Prof. Kaushik Sahu's Weblog: 2015

[Please write to kaushiksahu@gmail.com in case you find factual errors in this blog post]

When I ventured out to participate in the 5^th International Conference on PLMSS (15-17 Dec 2015) jointly organized by ASL-DRDO and BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus, my sole purpose was to scope out the prospects for PLM – particularly for building collaborative capabilities for developing PLM-proficient manpower in the education sector of the country. Though our paper was sharing experience related to “the challenge of teaching PLM to management students” the purpose of the interaction was to reaffirm myself about the potential locked in PLM for students cutting across various disciplines (be it engineering, management, science and other disciplines supporting various life cycle issues).

Today I stand vindicated of having mooted the idea of starting a Center for Product Lifecycle Engineering and Management back in 2005 with active involvement of the IT industry in a startup like KIIT University. The implementation hurdles that we have gone through enabled me to share my views for the larger development of PLM capabilities in other establishments of the country to strengthen the Make in India initiatives.

Here are some aspects of the conference with few suggestions to address the concerns shown in red:

The inaugural session of the conference (evening of 15 Dec 15) was held at the BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus with the PLMSS trustees and the DRDO Director Generals [Dr. Satish Kumar, DS, DG (MSS) & Dr. K. Tamilmani, DS, DG (Aero)] sharing their views about “prioritizing the use of PLM” for supporting various ministry of defense (MoD) projects with the intention of giving a fillip to the Make in India campaign unleashed by the Govt. of India. The opening remarks were made along with a cautionary note that “the success of Make in India was dependent entirely on proper PLM implementation”. On behalf of the patrons from the Ministry of Defense, the Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantralaya, Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, highlighted the “challenge of penetrating the organization to accept PLM”. This concern from the SA to RM reminded me of my research associations with the design automation group during the early 1990s at UMASS, Amherst. The following slide highlights similar concerns that we are still grappling with even after 20 years of our liberalized economy:

The slide below shows the work of Professor John R. Dixon in an article titled “The Neglect of Engineering Design” from the California Management Review (1990). Note the “PLM prospective” – something to happen in the future. The future is here and we have to find ways of dissolving compartmentalized boundaries if we need to exploit all the opportunities shown in the green boxes below.

The ITEC Secretary to Govt of Telangana (Mr. Jayesh Ranjan) shared the developments in their state with reference to the Telengana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) – with special reference to the Technology Hub (T-Hub) for encouraging startups and incubator cells. Dr. Tessy Thomas, Director, ASL-DRDO and Prof. V.S.Rao, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani extended a warm welcome and their organizing committee members provided good hospitality to all the guests and delegates.

The Technical Sessions on 16 Dec 2015 (Wed) started with one very interesting Plenary Talk titled “Aviation Industry and Digital Revolution” by Dr. Kota Harinarayana, ADA, Bangalore. Popularly known as the “Father of India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Programme”, Dr. Harinarayana touched us with his humility and kind words. As conference delegates having roots in Brahmapur (Odisha) we were indeed humbled to see Dr. Kota Harinarayana’s profile reminding us once again of “our roots” (a philosophy that also has significance in our paper that was to be presented later). His talk focused on the shift in markets from complex engineered systems to cyber physical systems (CPS) and cyber physical production systems (CPPS) guided by systems thinking. While touching upon various emerging areas in aviation industry, his talk covered topics related to model-based systems engineering and integrated vehicle health management (IVHM) aiming for lower civil aircraft lifecycle cost (through improved methods of design, such as, design for maintainability). He emphasized the need for the development teams to work closely with the academic community through an Augmented Engineering Environment (comprising of experts with greater understanding of larger systems working closely with skilled-apprentices with good understanding of the tools). Sharing his experience with the PLM initiatives of DRDO and ADA, his final words to the delegates from DRDO: “Go for digital PLM now – or be left behind…”

Subsequent interactions (on 16 & 17 Dec 2015): Prof. P. L. Narasimhan (TVS Motor Chair Professor, Dept. of Industrial Engineering and Systems Engineering, IIT Kharagpur) talking on “Innovation & Execution – A Roadmap for Development” highlighted the significance of product and process innovations along with innovations in various business models. His messages: “manufacturing organizations need to be managed like a symphony – or else there will be noise”….go to the shop-floor and “let the machine/man speak to you – not the other way round”. If I may interpret his words – he was emphasizing the importance of “Gemba kaizen" – i.e., going to the workplace for continuous improvement.

Professor Kiritsis Dimitris, EPFL, Switzerland delivered a talk on “Enabling Technologies for Closed Loop Lifecycle Management of Intelligent Products and Assets”. His talk on smart and intelligent products as a part of his research on ICT for Sustainable Manufacturing holds significance for the future of India. What needs to be sustained in manufacturing? – Performance, Quality, Safety, Natural Resources, Environment, Human Capital and Education, Innovation and, of course “Lifecycle Thinking” (Beginning-of-Life Concerns, Middle-of-Life Concerns & End-of-Life Concerns). His poser with regard to smart products “What if a product would tell us what to do with itself?” (Say, for instance, more intelligence in a modern car) - Elements of intelligence of products: Sensing (sensors), Memory (memory chips), Logic (micro-processors + software), Identity (bar codes, RFIDs etc), Communication (Bluetooth, WiFi, IoT, IIoT etc..). He highlighted the importance of product embedded information devices (PEID) as Cyber Physical System enablers where PLM agents interact with DFX agents to support sustainable manufacturing. Here is one useful link shared by him for those interested to get involved in IoT: Published by “The Open Group” (16 Oct 2014).

