ZSL Wishes you All for a Happy & Prosperous New Year 2010!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
ZSL's Cloud Computing Competency helping ISVs and Solution Providers
Click here to check out the video interview coverage of ZSL on Cloud Computing that appeared in Financial Chronicle
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Cloud computing not solution to all problems
India, December 13, 2009 – Software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud computing models may be the most promising development. However, not all applications in a business environment may need these evolving technologies. Adopting SaaS and cloud models without proper business assessment may, in reality, turn out to be detrimental, according to industry players.
Cloud computing refers to web-based access of applications. Cloud computing is an attractive computing option because it highly reduces capital expenditure on software, says Sreenidhi Sharma, chief executive officer of CSS. “Maintenance and scaling up are on-demand and hence easier. This helps in the present conditions when managing costs and optimising operational expenditure are among the top priorities of companies,” he adds.
“For example, e-commerce sites may have sales spikes during specific seasons and they may benefit from running related applications on a cloud environment. Otherwise, they will end up adding software and hardware that will remain idle during non-peak times,” says Shiv Kumar, executive VP, Zylog Systems.
Despite the advantages, lack of interoperability is the biggest difficulty in the services model. SaaS and cloud vendors offer the flexibility to terminate services and safely return data if customers are dissatisfied. However, users’ business will still get affected due to unsmooth transactions.
He added that new technological platforms must lead to low cost solutions for real world problems.
According to Ajay Verma, director of sales, channels and alliances, Symantec India, cloud and SaaS are not the solutions to all IT problems. Customers may want to have in-house systems for reasons including security. “The pricing model can be compared to paying EMIs. You may end up paying more if there is no clarity on what should go on cloud and SaaS,” he says.
To view the article online at Financial Chronicle, visit the URL:
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/it/cloud-computing-not-solution-all-it-problems-748
Cloud computing refers to web-based access of applications. Cloud computing is an attractive computing option because it highly reduces capital expenditure on software, says Sreenidhi Sharma, chief executive officer of CSS. “Maintenance and scaling up are on-demand and hence easier. This helps in the present conditions when managing costs and optimising operational expenditure are among the top priorities of companies,” he adds.
“For example, e-commerce sites may have sales spikes during specific seasons and they may benefit from running related applications on a cloud environment. Otherwise, they will end up adding software and hardware that will remain idle during non-peak times,” says Shiv Kumar, executive VP, Zylog Systems.
Despite the advantages, lack of interoperability is the biggest difficulty in the services model. SaaS and cloud vendors offer the flexibility to terminate services and safely return data if customers are dissatisfied. However, users’ business will still get affected due to unsmooth transactions.
He added that new technological platforms must lead to low cost solutions for real world problems.
According to Ajay Verma, director of sales, channels and alliances, Symantec India, cloud and SaaS are not the solutions to all IT problems. Customers may want to have in-house systems for reasons including security. “The pricing model can be compared to paying EMIs. You may end up paying more if there is no clarity on what should go on cloud and SaaS,” he says.
To view the article online at Financial Chronicle, visit the URL:
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/it/cloud-computing-not-solution-all-it-problems-748
Cloud computing benefits start-up companies
Chennai, India, December 10, 2009 – Cloud computing has created new opportunities in the field of optimisation and provides significant advantages for start-up companies, said J. ShivKumar, Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Zylog Systems.
“Organisations no longer have to invest in costly infrastructure upfront. Controlling and managing centralised database servers are expensive. In case of cloud computing applications, the operation is dynamically scalable; which means companies can buy space online for storing data instead of investing in physical infrastructure,” he said.
According to him, since all data rest in the ‘cloud’, it is easier to manage operational requirements and additional server space can be bought keeping the growth of the company in mind.
He was addressing the inaugural session of a three-day international conference on Global Computing and Communications (ICOGCAC ’09) organised by the Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science here on Wednesday.
“Consolidating server requirements by keeping the data, generated by a wide set of people, in the cloud also reduces the carbon footprint. Green computing will be the future,” said Mr. Shivkumar.
He added that new technological platforms must lead to low cost solutions for real world problems.
“A logical offset of cloud computing is using the mobile phone as a computing device. Unlike personal computers (PCs) mobile phones are owned by a large segment of the population and accessing cloud applications from a mobile platform can transform their lives. The ‘cloud’ also has an enormous role to play in fields such as telemedicine.” The conference will feature technical sessions, panel discussions and doctoral symposiums. Some of the sessions which will be held over the next couple of days include high performance embedded systems, data modelling and storage facility for cloud computing.
Stressing that established paradigms of computing has to change, R. Jai Shankar, Director (Sales), Acer India, said that every user can soon look forward to using a ‘personal supercomputer’. “Computing power is growing at a fast rate and new technologies such as Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) are emerging using which more processing cores can be used.”
