In addition to PLM solutions, there are many other systems that are needed to manage your business processes such as manufacturing, finances, operations, sales, and marketing. PLM integration tends to manage businesses effectively and efficiently. This is where XEngine rises to the occasion to save the day.
PLM and Other Enterprise Systems
With ERP, you can easily manage your financial and operational processes. Many customers build MRP into their ERP. This is where you need PLM-related data such as parts, BOMs, and related suppliers and vendors for those parts. Moreover, when you approve ECO in PLM, either to release a new part or to update a design document, you may need to sync this ECO with your ERP to reflect this change in MRP. Similarly, if you update the part cost in ERP, you may need to bring the updated cost into PLM. The reasoning for this is that many customers need this information in PLM for cost management. This necessitates PLM integration.
CRM Integration with PLM
On the other hand, you can manage all interactions with customers via CRM. All quality events which originate from customers are recorded in CRM. Also, this is where customers can submit their product requests and change requests. Many companies implement their design win process in CRM as well. If your product is being used in the field, whenever there is a failure, you will be capturing support cases within CRM. Additionally, you can record all the supporting information such as attachments and affected items in CRM. Subsequently, with PLM integration, this information will be fed into PLM for further investigation and root cause analysis. Once you complete the analysis, you will need to update the case status and resolution details back into CRM. PLM system integration will assist you here.
CAD Tool Integration
Folks within the product design and engineering community spend most of their time working with CAD tools. This is where most of the collaboration around design activity takes place and need arises for PLM integration. These CAD tools have part lists & attributes along with engineering BOMs. This information has to be brought into PLM for change control and further integration with other systems.
There may be a whole range of other business applications which need product data and PLM integration. Business Intelligence and analytical apps are just one example. Additionally, you may have legacy PLM systems that need to be retained until all processes are fully migrated. Supplier and Customer Portals also need PLM-related information. In addition, with the medical device and life sciences industries, you may have integrations with the FDA for regulatory reporting. Moreover, we see that there is a lot of overlap between PLM and these systems and there is a definite need for integrating product data between PLM, ERPs, and CRMs. PLM integration is meant to facilitate all this.
Benefits of integrating PLM with ERP/CRM Integration
Enhanced Value
If you have an efficient and reliable integration solution in place, it can add a lot of value to your business. PLM integration helps with a lot of processes. Product profitability may go up due to the elimination of errors and waste within the product development process. The manufacturing process will also be efficient when sharing updated docs with suppliers and vendors. Also, you may also quickly respond to market demand by ramping up volume production by coordinating with your partners across the entire supply chain.
Enhanced Customer Experience
For CRM, a key objective would be to have a great customer experience. If your CRM does not have all of the required information available, e.g. product list, you may have to look up that information from multiple systems or worst case, you may have to hang up a customer call before you can find all of the relevant details. Eventually, this will degrade the customer experience and will increase your case resolution cycle time. While having all relevant information available in CRM, it can greatly improve the customer experience as well as improve your case resolution cycle time.
Together CRM PLM are extraordinary. You can also reduce the cost due to the elimination of the inefficiencies of the entire process. Moreover, you may also improve your product quality by feeding customer input directly into PLM and the product design process. For such reasons businesses require PLM integrator. And this is when we will introduce XEngine. PLM integrated system tend to pose fewer problems. Multiple PLM systems and ERP can together make a difference.
Additional benefits
Integrating PLM and ERP systems offers numerous benefits. Enhanced communication between departments reduces errors and delays. Streamlined processes and task automation boost efficiency, optimizing resource utilization. Integrated systems also provide superior data management, facilitating informed decision-making. In sum, this integration revolutionizes product development, empowering businesses to maintain a competitive edge in the market.
xEngine – Integration Solution By Xavor
Xavor has been offering integrated solutions and PLM integration for almost 15 years to a wide range of industries. Now, based on that experience, we have built an integration solution, called xEngine. Our xEngine Solution is lightweight, highly configurable, and specifically designed to work with Agile PLM. It is a great PLM integrator.
You can use xEngine to sync parts, documents, and BOMs, from your PLM system with EBS, SAP, or any other system. PLM CRM integration will offer you immense capabilities. It has a bi-directional synchronization capability. This means that you can sync parts from PLM with EBS as well as sync cost information from EBS back to PLM.
FAQs
1. What is PLM integration, and why is it important?
PLM integration involves connecting product lifecycle management systems with other enterprise systems like ERP and CRM. It’s crucial for streamlining processes, enhancing communication, and improving efficiency across departments.
2. How does PLM integration benefit businesses?
PLM integration reduces errors and delays, optimizes resource utilization, and facilitates better decision-making through superior data management. Ultimately, it revolutionizes product development and helps businesses stay competitive.
3. What challenges does PLM integration solve?
PLM integration addresses issues like manual data entry errors, disjointed communication between departments, and inefficient use of resources. It streamlines processes and ensures seamless information flow across systems.
4. What role does xEngine play in PLM integration?
xEngine, developed by Xavor, is a lightweight and highly configurable integration solution designed specifically for Agile PLM. It facilitates bi-directional synchronization of parts, documents, and BOMs between PLM systems and other platforms like EBS and SAP.
5. How does PLM integration improve customer experience?
PLM integration ensures that relevant product information is readily available in CRM systems, leading to quicker resolution of customer inquiries and enhancing overall customer experience. It reduces the need to access multiple systems for data retrieval.
6. Why should businesses consider implementing PLM integration?
Implementing PLM integration leads to increased efficiency, reduced costs, improved product quality, and better responsiveness to market demands. It aligns processes across departments and empowers organizations to adapt swiftly to changing business environments.