More Innovation and Growth by Product Lifecycle Management

A globally operating Swiss equipment manufacturer for the semiconductor industry aimed to enhance the quality and efficiency of its product development. The objective was to better align development with customer needs, driving the company's growth. The interim manager employed a hybrid project model based on the stage-gate methodology to ensure efficient project execution, transparency, and effective time and cost control.

The interim manager, as Head of Product Lines, was tasked with analyzing existing processes, identifying areas for improvement, and enhancing them through process optimization and digitalization.

In the analysis of product development processes, the interim manager quickly identified several weaknesses in collaboration with leaders from the relevant departments. A significant issue was that many existing business processes did not meet necessary requirements, which led to inconsistent adherence. Other weaknesses included unclear roles and responsibilities, inadequate data quality, and the absence of a version management system for effective Change Management.

One of the interim manager's key responsibilities was to align product development processes with the "right first time" methodology, and to evaluate and implement a suitable Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system to ensure efficient product development and consistent adherence to the defined processes by the team.

The interim manager ensured that work guidelines were aligned with the optimized processes and systems. He guided employees through the transformation phase by personally coaching leaders and closely overseeing training.

After 15 months, the transformation of the product development processes, the main PLM System implementation and the Data Cleanup  was completed. The company now has a solid foundation for developing customer- and market-oriented innovations through efficient processes, enabling sustainable growth.

The new PLM system visualizes processes and workflows for users, with clearly defined functions, roles, and responsibilities to ensure compliance. The data and metrics generated by the system facilitate informed decision-making for Change Management and innovation prioritization.

"Users say they can’t imagine how they managed their work before the system was implemented."