Omar A. AlHeyasat, AlBalqa Applied University, Jordan, said as communication played a vital role in every domain today, integration and collaboration meant that the power of Internet has to be fully utilised in the new flat world economic order.
A copy of the conference proceedings was released by Koczara Wlodzimierz, Head, Institute of Control and Electronics, Warsaw University, Poland. Elizabeth Verghese, Chancellor of Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science and K.Sarukesi, Vice-Chancellor, spoke.
To view the article online at The Hindu, visit the URL:
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/10/stories/2009121057800200.htm
“Organisations no longer have to invest in costly infrastructure upfront. Controlling and managing centralised database servers are expensive. In case of cloud computing applications, the operation is dynamically scalable; which means companies can buy space online for storing data instead of investing in physical infrastructure,” he said.
According to him, since all data rest in the ‘cloud’, it is easier to manage operational requirements and additional server space can be bought keeping the growth of the company in mind.
He was addressing the inaugural session of a three-day international conference on Global Computing and Communications (ICOGCAC ’09) organised by the Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science here on Wednesday.
“Consolidating server requirements by keeping the data, generated by a wide set of people, in the cloud also reduces the carbon footprint. Green computing will be the future,” said Mr. Shivkumar.
He added that new technological platforms must lead to low cost solutions for real world problems.
“A logical offset of cloud computing is using the mobile phone as a computing device. Unlike personal computers (PCs) mobile phones are owned by a large segment of the population and accessing cloud applications from a mobile platform can transform their lives. The ‘cloud’ also has an enormous role to play in fields such as telemedicine.” The conference will feature technical sessions, panel discussions and doctoral symposiums. Some of the sessions which will be held over the next couple of days include high performance embedded systems, data modelling and storage facility for cloud computing.
Stressing that established paradigms of computing has to change, R. Jai Shankar, Director (Sales), Acer India, said that every user can soon look forward to using a ‘personal supercomputer’. “Computing power is growing at a fast rate and new technologies such as Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) are emerging using which more processing cores can be used.”
Omar A. AlHeyasat, AlBalqa Applied University, Jordan, said as communication played a vital role in every domain today, integration and collaboration meant that the power of Internet has to be fully utilised in the new flat world economic order.
A copy of the conference proceedings was released by Koczara Wlodzimierz, Head, Institute of Control and Electronics, Warsaw University, Poland. Elizabeth Verghese, Chancellor of Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science and K.Sarukesi, Vice-Chancellor, spoke.
To view the article online at The Hindu, visit the URL:
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/10/stories/2009121057800200.htm
SMB Security Partners See Growth in 2010
New York, Dec. 02, 2009 – Despite the global economic recession that financially wounded or obliterated many small businesses, security vendors and VARs that serve the SMB segment see growth opportunities and are poised for an economic comeback in 2010.
During Everything Channel's SMBs: Ready For The Rebound virtual trade show Wednesday, a panel of security vendors and solution providers discussed everything from security best practices, to growth opportunities, to the future of cloud-based services in the smaller markets. Mr. Shiv Kumar, EVP, ZSL is one among the panel of solution providers who participated in the discussion.
During the panel, titled, "Securing the SMB," solution providers said that threats would increase in 2010, warning that new technologies such as cloud-based and Web 2.0 applications would continue to pave the way for larger malware attacks in the SMB space over the next 12 months.
"In the SMB there is no less of a requirement to be secure than an enterprise. They shouldn't have a lesser security posture," said Rick Basile, senior director of technical services at Fortinet.
Solution providers and vendors alike also warned that it would become increasingly important to ensure data is protected as more SMBs rely on remote or traveling workers using mobile devices such as BlackBerries and laptops.
"The security demands are going to become even more stringent. The perimeter has virtually disappeared. It's moving out into the cloud," said Gary Mullen, Kasperksy Lab's senior director of field marketing. "The security holes are opening up in that environment and growing infinitely."
In light of a possible uptick in the economy in 2010, both solution providers and vendors saw a range of growth in SMB markets that would increasingly require security products and services. Among the best places to invest were financial companies, as well as retail, education and the health-care industry, which have all readily adopted security products to comply with regulatory mandates and further protect users, panelists said.
Looking forward, some solution providers on the panel maintained that channel strategies might change slightly to stay competitive in a challenging economy. While one solution provider said he was hoping to consolidate his vendor line card, another said that he preferred to be the "trusted adviser" that could recommend comprehensive solutions as opposed to a single vendor.
"We've taken the approach of having a couple of different vendors in each area and then built the best solution for [the customer]," said Matt Hegarty, infrastructure practice director at New York-based Net@Work.
But solution providers and vendors on the panel agreed that customers would increasingly demand SaaS and cloud solutions in 2010 as they continued to cut costs and slash budgets.
