Element runs the people side of PLM implementations — stakeholder alignment, champion programs, communication, training, and resistance management — as a dedicated workstream with its own named owner.
Most PLM programs assign change management to the same team building the system, where it loses every week to technical deadlines. We staff it separately, so it actually happens.
The problem this solves
Your PLM implementation has a change management plan. Most do.
What it usually doesn't have is anyone whose actual job is to execute it. The workstream gets assigned to the project team — the PLM administrator, the solution architect, a senior engineer — the same people responsible for configuration, migration, and go-live.
Those deadlines are hard and their failures are visible. The people work has neither. So it slips, quietly, every week, until go-live arrives and the organization has been told about the change roughly twice.
Then adoption comes in low and everyone concludes the users resisted.
They didn't. Nobody prepared them.
Signs you need a dedicated change owner
Your change management workstream is assigned to someone who also has technical deliverables
You've named champions but given them no training, talking points, or early access
Communication about the project has been a kickoff email and a training invite
Engineering is asking why you're changing something that isn't broken — and nobody has a good answer ready
A previous rollout technically succeeded but people kept working the old way
Your executive sponsor hasn't spoken about the project publicly in the last quarter
Adoption is the only metric you're reporting, and leadership doesn't seem to care about it
What we actually do
01
Stakeholder alignment across all three tiers
Executive, management, and subject-matter stakeholders need different things, and the middle tier is the one most often skipped — managers care what happens to their team's throughput during the transition, and that question usually goes unanswered.
Deliverables: stakeholder map with influence and disposition, tier-specific engagement plan, executive sponsor talking points.
02
Champion program
Naming champions is the easy half. Equipping them is the half that gets skipped — and a champion who can't answer a colleague's question is worse than no champion, because they were supposed to be the one who knew.
Deliverables: champion selection criteria, enablement sessions, talking points and FAQ, early sandbox access, a standing channel to the project team.
03
Communication planning
Communication isn't a one-time event. People need to hear what's changing, why, and what it means for them specifically — repeatedly, through the whole project, from someone they trust.
Deliverables: communication calendar mapped to project milestones, audience-segmented messaging, channel plan, feedback loop.
04
Resistance and barrier management
The goal isn't convincing anyone the new system is wonderful. It's accepting that the adoption curve is real, that productivity dips, and then working the specific problem of making that dip as short and survivable as possible.
Deliverables: resistance assessment, barrier log with owners, targeted interventions for the groups with the most to lose.
05
Adoption measurement tied to business metrics
Adoption percentage is a project metric. Cycle time, cost of poor quality, on-time delivery, and scrap rate are business metrics. Change work that only ever reports the first kind reads as overhead — and overhead gets cut when budgets tighten.
Deliverables: baseline capture before go-live, adoption dashboard, business-metric linkage, post-go-live measurement at 30/90/180 days.
How we work with your team
We don't replace your people. In most engagements your team still runs the change program day to day — we bring the method, train your champions, and stay accountable for the workstream so it doesn't get absorbed into technical firefighting.
Where you don't have an internal person with the standing to talk to an executive and the credibility to talk to the shop floor, we staff that role directly.
The honest version of this conversation happens early, while it's still a staffing decision — not at go-live, when it's a rescue.
Who does this work:
These partners work alongside the Windchill architects delivering the technical implementation — which is the point. The two workstreams stay connected without competing for the same person's calendar.
When to bring us in:
Best:
During scoping, before the project plan is locked. Baseline metrics get captured, stakeholders get mapped, and champions get identified while there's still time for their input to change something.
Common:
Mid-implementation, when the technical work is on track and it becomes obvious nobody has run the people side.
Still worth it:
After a go-live that didn't stick. Low adoption is recoverable, but it's more expensive than preventing it — and you're now also managing the credibility damage from the first attempt.
FAQ
What is organizational change management in a PLM implementation?
Why do PLM implementations fail even when the technology works?
Can we run change management ourselves?
When should change management start?
How do you measure whether change management worked?
Do you only do this alongside a Windchill implementation?
Ready to Transform Your PLM System?
+64%
User adoption improvement in 6-month PLM rescue program for aerospace manufacturer.
-81%
Change order cycle time reduction through automated PLM-ERP integration.
67%
Reduction in manufacturing errors after implementing digital work instructions and change management.
*Results reflect specific project implementations and may vary based on organizational factors and scope.
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