Maturity of PLM in India
During discussions manufacturing organizations in India, there is a sense that the focus on PLM is very low in India compared to many other countries. Wanted to get into depth of it. I realized there are multiple issues with PLM adoption.
1. Cost of PLM software V/S Employee Cost :
Pricing of most of PLM solutions available in market is not suitable for Indian Market. These are generally USD price converted into INR. With a high conversion ratio, the price doesn’t justify the investment. Say if a very small PLM implementation cost $50000,
which is ₹ 3,000,000. In this cost a company can hire 5 more fresh engineering graduates from premier institutes or hire 3 more 5+ year experience person. With this high cost of a basic implementation, it becomes unviable option for Indian companies to implement PLM with the $ cost unless organizations are large and the benefit so achieve is also very large.
2. Lack Product Innovation Culture :
Apart from a small number of companies, most of the companies are just manufacturers. They produce what design is provided to them. These are generally contract manufacturers. They innovate in service & process but not in Product. Product is generally as told to them and they manufacture it in bulk. Even the trend is changing over time where organizations are understanding importance of own products. The other major reason for organizations not investing in Innovation, that it is easy for organizations to copy a product than make it from scratch, due to lack of strong IP protection laws.
3. Design driven by Partner / foreign owner:
Indian manufacturing is dominated by Auto sector, with 25% of total manufacturing depends on Auto. Almost all Auto companies (exception TATA Motors & Mahindra & Mahindra), including Maruti of India, are owned by foreign Auto companies. The parent company drives majority design & innovation, Indian office only works for some level of localization, with approval from parent. In all these cases, companies follow what parent company is following & use PLM from parent company.
Conclusion:
In my view, For PLM market to grow in India, PLM companies will have to workout India or any developing country specific pricing strategy. Benefits of PLM should be better articulated …. Also Indian companies will need to focus on products design and manufactured in India, so they see value of PLM in India.. Till then Maturity of PLM in India will remain low
During discussions manufacturing organizations in India, there is a sense that the focus on PLM is very low in India compared to many other countries. Wanted to get into depth of it. I realized there are multiple issues with PLM adoption. 1. Cost of PLM software V/S Employee Cost : Pricing of most of PLM…