However, solution providers maintained that some of the biggest impediments to widespread adoption of cloud-based services were issues around the security of the data being stored. Consequently, many SMB organizations will still be cautious about adopting cloud-based offerings designed to protect critical data, solution providers said.
"What you're seeing is not that they're jumping right into the cloud. They're trying to figure out whether it makes sense for them," said Shiv Kumar, executive vice president of New Jersey-based ZSL. "We're seeing more of a hybrid situation in the coming year. That creates its own challenges to maintain both the internal and external cloud."
During Everything Channel's SMBs: Ready For The Rebound virtual trade show Wednesday, a panel of security vendors and solution providers discussed everything from security best practices, to growth opportunities, to the future of cloud-based services in the smaller markets. Mr. Shiv Kumar, EVP, ZSL is one among the panel of solution providers who participated in the discussion.
During the panel, titled, "Securing the SMB," solution providers said that threats would increase in 2010, warning that new technologies such as cloud-based and Web 2.0 applications would continue to pave the way for larger malware attacks in the SMB space over the next 12 months.
"In the SMB there is no less of a requirement to be secure than an enterprise. They shouldn't have a lesser security posture," said Rick Basile, senior director of technical services at Fortinet.
Solution providers and vendors alike also warned that it would become increasingly important to ensure data is protected as more SMBs rely on remote or traveling workers using mobile devices such as BlackBerries and laptops.
"The security demands are going to become even more stringent. The perimeter has virtually disappeared. It's moving out into the cloud," said Gary Mullen, Kasperksy Lab's senior director of field marketing. "The security holes are opening up in that environment and growing infinitely."
In light of a possible uptick in the economy in 2010, both solution providers and vendors saw a range of growth in SMB markets that would increasingly require security products and services. Among the best places to invest were financial companies, as well as retail, education and the health-care industry, which have all readily adopted security products to comply with regulatory mandates and further protect users, panelists said.
Looking forward, some solution providers on the panel maintained that channel strategies might change slightly to stay competitive in a challenging economy. While one solution provider said he was hoping to consolidate his vendor line card, another said that he preferred to be the "trusted adviser" that could recommend comprehensive solutions as opposed to a single vendor.
"We've taken the approach of having a couple of different vendors in each area and then built the best solution for [the customer]," said Matt Hegarty, infrastructure practice director at New York-based Net@Work.
But solution providers and vendors on the panel agreed that customers would increasingly demand SaaS and cloud solutions in 2010 as they continued to cut costs and slash budgets.
However, solution providers maintained that some of the biggest impediments to widespread adoption of cloud-based services were issues around the security of the data being stored. Consequently, many SMB organizations will still be cautious about adopting cloud-based offerings designed to protect critical data, solution providers said.
"What you're seeing is not that they're jumping right into the cloud. They're trying to figure out whether it makes sense for them," said Shiv Kumar, executive vice president of New Jersey-based ZSL. "We're seeing more of a hybrid situation in the coming year. That creates its own challenges to maintain both the internal and external cloud."
ZSL in Press: Taking a Holistic Approach - Excerpts from Machinist Magazin
India, December 05, 2009 – In today’s manufacturing scenario, PLM has become a prerequisite for success. Saikat Nandi discusses the adoption of this solution.
Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a recent concept that has taken the manufacturing world by storm. PLM represents all the activities that are required to manage the design, production, support and the ultimate dispersal of manufactured goods.
PLM helps organisations integrate the product information obtained from the design and engineering functions with allied activities such as sourcing,compliance, suppliers, sales, marketing, customers, supply chains and reverse logistics. In order to hasten product development and time to market, ensure quality, reduce recalls, ensure eco-friendliness, and mitigate regulatory risks more effectively. PLM gives manufacturers the tools and processes to enable collaborative engineering, customised product development and project management among multiple business partners.
The functions and features of PLM applications have gradually expanded beyond the traditional areas of CAD, CAM and CAE to cover other aspects of the product lifecycle—content management, after-sales services, marketing, etc. The PLM application is built on an integrated set of solutions, work processes, projects and data that provides one source of truth to help manufacturers make informed decisions in real time.
Increased internal and external collaboration is a great indicator to measure the success of PLM. The seamless integration of customers, suppliers, and partners shortens the time to market, reduces costs, improves product quality, ensures regulatory compliance and increases innovation.
The objective of PLM is to create a one-stop-shop for all product related information, right from idea generation to disposal. As the speed of changes taking place in the market, technology and internal environment is constantly increasing, enterprises need to make smarter decisions to maximise their returns on investments and align their best resources and opportunities to deliver high quality products cost-effectively. PLM helps an enterprise maximise profit by optimising every stage of the product’s lifecycle—from bids or project requests to portfolio management and product development. PLM covers the market reaction for prototypes, alignment with the trends, ongoing maintenance and retirement. As PLM coordinates product information from engineering and design with sourcing, compliance, suppliers, sales, supply chains, customers and marketing. It speeds product development, ensures quality and mitigates regulatory risks.
