There have been industry-wide discussions throughout 2023 on the theme of creating a recognised Profession for PLM.
Amongst the ideas for "how to make it happen" there is a proposal that a number of PLM Centres of Excellence should be
established that would capture and formalise the advanced knowledge that future professionals will need.
It would also bring together the leading players in the industry in the kind of neutral and collaborative framework that
has been missing since the inception of PLM at the turn of the century.
How It Might Work
The first proposal is for a PLM Centre of Excellence in India. India has a pent-up need for improved knowledge and
expertise in PLM, with clear and visible best practices that everyone can see and follow. India also has the
industrial base to build on. India has a huge manufacturing infrastructure with its corresponding base of PLM usage.
Many organisations have R&D in India, and its technical resources are well-known.
The programme to establish a PLM Centre of Excellence in India would crystallise a body of knowledge that everyone can use.
It would be relevant to the needs of manufacturing, and structured with a cultural and language flavour that makes it easy for Indian
users and providers to work with. This new body of knowledge would become the basis of PLM orientation in India,
and would be ahead of anything that currently exists anywhere in the world.
The logic applies equally well to any country that is currently outside the "PLM mainstream" - and in fact there could be a Centre of Excellence
in each of them. And naturally, there should be Centres of Excellence in the USA and Europe. These would drive
value in a similar way, focused on their particular locations.
Once established, the various Centres of Excellence around the world, all attuned to their home country or region, would
be able to work with each other to define global standards of best practice. It is easy to imagine the transformation
of PLM that this would generate - and its consequent effect on global manufacturing performance.
This will require some serious collaboration between organisations that value PLM and that want to improve it
for the future.