The panel discussion on 17 Dec 2015 titled “Relevance of PLM for Make in India Program” was moderated by Prof. B. Gurumoorthy, IISc Banagalore. The discussion revolved around how to make it happen in India by also making PLM relevant for the MSMEs. Mr. K.R.A Nair, formerly with LUCAS TVS, shared his experience in demolishing silos to form co-located teams. According to him, Indian industry is still seeing PLM as a data management system – not a knowledge management system. It is still largely engineering-centric and top management support is missing. He emphasized the importance of DFX (which should be enabled) and that Make in India includes Product Development & Innovation. Prof. Karunakaran, IIT Mumbai, shared some of his views on the way ahead while classifying PLM under Geometric Data Driven systems (unlike the Alphanumeric Data Driven Systems). Professor Dimitris pointed out the fact that PLM should be seen as a business approach and that the main challenge in PLM implementation lies in overcoming the cultural aspects while forming collaborative capabilities. The MD Siemens suggested breaking the status quo and developing an appetite for taking risks to create a promising future. He highlighted the need for handling greater challenges at the disciplinary boundaries. However, he upheld the view that the PLM vendors should be told clearly about the user requirements in the first place. This view is quite contrary with reference to the recommendations in our paper where it is expected that the vendors should be partnering with the educational institutes and other users in ensuring successful implementation. It may be noted here that it is important to go beyond the stated needs of the users. This approach would address another of the key concerns raised by participants in this session: How to involve the academic community in such programs?

The Plenary Talk3: 3-D Printing by Prof. K. P. Karunakaran, IIT Mumbai, reminds me of my earlier blog post titled "Designing Makers" (Monday, November 12, 2012). The Plenary Talk4: PLM as Knowledge Management Tool at the Fuzzy Front End of the New Product Development” by Mr. K.R.A Nair, formerly with LUCAS TVS highlighted the importance of PLM during the early concept development stages by involving lead users [Note: if I may add, using a lot of empathy to understand the latent needs of the user including the "extreme users" wherever possible. The use of Design Thinking starts early. A point I was trying to make earlier with regard to the paper titled "Weapon Systems Development Model for Requirements Management Practices in High Technology Defence R&D Projects" by Soumen K. Roy, A.K.Sarkar and Biswajit Mahanty].

Though highlighting the discussions of all technical papers presented in this conference is beyond the scope of this blog post, it is important to highlight one important concern expressed by the scientists/delegates representing the different departments of DRDO and MoD. Their key concern: The need for clarity with regard to the PLM policies as driven from the top and the time it will it take to implement PLM solutions (apart from the typical resistance to any automation related change initiative undertaken in any organization).

The above concern can be addressed more effectively if “design thinking” along with systems thinking is used for implementing PLM@DRDO. While speakers and delegates were addressing the use of systems thinking in the projects, the scope of design thinking was not properly addressed. While the details are presented in our paper and the presentation material available with the organizers, I take the help of the following few slides to explain the roots philosophy to energize the “Make in India” program supported by “PLM initiatives governed by design thinking”.

To realize the benefits of competitiveness, Indian companies need to improve domestic performance. It is necessary for these firms to go global by meeting local challenges. Hence, they have to be strongly rooted in the wants and needs of the customers. Most of the answers to the challenges in manufacturing competitiveness can be traced back to design.

Based on our experience in teaching PLM to management students, we present PLM in support of improving domestic performance (as shown in the figure below):

Now PLM, as an approach, is introduced in our paper with the help of an example related to curriculum design in nursing education – i.e., it goes beyond product development (as shown in following figure):

Simultaneously, we also emphasize the importance of design thinking in supporting the design of effective strategies - an approach that can be used by DRDO in implementing PLM more effectively. Figure below shows an example from SAP. Note the first step in the process – “empathy” (it helps everyone in the firm to collectively understand the need for implementing PLM). See this blog post for the details: Design Thinking @SAP – Lessons for India (12 June 12)

By superimposing the above figures we can see how PLM can be governed by design thinking (as shown in the figure below).

Our paper shows the opportunities that are available in teaching PLM to both management and engineering students. The following figures are based on our experience in teaching PLM to management students. The figures show how PLM is related to the foundational components of OM and the courses that are offered. :

PLM is relevant for the Make in India Program. It is important to create distributed collaborative capabilities through active public-private partnerships. PLM Vendors & VARs need to partner with academic communities. The KIIT-DS PLM Case Study shows one model of industry-institute participation and the figure below shows what actually happened:

By answering the above question we can create shared opportunities for all stakeholders interested in making PLM relevant for the Indian industry. The proposed model above is still relevant across the country. Industry sponsored projects around PLM centers of educational institutes are the need of the hour. PLM vendors and VARs need to join hands with Universities/Institutes in developing the PLM competencies while supporting the PLM drive of the Indian industry in general and establishments under Ministry of Defence or the Aviation industry in particular. University-University partnerships are as important as University-Industry collaborations in supporting the Make in India campaign. There are various ways of creating the “jobs” if we aim to exploit the opportunities shown in the slide below (of course, we need to make a collective effort to start with “empathy” - the very first step in Design Thinking):