PLM helps enterprises attain complete visibility of how and where materials and products are sourced, and effectively tracks and manages their adherence to all of the key regulatory compliance and sustainability mandates. An example of this is Henkel Laundry & Home Care. Dr Lars Zuechner, Head of Innovation Management/Global R&D Management, Henkel Laundry & Home Care, says, “Integrating corporate social responsibility into product lifecycle management, as Henkel has done, is important and key for enabling and ensuring sustainable innovation without harming the environment.”
PLM in today’s digital enterprise
Dynamic trends, short lifecycles and economic pressures require that companies pay close attention to their business processes and their technology infrastructure. Responding to trends through complex global supply chains requires that today’s leaders possess software that enables secure, real-time collaboration founded upon a single product data management infrastructure.
Shiv Kumar, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Zylog Systems Limited, says, “Considering today’s marketplace, driven by Enterprise 2.0 and social media technologies, innovative, successful new products and continual product improvements are the lifeblood of business growth and profitability. With 80 per cent of costs, 90 per cent of regulatory risks and 60 per cent of market acceptance being fixed in the development phase, new product success rates are largely determined in the product development phase.” PLM is thus a vital component in today’s digitally driven manufacturing world.
Today’s most frequent product development problems include:
Design cost
Collaborative outsourcing
Growing company portfolios
Misalignment of expectations
Communication silos
Insufficient resources
Poor supply chain coordination
Many companies face these issues as they come to terms with the changes in the manufacturing process. PLM provides an effective solution to these issues as it integrates all aspects of the manufacturing process to increase efficiency and effectiveness across the product lifecycles.
India is ready for PLM
India is ready to initiate PLM processes on a large scale. India’s economy grew 6.1 per cent in the last quarter, igniting hopes that the economy is emerging from the global financial crisis. The Indian manufacturing sector, which has around 80 per cent weightage in the Index of Industrial Production, has shown phenomenal growth as compared to the manufacturing sectors of other developing and developed countries.
This is clear indication of the fact that India is ready to move on to the next level of technology. As India becomes highly visible as a global manufacturing hub, PLM can be a game changer for the country’s manufacturing sector.
Generating business value
‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’. In challenging times like these, what distinguishes great companies is their continued belief in their ability to stay ahead of the pack. PLM provides the most complete solution to manage the end-to-end cycle, reducing integration costs while maintaining fast deployment at the customer location.
In terms of business value, here are some of the straight benefits companies can enjoy:
Reduced costs: A PLM solution allows manufacturers to outsource tasks and focus on the company’s core competencies while controlling the costs of relationship management.
Better business results: With PLM, manufacturers can develop innovative products, explore new market opportunities, gain a greater market share and increase customer satisfaction.
Higher product quality: PLM helps manufacturers manage product quality and reduce waste at every phase of the product lifecycle.
Faster development: The solution reduces time-to-market and time-to-volume by closely integrating supply chain management and procurement.
Better business decisions: PLM supports decision-making at all levels with powerful analytics covering areas such as portfolio management, occupational health, product safety, product quality and maintenance management.
Lower cost of ownership: PLM can be integrated with operational systems such as CAD, ERP, CRM, SRM and SCM systems.
In an increasingly competitive environment, the organisation can integrate PLM and sourcing processes to deliver more compelling products, reduce the cost of goods sold (COGS) and improve performance. All the benefits offered by PLM will enable the company to strive for growth.
Integration between PLM and ERP
PLM has evolved into an enterprise system which manages the entire product lifecycle. The interface with the organisation’s ERP, supply chain and extended enterprise is essential as businesses try to shorten the time-to-market, produce more with less and work with partners across the globe. Valmeeka Nathan, Vice President and Head of Product Lifecycle and Engineering Solutions, Infosys Technologies, says, “PLM provides a single source of truth for product information, which drives the downstream processes. The integration of PLM with ERP is crucial in planning for vendors, manufacturability, and throughput.” Sharing of this information is not dynamic in view of the evolution of product and engineering changes. At the same time, regulatory needs, compliance and quality checks are instituted during the design phase and are used during the production or service phase of product use.
While the paradigm for ERP is more transaction-based, that of PLM is iterative. With product lifecycles getting shorter, it is imperative to keep the focus on innovation and operational efficiency. From a technology perspective, the integration is moving away from a point-to-point to a more service-driven, serviceoriented architecture.
