| dc.description.abstract | Economics of scale and mass production have led to price competition, popularity of technology, and rapid demand changes. Given the dramatic reduction of product life cycle and soaring demand for customization, product prices in the machinery and equipment industry decline rapidly, costs rise sharply, and profits become lower significantly. One machinery and equipment manufacturing company in Taiwan implements the PDM system in response to the industry environment where demands for design changes are increasing. The company hopes that the implementation of the system can help the company in controlling product information, effectively reducing the number of weeks required to develop products, enhancing product quality, and cutting costs. Yet without the IT department’s participation, project management, and pre-implementation preparation, the system is unable to work during the initial implementation guided by the R&D department.
This research, based on the case study approach, clarifies the failure factors of the company’s initial implementation of the PDM system. Suitable implementation procedures are selected and adjusted according the actual practices of the case company so that the company can re-implement the PDM system. The author of this research is appointed as the company’s project expeditor and system integrator. Following an analysis of the company’s key failure factors of its initial system implementation, the PDM reimplementation project is conducted based on the integration methodology. By finding solutions to the key problems, the author controls the project through project management and the “stage gate” approach. The success of the PDM system reimplementation has not only satisfied users’ needs, but met the demand from the company’s executives. This research identifies the case company’s success factors in implementing the PDM system. Executives’ strong demand, user-owned system implementation, and the participation of the IT department are the key factors of the successful PDM implementation project. The research concludes that IT plays a critical role in developing the user-owned system. During the process of system implementation, making sure that demands are met and contract promises are enforced is a focus for project management as well as a necessity for successful implementation. The managerial and practical implications of this research are worth for consideration both for the academia and the industry. | en_US |