be
shared securely with others, both within and external to the enterprise. This can facili-
tate such actions as certification, labeling of product content, enhancing global product
‹Ã! ÇÃ6S8Ã6q‰v†‚…’ÃB…‚ˆƒÃ‡ÃÃ6yyvrqÃ9…v‰rÇÃ9rquh€ÃH6Ã!!%ÃVT6ÇÃ' # ÇÃ6S8rip‚€Ã
VT6ÇÃVFÇÃBr…€h’ÇÃEhƒhÃ‡ÃDqvhÃ

3. 6S8ÃD†vtu‡†ÃQhtrÃÃ
standards, and ensuring that new products, if possible, are designed to use raw materials
that are procured from approved suppliers.
While Optiva is like a CAD solution, Sequencia’s processPoint is similar to PDM solu-
tions used in discrete industries. As a PDM solution, processPoint focuses on
maintaining the structural integrity of the meta-data that describes a product, combined
with sophisticated workflow and collaboration tools to manage this product data
through numerous development stage gates with particular emphasis on the production
cycle. Within the meta-data structure, processPoint not only provides details as to a rec-
ipe’s raw materials, but also provides such important information as product marketing
T6Q·†ÃQGHÃWv†v‚ claims and specifications, formula calculations,
T6Q·†ÃSHà packaging information such as ingredients and
Tr„ˆrpvh·†Ã nutrition, and production procedures, which
A‚…€h‡v‚ÃT’†‡r€†· ƒ…‚pr††Q‚v‡
Pƒ‡v‰h
include material flow diagrams and equipment
Tˆƒƒ‚…‡Ã
constraints.
Hhv‡hv
9r†vtÃ
8’pyr
Sr‡v…r
It is within the production procedures that Se-
Z
R
quencia’s product is particularly strong.
O
)
K
Hhˆshp‡ˆ…r
Through the use of processPoint, a manufac-
V
D
turer can use the detailed production guidelines
Uv€r
9r†vt
within the PDM to optimize production based
on a wide range of parameters including as-
Q…‚qˆp‡v‚Ã8’pyr set/equipment availability, costs, etc.
processPoint allows the manufacturer to auto-
Pƒr…h‡v‚†Ã8’pyr
matically match this information with internal
capabilities or those of an outsourcing provider
to help production meet the product release tar-
Q…‚qˆp‡ÃGvsrp’pyrÃHhhtr€r‡
gets in the most efficient manner.
6FRSH RI 3URFHVV 3/0 6ROXWLRQV 7RGD
SAP developed its current solution in close col-
laboration with Nestle, releasing RM 1.0 (RM = Recipe Manager) in September. SAP has
arguably the broadest vision for the future of its PLM solution, extending across all three
cycles of design, production, and operations. By tying into its extensive suite of existing
application modules, SAP plans to extend its PLM solution to address these three cycles,
with a particularly strong feature being its ability to easily integrate with the financial
and resources capabilities of SAP’s ERP system. Such integration will provide much
tighter control of resource deployment and, subsequently, costs.
The current product, however, is rather modest in scope. Like Sequencia, SAP has struc-
tured RM 1.0 as a PDM solution, focusing on the meta-data that describes the various
‹Ã! ÇÃ6S8Ã6q‰v†‚…’ÃB…‚ˆƒÃ‡ÃÃ6yyvrqÃ9…v‰rÇÃ9rquh€ÃH6Ã!!%ÃVT6ÇÃ' # ÇÃ6S8rip‚€Ã
VT6ÇÃVFÇÃBr…€h’ÇÃEhƒhÃ‡ÃDqvhÃ

4. 6S8ÃD†vtu‡†ÃQhtrÃ#Ã
attributes of a product. RM 1.0 also contains numerous configurable workflow functions
that allow the user to establish a robust stage gate review process for new products.
Unlike processPoint, which extends its PDM capabilities into process instructions and
equipment requirements, RM 1.0 is limited to only addressing a product’s inputs (raw
materials) and outputs (final product and packaging requirements).
:KR 0LJKW $OVR -RLQ WKH 3DUW
ARC certainly expects other suppliers to begin offering their own versions of PLM solu-
tions for process industries in the near future. To some extent, Honeywell’s POMS
division, ProPack Data, and Siemens’ recently acquired Compex are all offering bits and
pieces of PLM functionality, but none of these companies have made an aggressive move
toward offering a solution that formally addresses PLM.
Other ERP suppliers are also expected to begin offering PLM solutions. For example,
Baan Process (formerly Marcam) may be able to leverage the efforts of another Invensys
group, c-Ark, which currently offers a PLM solution for the discrete industries, to create
a solution for the process industries. Supply chain suppliers such as Manugistics also
may be able to leverage their existing partnerships and toolsets to provide a process
PLM solution.
Another dark horse in this race (and one of my favorites), are the suppliers of real-time
optimization and modeling solutions. These suppliers have intimate knowledge of the
process industries and their manufacturing processes. They also have been expanding
their application footprint into many aspects of an enterprise’s operation. It would not
be a really significant stretch for them to combine these aspects with their strong soft-
ware development capabilities to create a PLM solution.
5(200(1'$7,216
• Early adopters of process PLM solutions are in the CPG and Food Beverage indus-
try sectors. Track their adoption and lessons learned to apply to your own PLM
strategy. Also, learn best practices from the discrete industries, which have been ad-
dressing PLM for several years now.
• This is a new area with less than a handful of suppliers, but expect many more in the
near future. Tread carefully and closely evaluate products before adopting. A sup-
plier’s vision may be well ahead of what it can deliver today.
For further information, contact your account manager or the author at jmoore@arcweb.com.
Recommended circulation: All EAS, MAS-H, and MAS-P clients.
‹Ã! ÇÃ6S8Ã6q‰v†‚…’ÃB…‚ˆƒÃ‡ÃÃ6yyvrqÃ9…v‰rÇÃ9rquh€ÃH6Ã!!%ÃVT6ÇÃ' # ÇÃ6S8rip‚€Ã
VT6ÇÃVFÇÃBr…€h’ÇÃEhƒhÃ‡ÃDqvhÃ