Rajeev Dev, Associate Director, SAP Practice, Fujitsu Consulting India Pvt Ltd, says, “An integrated product development and sourcing strategy can significantly improve a company’s performance standard. Specifically, companies can expect direct benefits in terms of speed and cost; they can also realise indirect benefits in terms of product quality and innovation.” PLM offers integration between the engineering department, business software such as CAD, vendor collaboration, etc.
Manufacturers’ business needs have changed significantly over the past several years, as the role that technology plays within the manufacturing process has evolved. Two key technologies, ERP and PLM, have developed into critical success factors for manufacturers. Each technology brings unique value to the enterprise, and, when combined, ERP and PLM provide a wholly collaborative environment that has a major impact on successful product development and the manufacturer’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage.
ERP and PLM address different business needs for manufacturers. There is some confusion in the industry as to what role each system plays in a company’s business process. It is important for manufacturers to understand why each is so critical to their success. Clarifying the key features of ERP and PLM—where each fits into the product development and manufacturing process, and how integrating these environments can deliver positive results will help manufacturers gain a clearer perspective on these processes. This clarification will help manufacturers /organisations to maximise the functionality of each system and gain the most from their investment.
When integrated with PLM, ERP reduces data duplication, speeds product development cycles and improves new product turnaround time. This enhances the overall process of getting products to market, and ultimately sustains a company’s competitive position.
Global economic drivers
There are multiple factors driving the growth of PLM today.The world is going through a major recession cycle; only in the last quarter has the market showed some signs of recovery.
For the majority of companies, PLM is a strategic move to weather the current economic storm and be in the best competitive position when the global markets rebound.
For others, the move to PLM is being driven by the growing demands from customers who want more for less.
Finally, most organisations today have clearly understood the benefits of outsourcing and PLM and consider it an essential aspect of their strategies.
Organisations with long-term vision are the ones which will actually invest in these areas to be prepared for future growth.
Benefits of PLM
It is widely recognised that PLM bring benefits in four main areas:
Financial performance: PLM leads to increased revenue from existing products and reduces product development costs
Time reduction: PLM reduces project overrun time and engineering change time
Quality improvement: PLM helps reduce manufacturing process defects, the number of returns and recalls, and customer complaints
Business improvement: PLM can lead to an increase in the innovation rate, the part reuse factor, product traceability, and also ensures 100 per cent configuration conformity
In a changing world
Change is, as they say, the only constant. In business, it is through the zeal of smart individuals who continuously innovate and bring new ideas into practice that we experience this change. Today, seamless integration is the new mantra: it aims to connect all systems of an organisation to create a smarter organisation. Tomorrow, this will probably be taken for granted and we will be heading for another revolution.
At present, most large enterprises have some sort of PLM system in place and we are witnessing many consolidations in the PLM vendors’ marketplace working towards offering a complete solution. However, small to mid-sized enterprises are not well equipped with industrystandard PLM solutions, as most of them run in-house or silo apps to handle very specific automation or workflow processes. The PLM adoption cycle varies from business to business, based on the maturity of the business processes and the IT infrastructure. Small and mid-sized enterprises would typically avoid adopting PLM in a ‘big bang’ approach while they undertake any new initiative. Here, choosing the easy-to-deploy vertically aligned modules or solutions will help them to get their ROI faster.
Industry interest in aligning PLM with lean initiatives and quality processes is growing continuously. Even companies that have already equipped the workstations of their designers, production and quality engineers with automated systems are showing interest in industrystandard integrated solutions in order to produce defect-free products faster and cheaper.
Despite the differences in quantitative indicators from different market researchers and forecasters, all researchers unanimously agree that the PLM market is growing and will continue to grow as businesses embrace legacy modernisation; business process re-engineering and socialmedia-led collaborative innovation. PLM as an integrated concept will be further optimised to allow a close tie-up of all the processes and functions involved. This is the key for successful, efficient and sustainable innovations.
To view the article online at Machinist360, visit the URL:
http://www.machinist360.com/article/15/2009120520091208183334558956b6889/Taking-a-Holistic-Approach.html
Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a recent concept that has taken the manufacturing world by storm. PLM represents all the activities that are required to manage the design, production, support and the ultimate dispersal of manufactured goods.
PLM helps organisations integrate the product information obtained from the design and engineering functions with allied activities such as sourcing,compliance, suppliers, sales, marketing, customers, supply chains and reverse logistics. In order to hasten product development and time to market, ensure quality, reduce recalls, ensure eco-friendliness, and mitigate regulatory risks more effectively. PLM gives manufacturers the tools and processes to enable collaborative engineering, customised product development and project management among multiple business partners.
The functions and features of PLM applications have gradually expanded beyond the traditional areas of CAD, CAM and CAE to cover other aspects of the product lifecycle—content management, after-sales services, marketing, etc. The PLM application is built on an integrated set of solutions, work processes, projects and data that provides one source of truth to help manufacturers make informed decisions in real time.
