Improving utility product development process

Client Challenge: A global energy and utility leader wanted to revise the legacy PLM systems into a simplified next-generation PLM solution with modern tools and applications to increase business process efficiency and maximise cost optimisation.

Solution: The organisation partnered with Capgemini to implement a next-generation PLM landscape that was based on ENOVIA technology and introduced an integrated platform to manage product development data across all teams and regions and decreased time to market for new products.

Benefits:

• Reduced cost of ownership
• Increased efficiency of product development processes
• Faster time to market for new products
• Reduced process complexity
• Enhanced real-time collaboration between dispersed teams

Maximising production efficiencies

As digital technology continues to accelerate business innovation and development, managing global organisations has become a more challenging prospect that demands rapid evolution. A global energy industry leader realised that it would need to upgrade its approach to product development data management and identified a key opportunity to enhance its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) landscape.

The organisation had a legacy ENOVIA-based PLM landscape with different teams in different regions using disparate tools and processes for handling PLM data that resulted in increased cost of ownership and data inconsistencies. This had also led to several design iterations, weak traceability and controllability, incorrect Bill of Materials (BOM) management that led to production errors, cost escalations, and increased time to market.

By replacing its legacy technology with a next-generation PLM solution, the business wanted to develop a unified approach to manage the entirety of its product development data and make it instantaneously accessible in real-time to all the stakeholders. Considering the breadth and scope of the project, the organisation knew that it would require substantial expertise in PLM processes and applications as well as critical experience within the energy industry to realise its vision and decided to partner with Capgemini.

An integrated PLM vision

Capgemini’s team of PLM experts began reviewing the existing tools and processes to develop a transformation roadmap and develop a blueprint for an agile and responsive PLM solution. The solution would need to integrate the organisation’s engineering and production data into the digital thread, ensuring that the company could make more informed business decisions.

With this plan in place, the organisation and Capgemini designed and implemented a unified PLM landscape on the latest 3DEXPERIENCE ENOVIA platform. This involved an iterative execution approach to ensure discrete requirement analysis followed by design, development, data migration, and testing. In addition, the development team successfully implemented updated BOM management, carried out change management, and introduced a new governance model.

Along with the new PLM landscape, Capgemini also introduced Variant Configuration Central, which enabled product engineers to create different product configurations by selecting appropriate options and features from the library to meet client needs. The new PLM landscape facilitated seamless integration with multiple ERP systems, CATIA, and NX for different geographical regions.

Adapting to modern product development challenges

With its new PLM solution, the business has become substantially more capable of developing and rolling out new products at high speed by reducing the New Product Introduction (NPI) cycle time by 20-40%. The company has also optimised business processes and aligned closely with OOTB ENOVIA to reduce the customisations associated with project.

In a business world that is increasingly focused on innovation speed to retain customers and remain competitive, the organisation’s work with Capgemini has enhanced the pace and effectiveness of its product development. With a modern PLM solution, the company can now focus on developing products that fits its customers’ needs and interests without worrying about delays or a lack of visibility.