It’s motivating to witness so many Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) professionals, educators, consultants, and solution providers become active in creating a more sustainable, low-carbon, circular economy. Only a few years ago when one googled the terms “PLM and Sustainability” or “PLM and Sustainable Product Design” there were very few results. Now there are so many resources that vendors are paying for sponsored rankings; one of the reasons the PLM Green LinkedIn Group has become popular as an alternative non-commercial community platform.

This is the second in a new series of posts on “Leaders in PLM and Sustainability” from the PLM Green Global Alliance where we profile professionals from around the world who are working at the intersection of PLM and Sustainability. As referenced in our first profile featuring Mark Reisig at CIMdata, there are many challenging opportunities in R&D and NPD for our profession as time is running out to lower greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this decade as climate scientists warn us is crucial.

Our next recognized “Leader in PLM and Sustainability” is Jos Voskuil who is one of the original co-founders of the PLM Green Global Alliance, started back in 2020 when we were all locked down due to COVID with more time and freedom to think about big issues.

Jos is also known as the Virtual Dutchman from his long-running popular blog www.virtualdutchman.com which addresses the human side of PLM in harmonizing the needs of a business, its people, and processes. Having started his career as a teacher of physics and mathematics, Jos has now been working for over 25 years in PLM fields. He focuses on coaching companies at whatever stage they are in their PLM digitalization journey with best practice education, mediating obstacles in underperforming implementations, and championing the role of organizational change management to achieve strategic business goals. He especially enjoys serving his clients as a collaborative conduit, interfacing between all stakeholders involved in PLM from executive management, project team members, end-users, vendors, and IT implementers. Since 2011 Jos has become a frequent presenter at PLM conferences speaking about the requirements of enterprise PLM to provide the digital backbone that allows sustainable green product development.

As with our other PLM and Sustainability Leaders, we asked Jos:

What personally motivates you the most about the opportunities and challenges in using PLM to create a more sustainable, low-carbon, circular economy?

Jos replied:

My motivation started from the awareness that we are approaching irreversible tipping points for our planet and that I, thankfully, was in a position to help do something about.  In fact, I felt compelled to act, not just for myself, but for future generations. I do not want my grandchildren and generations beyond them to say: He knew what was happening but ignored it.

I confess I too might have been ignorant in previous decades as the “Virtual Dutchman” who flew around the world for PLM-related training and consulting projects. Now, with a modern connected society, flying is the last mode I consider when interacting with a client or conference.

Where climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is the most urgent and visible threat, there are many sustainability challenges as referenced in the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), that do not reach the daily news feeds. For example, the massive reduction of biodiversity rarely touches any of us directly; so we read the news about more vulnerable ecosystems and communities being impacted, then go on about our busy consumptive lives.

While systemic societal changes are needed in order to meet the SDGs, they also require personal behavioral changes to consume less, to travel differently whenever possible, and to invest in durable, repairable, and upgradable products. Yet, as we have recently seen, individual behavior change is no longer sufficient as we have wasted too many years, often in denial of our unsustainable damage to the planet.

On a business level, changes in our professional way of thinking about a circular economy will require new visions such as Product-as-a-Service, which may seem radical at times as many improvements are, along with improved technologies, methodologies, tools, and education.

To address many of these challenges, PLM-related practices and tools are crucial, especially those that support a model-based system-of-systems thinking which I have written about. The environmental impact of a product, such as its Scope 1-3 emissions, along with an accounting of its full lifecycle cost starts with its design intention, material choices, manufacturing processes, supply chain choices, and consumer uses including recycling. All these characteristics can best be specified, measured, and optimized within an effective PLM strategy.

I am not alone in advocating that PLM is the most important enterprise investment that when properly implemented provides the digital foundation to not just enable but power a company’s sustainability business goals. I believe that PLM as an overall business strategy, and not just a product engineering system, will help create a sustainable future with more resilient business models.

To answer the question about key challenges which are opportunities for our profession, I can’t stress enough the more human role of education that helps to sustain organizational performance and robustness. Without that, sustainability itself will not be sustainable!

As an anonymous example, the PLM team at one of my clients could not get management attention to support their digitization efforts in the PLM domain. It was mistakenly considered too much of an IT technology discussion for managers and not a strategic business decision by executives. I helped them to link their advertised goals in sustainability, which was already an executive priority, to the need for digitization to support GHG reporting, ESG priorities, and the new Digital Product Passport regulations.  This required constructing a super-narrative that everyone in the organization could immediately understand without much explanation, and thus ultimately get behind to support despite normal internal politics. As a result, the compelling value and urgency of PLM was greatly elevated.

Another challenge, or more really an opportunity, is in helping PLM software providers to appreciate all the business opportunities in front of them related to sustainability. Being green is not something to be avoided but embraced! Admittedly, this has become more difficult as artificial intelligence consumes much of their attention, despite the huge energy demands of data centers to support AI.

Along with my PLM Green colleagues Klaus Brettschneider and Mark Reisig we are interviewing solution providers about once a month. So far these include: aPriori, Aras, Autodesk, Configit, Dassault Systèmes, Makersite, PSC Transition Technologies, PTC, SAP, Siemens, and Sustaira. (Recordings can be found HERE.) In these panel discussions we were not asking for a commercial promotion, but instead expect to see real examples from work with their own customers and partners. Stay tuned for more to come.

For those who wish to learn more about my personal passion and professional mission for the greening of PLM, read my recent blog on that very topic HERE.  I have also made publicly available slides from the following presentations and lectures:

Product as a Service – The Ultimate Sustainable Economy?

The Need for a Governance Digital Thread

Data Driven PLM – Sustainability – Modularity

Sustainability Demands Virtualization and It Should Happen Fast

Sustainability and Data-driven PLM – The Perfect Storm

Finally, I invite readers to connect with me on LinkedIn or send me your questions and comments about the role of PLM in Sustainability to tacit@planet.nl.

Thank you, Jos, for your many contributions to advancing the conversation about PLM and Sustainability!

The PLM Green Global Alliance welcomes hearing from others on who they think is leading our profession forward in PLM and Sustainability. Send your nomination to Richard McFall at richard@plmgreenalliance.com.

Until then, be sure to subscribe to our PLM Green news feed on LinkedIn and receive updates by email from our website.