Increased internal and external collaboration is a great indicator to measure the success of PLM. The seamless integration of customers, suppliers, and partners shortens the time to market, reduces costs, improves product quality, ensures regulatory compliance and increases innovation.
The objective of PLM is to create a one-stop-shop for all product related information, right from idea generation to disposal. As the speed of changes taking place in the market, technology and internal environment is constantly increasing, enterprises need to make smarter decisions to maximise their returns on investments and align their best resources and opportunities to deliver high quality products cost-effectively. PLM helps an enterprise maximise profit by optimising every stage of the product’s lifecycle—from bids or project requests to portfolio management and product development. PLM covers the market reaction for prototypes, alignment with the trends, ongoing maintenance and retirement. As PLM coordinates product information from engineering and design with sourcing, compliance, suppliers, sales, supply chains, customers and marketing. It speeds product development, ensures quality and mitigates regulatory risks.
PLM helps enterprises attain complete visibility of how and where materials and products are sourced, and effectively tracks and manages their adherence to all of the key regulatory compliance and sustainability mandates. An example of this is Henkel Laundry & Home Care. Dr Lars Zuechner, Head of Innovation Management/Global R&D Management, Henkel Laundry & Home Care, says, “Integrating corporate social responsibility into product lifecycle management, as Henkel has done, is important and key for enabling and ensuring sustainable innovation without harming the environment.”
PLM in today’s digital enterprise
Dynamic trends, short lifecycles and economic pressures require that companies pay close attention to their business processes and their technology infrastructure. Responding to trends through complex global supply chains requires that today’s leaders possess software that enables secure, real-time collaboration founded upon a single product data management infrastructure.
Shiv Kumar, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Zylog Systems Limited, says, “Considering today’s marketplace, driven by Enterprise 2.0 and social media technologies, innovative, successful new products and continual product improvements are the lifeblood of business growth and profitability. With 80 per cent of costs, 90 per cent of regulatory risks and 60 per cent of market acceptance being fixed in the development phase, new product success rates are largely determined in the product development phase.” PLM is thus a vital component in today’s digitally driven manufacturing world.
Today’s most frequent product development problems include:
Design cost
Collaborative outsourcing
Growing company portfolios
Misalignment of expectations
Communication silos
Insufficient resources
Poor supply chain coordination
Many companies face these issues as they come to terms with the changes in the manufacturing process. PLM provides an effective solution to these issues as it integrates all aspects of the manufacturing process to increase efficiency and effectiveness across the product lifecycles.
India is ready for PLM
India is ready to initiate PLM processes on a large scale. India’s economy grew 6.1 per cent in the last quarter, igniting hopes that the economy is emerging from the global financial crisis. The Indian manufacturing sector, which has around 80 per cent weightage in the Index of Industrial Production, has shown phenomenal growth as compared to the manufacturing sectors of other developing and developed countries.
This is clear indication of the fact that India is ready to move on to the next level of technology. As India becomes highly visible as a global manufacturing hub, PLM can be a game changer for the country’s manufacturing sector.
Generating business value
‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’. In challenging times like these, what distinguishes great companies is their continued belief in their ability to stay ahead of the pack. PLM provides the most complete solution to manage the end-to-end cycle, reducing integration costs while maintaining fast deployment at the customer location.
In terms of business value, here are some of the straight benefits companies can enjoy:
Reduced costs: A PLM solution allows manufacturers to outsource tasks and focus on the company’s core competencies while controlling the costs of relationship management.
Better business results: With PLM, manufacturers can develop innovative products, explore new market opportunities, gain a greater market share and increase customer satisfaction.
Higher product quality: PLM helps manufacturers manage product quality and reduce waste at every phase of the product lifecycle.
Faster development: The solution reduces time-to-market and time-to-volume by closely integrating supply chain management and procurement.
Better business decisions: PLM supports decision-making at all levels with powerful analytics covering areas such as portfolio management, occupational health, product safety, product quality and maintenance management.
Lower cost of ownership: PLM can be integrated with operational systems such as CAD, ERP, CRM, SRM and SCM systems.
In an increasingly competitive environment, the organisation can integrate PLM and sourcing processes to deliver more compelling products, reduce the cost of goods sold (COGS) and improve performance. All the benefits offered by PLM will enable the company to strive for growth.
Integration between PLM and ERP
PLM has evolved into an enterprise system which manages the entire product lifecycle. The interface with the organisation’s ERP, supply chain and extended enterprise is essential as businesses try to shorten the time-to-market, produce more with less and work with partners across the globe. Valmeeka Nathan, Vice President and Head of Product Lifecycle and Engineering Solutions, Infosys Technologies, says, “PLM provides a single source of truth for product information, which drives the downstream processes. The integration of PLM with ERP is crucial in planning for vendors, manufacturability, and throughput.” Sharing of this information is not dynamic in view of the evolution of product and engineering changes. At the same time, regulatory needs, compliance and quality checks are instituted during the design phase and are used during the production or service phase of product use.
