Keeping Product Data Communication Clear on Cloud

Miscommunication can occur between colleagues, but it can equally occur between pieces of software. And this just might be where your money is going. As a product moves through its lifecycle, from concept and design to engineering and final manufacture, it accumulates an enormous amount of data.

Hundreds of thousands of people can be working simultaneously on complex products like electronics and aeroplanes. And to avoid losses in data progression your business processes need to be practically infallible. So, here are some of the most common inefficiencies in product data communication, and how to combat them effectively.

Isolated Team Databases

It’s common practice for a department to share information internally.

But this can create silos, which slow overarching progress by isolating teams from one another. And if your teams aren’t communicating effectively this can result in duplicate work being done. Maintaining a central database ensures that everybody knows which file stores the working model, and that no one is inadvertently duplicating workloads.

By centralising communication, everyone can access their messages and refer to them when they need to. This prevents small mistakes from being amplified further down the line and Cloud solutions have the capability to expand this advantage globally.

Man-handled Data Management

Why risk losing hundreds of hours to miscommunication?

When you have layers of information on CAD designs, BOMs, part numbers and descriptions, etc. it makes sense to employ a dedicated tool to the task of managing that data. Without one, the smallest inconsistency can easily snowball.

By automating elements of your data management, you’ll free up time for your teams to focus on their key competencies. Let Designers design. Let Engineers engineer. Let Salespeople sell.

Brittle Workflows and Bottlenecks

There’s nothing more important than getting your product to market before the competition.

This means that you need to keep your workflows as transparent and malleable as possible. Lay out all of your processes, in detail, from the beginning.

This helps to maintain efficiency and makes it easier to identify when and where bottlenecks occur. Your workflow management tools should allow for on-the-fly adjustments so that your teams can update product designs while maintaining a deadline.

All of this works toward your product passing compliance checks and going to market at its optimum state. Use workflow management tools to ensure that these standards are laid down early on and maintained throughout the product lifecycle.

Final Thoughts

It takes a lot to ensure clear communication throughout every stage of your product life cycle. And any one of these miscommunications could knock your product development off course.

If you recognise even one of the issues discussed in this article, then the chances are that there are more at work within your organisation.

It will likely take hours of investigation, discussion and implementation to single out and address each of these issues. But we can tailor a Cloud PLM solution exclusively for your business that will address all of these concerns.

We’ll even help you to set it up.