To RFP or Not to RFP: That is the Question
Hamlet might have been contemplating the pain of life versus the fear of death as he said his famous line, “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” but a similar question is at the heart of most companies’ PLM selection processes. Many companies are afraid of the cost and pain involved in developing a detailed RFP (Request for Proposal), but just as many companies fear equally the ramifications of not precisely defining what they want in an enterprise business system. With this theatrical analogy now played out (get it “play”ed out), let’s explore RFP’s a bit further. What should you do in an RFP and what should you skip? Continue Reading
BOM (Bill of Material) management discussions can get really tricky. Just perform a search on the definition of a Bill of Material and you will find a multitude of definitions out on the web. It is likely it even means different things to different people within your organization. A CAD engineer is focused mainly on the physical structure of the product; a manufacturing engineer would be comfortable with a “As Manufactured” view of the product; the Service department may need a view into product BOM when ordering replacement parts, while, Purchasing is concerned with the latest version of BOM to make sure they are ordering the correct components. 
Regulatory compliance of materials and substances used within products is a monumental issue faced by most companies. Your supply base needs to be made aware of the compliance requirements and certify that their products do not exceed threshold levels of specific materials. The issue is compounded as your supply chain gets more and more complex. Different states have different regulations and some have much stricter product material laws than others. It gets even harder if your products are delivered globally, since different countries all have different regulations and different reporting structures. Fortunately, ENOVIA V6 can offer some solutions to these complex problems. 
Companies implementing a global engineering and manufacturing strategy are taking a hard look at how everyone, regardless of location or status, can collaborate across their PLM business processes. To solve this issue, ENOVIA V6 introduces the concept of “PLM online for all” that helps harness collective intelligence from business units, suppliers, and customers. This vision of “PLM online for all” is enabled in V6 by means of Web technologies. 
We at Razorleaf have been going through the ENOVIA V6R2010x documentation to figure out the “real” meaning behind the much publicized SOA readiness of V6. Before we dive in, let’s get familiar with the definition of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture). 