While the paradigm for ERP is more transaction-based, that of PLM is iterative. With product lifecycles getting shorter, it is imperative to keep the focus on innovation and operational efficiency. From a technology perspective, the integration is moving away from a point-to-point to a more service-driven, serviceoriented architecture.
Rajeev Dev, Associate Director, SAP Practice, Fujitsu Consulting India Pvt Ltd, says, “An integrated product development and sourcing strategy can significantly improve a company’s performance standard. Specifically, companies can expect direct benefits in terms of speed and cost; they can also realise indirect benefits in terms of product quality and innovation.” PLM offers integration between the engineering department, business software such as CAD, vendor collaboration, etc.
Manufacturers’ business needs have changed significantly over the past several years, as the role that technology plays within the manufacturing process has evolved. Two key technologies, ERP and PLM, have developed into critical success factors for manufacturers. Each technology brings unique value to the enterprise, and, when combined, ERP and PLM provide a wholly collaborative environment that has a major impact on successful product development and the manufacturer’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage.
ERP and PLM address different business needs for manufacturers. There is some confusion in the industry as to what role each system plays in a company’s business process. It is important for manufacturers to understand why each is so critical to their success. Clarifying the key features of ERP and PLM—where each fits into the product development and manufacturing process, and how integrating these environments can deliver positive results will help manufacturers gain a clearer perspective on these processes. This clarification will help manufacturers /organisations to maximise the functionality of each system and gain the most from their investment.
When integrated with PLM, ERP reduces data duplication, speeds product development cycles and improves new product turnaround time. This enhances the overall process of getting products to market, and ultimately sustains a company’s competitive position.
Global economic drivers
There are multiple factors driving the growth of PLM today.The world is going through a major recession cycle; only in the last quarter has the market showed some signs of recovery.
For the majority of companies, PLM is a strategic move to weather the current economic storm and be in the best competitive position when the global markets rebound.
For others, the move to PLM is being driven by the growing demands from customers who want more for less.
Finally, most organisations today have clearly understood the benefits of outsourcing and PLM and consider it an essential aspect of their strategies.
Organisations with long-term vision are the ones which will actually invest in these areas to be prepared for future growth.
Benefits of PLM
It is widely recognised that PLM bring benefits in four main areas:
Financial performance: PLM leads to increased revenue from existing products and reduces product development costs
Time reduction: PLM reduces project overrun time and engineering change time
Quality improvement: PLM helps reduce manufacturing process defects, the number of returns and recalls, and customer complaints
Business improvement: PLM can lead to an increase in the innovation rate, the part reuse factor, product traceability, and also ensures 100 per cent configuration conformity
In a changing world
Change is, as they say, the only constant. In business, it is through the zeal of smart individuals who continuously innovate and bring new ideas into practice that we experience this change. Today, seamless integration is the new mantra: it aims to connect all systems of an organisation to create a smarter organisation. Tomorrow, this will probably be taken for granted and we will be heading for another revolution.
At present, most large enterprises have some sort of PLM system in place and we are witnessing many consolidations in the PLM vendors’ marketplace working towards offering a complete solution. However, small to mid-sized enterprises are not well equipped with industrystandard PLM solutions, as most of them run in-house or silo apps to handle very specific automation or workflow processes. The PLM adoption cycle varies from business to business, based on the maturity of the business processes and the IT infrastructure. Small and mid-sized enterprises would typically avoid adopting PLM in a ‘big bang’ approach while they undertake any new initiative. Here, choosing the easy-to-deploy vertically aligned modules or solutions will help them to get their ROI faster.
Industry interest in aligning PLM with lean initiatives and quality processes is growing continuously. Even companies that have already equipped the workstations of their designers, production and quality engineers with automated systems are showing interest in industrystandard integrated solutions in order to produce defect-free products faster and cheaper.
Despite the differences in quantitative indicators from different market researchers and forecasters, all researchers unanimously agree that the PLM market is growing and will continue to grow as businesses embrace legacy modernisation; business process re-engineering and socialmedia-led collaborative innovation. PLM as an integrated concept will be further optimised to allow a close tie-up of all the processes and functions involved. This is the key for successful, efficient and sustainable innovations.
To view the article online at Machinist360, visit the URL:
http://www.machinist360.com/article/15/2009120520091208183334558956b6889/Taking-a-Holistic-Approach.html
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thank You for Attending "SMBs: Ready for the Rebound" Virtual Conference Hosted By CRN - Now the Event is Available Online!
SMBs: Ready for the Rebound – Now you can access the event online!
Thank you for attending the event.
