044: Synergizing the Future of PLM

Mar 18, 2020

 Digital Enterprise Society is the authority on the transformation to a digital enterprise, impacting all areas of an organization. Tune in for discussions among industry leaders about operations and action needed to drive digitization principles forward for the future of product development and life cycles. 

 

In today’s episode, Thom Singer and Craig Brown welcome Altair Kaminski, the PLM administrator in the space sector at Northrop Grumman.  Altair has joined the podcast to share her perspective on the possibility of integrating the big three silos of PLM, PRP, and MES into companies of any size, and details some of the current challenges that the Aerospace Working Group is working to overcome as the digital enterprise moves forward.  Most importantly, Altair shares her perspective on the importance of both mentoring and networking within any industry. If you want to gain a better understanding of the hard work and rewards that take place within the best subgroups of the Digital Enterprise Society, this episode is for you.

 

On today’s podcast, you will learn:

 

The future of the Big Three

• Potential synergies between PLM, PRP, and MES may be a possibility in the future
• Because each tool plays a specific role, it would be difficult for one software program to support all three within one tool set
• Overlap between systems has the potential to complicate integration
• The user experience within each of these domains is significantly different 

 

The work of the Aerospace Working Group

• A brief history that brought three major aerospace companies together to minimize overlap and maximize efficiency.
• Combining interest and awareness increases opportunities for all companies.
• Additional subgroups have been created to tackle current challenges, including
• • Increased understanding of implementation of model-based systems engineering. 
  • Seeking a better industry definition of MBSE
  • Integration of tool sets and reusing digital information to include the digital thread and digital twin
  • Options to best involve suppliers in the reuse of data
  • Migrating and eliminating the excessive legacy data that comes with aerospace and defense companies
  • Engaging software vendors in offering assistance with upgrades so that companies can take advantage of the latest and greatest features
  • Handling continuous release of software updates 
  • While PLM is getting too large to manage as a single group, subgroups can now offer specific feedback to various pieces of the toolset

 

Mentoring and networking advice 

• The evolution of the Digital Enterprise Society and its benefit for companies of any size and employees of any experience level
• Experienced employees need to be willing to mentor those who ask
• Providing good mentors can protect against poaching of a company’s best employees.
• There is incredible value in getting involved and helping large companies like Siemens understand how heavily we rely on them to communicate with each other, suppliers, and customers. 

 

Correction- at [23:00] the guest incorrectly stated that what was previously PLM World is now Realize Live.  Rather, in 2019 Siemens took ownership of the Siemens PLM Connections - Americas annual conference previously hosted by the  independent users group PLM World. Digital Enterprise Society was founded by a PLM World transitional Board of Directors. Learn more at https://www.digitalenterprisesociety.org/page/plmworld. 

 

Continue the conversation with us within the Digital Enterprise Society Community at www.DigitalEnterpriseSociety.org.

 

Looking for Mentorship? Visit https://www.digitalenterprisesociety.org/page/career

 

Guest Bio:  

 

Altair Kaminski is a senior business process analyst and PLM administrator in the space sector at Northrop Grumman.  After attending Westminster College in Utah she worked for ATK as a process engineer with a focus on composites layup, then moved to L3 Communications where she worked for five years as a process engineer.  While there Altair began working on Big Bang, the process of transferring the company’s legacy systems into the Big Three — the PLM, ERP, and MES systems. Following this project Altair was the manager of the PLM team.  It was while there that she was asked to lead the same implementation project at Orbital ATK, where she works today.