Picture for a moment two companies in the same industry, with the same CAD/CAM/CAE tools, and maybe even (at least figuratively) "across the street" from one another. At one company, tremendous business benefits (reduced time-to-market, innovative products... you name it) are achieved... at the other, substantial technology investments have failed time and again to deliver the promised results. Unfortunately, this image is indeed reality. What gives?!

Give high quality, modern technology tools to a company with good engineering talent and you'll have success... if, and only if, the implementation is driven by the right business metrics with the right goal-oriented mentality. Otherwise, the technology investment is certainly wasted. In this article, we'll provide information and insight on how you can assure your implementation success.

Case Histories of CAD/CAM/CAE Success

During the fall of 1996 SDRC conducted a very popular seminar tour entitled "Team for Success" at more than 40 cities in North America, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region. WAMware was honored and pleased to support SDRC in presenting this important message at a number of these sites. What was particularly special about this tour was the direct contribution by a number of SDRC customers to the content of this seminar, specifically sharing their experiences on derived business benefits and best process practices. We encourage you to contact your local SDRC office for further details and documentation from this important seminar.

The format of the seminar was to present, for each case history, the business objectives and process approach, followed by testimony on actual delivered business benefits on real-life production projects.

Some of the specific benefits, presented with permission from the respective companies, are summarized below:

The half-day seminar went into significant detail on each case history... suffice it to say that dramatic business benefits are indeed achievable from a good, results-oriented implementation of CAD/CAM/CAE !

Strategies for CAD/CAM/CAE Success

A common theme that underpins these documented success stories is the "reengineering of the product development process" with specific and tenacious focus on:

1. getting traditional 2D drawings off the critical path of product development, and in several cases eliminating drawings altogether
2. putting 3D solid models on the critical path as the unambiguous description of design, engineering, and manufacturing intent
3. deploying simulation-driven design where product concepts evolve to production designs in the spirit of "getting it right the first time"
4. concurrent team engineering where the entire design/engineering/manufacturing/management team works on the same configuration-controlled data across time and space

Financial Impact of a Good/Bad Implementation -- a Sample Case

OK, so that all sounds wonderful... but how can you make sure that yours is a good rather than a bad implementation? The first important step is to recognize that what's at stake here is not merely the investment $$$ spent on the hardware and software technology tools... but more importantly the opportunity costs. Engineering management is comfortable with "managing cost"... we need to change the focus to "managing opportunity"!

Let's work through an example. We'll start by assuming that Company XYZ runs its business with six productlines (say hairdryers, shavers, whatever), each productline competing in roughly the same size market (say $500M each) with similar market share and profitability. Next let's assume conservatively that, as witnessed by the Success Tour case histories, a successful CAD/CAM/CAE implementation can impact each productline business roughly as follows:

(Now, in fact, more than one of the success story companies said that it wouldn't even exist today were it not for the effective implementation of its new strategic CAD/CAM/CAE weapon! -- but that's a little hard to reflect quantitatively on a spreadsheet!)

So, such a modest impact on market share and profitability (2% each) can deliver $3.4M per year to the bottom line of each productline business. Now comes the punchline... but we forego these profits (opportunity costs) every time a new product development project begins with the old tools and process, rather than the new tools/process that can deliver these profits.

When you selected (or will select) your new generation CAD/CAM/CAE system you prepared an implementation plan documenting how soon the tools would be installed, the staff trained, and the new tools unleashed on new product development projects. For our hypothetical (but realistic) Company XYZ we 'll assume a given implementation rate in terms of when new projects can begin with the new tools and therefore when, say for a 12-18 month product lead time, the benefits (opportunity $$$) accrue to the company. From our simple spreadsheet we plot (below) the planned implementation as well as a worst case plan (just a couple quarters of "slip") and best case plan. The reasons for delay are many and varied... and seemingly unavoidable. But wait, it's our destiny we're plotting here! For Company XYZ the opportunity risk is the swing between the delta +$8M best case and the -$11M worst case, or $19M... five to ten times more than the technology investments that Company XYZ is making to install a couple hundred CAD/CAM/CAE seats!! That's why we must manage the "opportunity" much more than simply managing the "cost".

So the natural tendency (ugh?!) is to experience a delay in our implementation profile. But what happens if our competition beats us in this implementation race, by even a quarter or two... OK, we don't want to think about that! ... but we certainly should marshal our resources and perhaps buoy our investment to make darn sure that we meet or better our planned implementation.

Implementation Assurance

Now what if you could purchase some kind of "implementation assurance"?... i.e. a catalyst to help you meld your company's talent and design experience with your new investments in technology tools... and significantly improve the probability of meeting or bettering your implementation plan. Without being too commercial, that's exactly what WAMware can bring to the equation... experience with implementations of I-DEAS worldwide, focused value-added implementation services, and the chutzpah to help you drive to success.

As you would expect of a catalyst, we're not talking large doses of effort but instead just a little salt and pepper to help keep you focused on a successful implementation, the appropriate milestones, and most importantly the delivery of true business benefits. The chart below represents the distribution of investments for our Company XYZ example.

Summary

The "carrot" continues to be that CAD/CAM/CAE can indeed be your strategic weapon to deliver astounding business benefits. Cutting lead time in half isn't a pipe dream.

Most certainly you need to begin the journey (and implementation is an evolving journey, not a goal) with the right technology tools... tools that support the solids-based, simulation-driven, team engineering that is a prerequisite to success. Develop an achievable but aggressive implementation plan. Identify the business opportunities... after all, your journey is directionless without knowing specifically what business benefits you seek and how to measure your success and tweak the process. Consider using a catalyst to stir things up and assure your successful implementation. Set milestones for your implementation... and PUSH step after step after step! Dramatically improving your product development process isn't some academic game... the success and even continued existence of your company most likely depends on you making it happen... before your competition does!