If you have missed the event or like to watch it again, you can access the event online from the archive.
If you have previously registered, use this URL.
http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=170896&s=1&k=7BEAE9230838CABE78C83DC93145D1E0
If you need to register, use this URL.
https://www.cmpnetseminars.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1001904&K=CMPCW
If you want to bypass the registration and watch the presentation, please use this URL.
http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=177267&s=1&k=45DD45D51713C5727187CA8965531AF0&userreg=N
Thank you for attending the event.
If you have missed the event or like to watch it again, you can access the event online from the archive.
If you have previously registered, use this URL.
http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=170896&s=1&k=7BEAE9230838CABE78C83DC93145D1E0
If you need to register, use this URL.
https://www.cmpnetseminars.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1001904&K=CMPCW
If you want to bypass the registration and watch the presentation, please use this URL.
http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=177267&s=1&k=45DD45D51713C5727187CA8965531AF0&userreg=N
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
ZSL is Presenting at "Demystifying Cloud Computing" Conference Hosted by FICCI
ZSl is presenting at Demystifying Cloud Computing Conference hosted by FICCI. It is our pleasure inviting for the event.
Day: Friday
Date: 4th December 2009
Time: 9.00 AM-5.15 PM IST
Location:
Hotel Le Royal Meridien
Chennai, India
Keynote address:
Dr. S.V.Raghavan - Scientific Secretary, The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and Prof. IITM
Speakers:
• Mr. E.P.Subash, Head, Competency Development Springboard
• Mr. Sharad Sanghi, CEO & Founder, Net Magic Solutions
• Mr. Raghavan Subramaniam, Associate Vice President –Cloud Computing, INFOSYS technologies, Bangalore
• Mr. Chandramouli, Director Advisory Services, Zinnov Consulting
• Mr. Suresh Sambandam –Founder and CEO, Orange Scape - Chennai
• Dr. C.R. Muthukrishnan, Advisor, TCS, Ex. Dy. Director, IIT Madras
• Mr. Shiva K Swamy, Executive Vice President, Zylog Systems Ltd(ZSL), NJ USA
• Mr. Venguswamy Ramaswamy – Global Head –SMB, TCS Bombay
• Mr. N. Chandrasekharan, Special Director IT, Ashok Leyland
• Mr. Srikanth Rao, CEO, Affordable Business Solutions
• Mr. Kishore Mandyam, CEO, ImpelCRM
Visit the URL http://www.zslinc.com/Pdf/FICCI-Final-Programme.pdf to view the program agenda
Day: Friday
Date: 4th December 2009
Time: 9.00 AM-5.15 PM IST
Location:
Hotel Le Royal Meridien
Chennai, India
Keynote address:
Dr. S.V.Raghavan - Scientific Secretary, The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and Prof. IITM
Speakers:
• Mr. E.P.Subash, Head, Competency Development Springboard
• Mr. Sharad Sanghi, CEO & Founder, Net Magic Solutions
• Mr. Raghavan Subramaniam, Associate Vice President –Cloud Computing, INFOSYS technologies, Bangalore
• Mr. Chandramouli, Director Advisory Services, Zinnov Consulting
• Mr. Suresh Sambandam –Founder and CEO, Orange Scape - Chennai
• Dr. C.R. Muthukrishnan, Advisor, TCS, Ex. Dy. Director, IIT Madras
• Mr. Shiva K Swamy, Executive Vice President, Zylog Systems Ltd(ZSL), NJ USA
• Mr. Venguswamy Ramaswamy – Global Head –SMB, TCS Bombay
• Mr. N. Chandrasekharan, Special Director IT, Ashok Leyland
• Mr. Srikanth Rao, CEO, Affordable Business Solutions
• Mr. Kishore Mandyam, CEO, ImpelCRM
Visit the URL http://www.zslinc.com/Pdf/FICCI-Final-Programme.pdf to view the program agenda
ZSL's A-Z Animals iPhone Game applications now available at Apple iStores!
This applications come with two options
1. A-Z Animals – $0.99 – Full version
2. A-Z Animals – FREE – Limited version
You could download and install the application into your iPhone through iTunes by searching for “A-Z Animals” or using the below links.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=340845230&mt=8&ign-mscache=1
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=340845927&mt=8&ign-mscache=1
This application falls under Education category, specifically for kids. Please let me know your feedback and comments, that we could incorporate in our next update.
About this application
A-Z Animals application includes educational activities to keep kids entertained and learning. In the A-Z Animals, kids can flip through images of animals in all letters of the alphabets and match the letter of the Alphabet to the name of the animal’s image. If the kid presses the correct animal image for the selected alphabet, Clapping sound goes ON to encourage kids for their right answer. If the selected image does not match with the Alphabet, bingo sound will be heard to indicate wrong selection.
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