Supported and enabled by a wide range of technologies, product lifecycle management (PLM) is a strategic business approach for the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information. Using this approach, companies can increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve quality, and launch innovative products and services faster than ever. Broad implementation is being driven by executive-level recognition of the significant business value of PLM as a critical enterprise investment. The approach is now widely regarded as a ‘do-or-die’ competitive necessity in a turbulent global economy where companies leveraging these solutions will likely be among the top performers in the coming years while those that do not invest may continue to lose their market position.

 

Because of the far-reaching business impact of PLM, manufacturers are extending its reach into diverse groups and activities. The footprint has expanded from one predominately focused on engineering design to include a wide range of areas – from early-stage product strategy development and planning, to product engineering and manufacturing engineering, and through to product maintenance, technical support and final disposition. The extension of PLM into these areas is not unexpected. The overall vision has traditionally included the ability to leverage product definition information across the extended enterprise from concept to end of life. In fact, the philosophy and theory of this all-encompassing role throughout the full product lifecycle has been evolving and maturing for years on numerous fronts. PLM strategies that encompass Digital Manufacturing enable product design and production workflow simulation to be developed collaboratively instead of in isolation. Further, tight integration of PLM with factory automation systems creates a more seamless flow of information between virtual product and process designs and the physical world of programmable controllers and transfer lines on the shop floor. Additionally, PLM is increasingly being used to manage engineering analysis results and related processes.

 

Looking to the front-end of the product lifecycle, more manufacturing companies (and PLM solution suppliers) are recognizing that PLM strategies and initiatives should incorporate strategic product planning (i.e., product portfolio management), requirements management, and other customer-facing systems in order to effectively manage the full product lifecycle. Downstream in the product lifecycle, companies are increasingly using PLM to leverage product definition information in service-after-sales activities such as maintenance, support, and logistics.

 

A key element in these moves toward expanded PLM solutions is the tremendous opportunity to facilitate cross-disciplinary synergy through a two-way exchange of information between engineering design and areas upstream as well as downstream in the product lifecycle. Such a holistic view of the product lifecycle has a huge potential for substantial savings by enabling companies to eliminate barriers, knock down traditional organizational silos, and dissolve the walls that traditionally block the free flow of information between engineering and other groups. In this way, product definition information can be leveraged effectively for performing tasks in other disciplines, which in turn may provide valuable information that impacts product design and engineering work.

 

The overall impact on the enterprise level is that diverse, previously isolated disciplines and pockets of automation can be tightly integrated and efficiently coordinated through unified PLM solutions. The tremendous business value in such an integrated, end-to-end approach is that processes are optimized not for individual departments or groups but for the entire enterprise and across the full product lifecycle – planning products that fit into the company’s business, and developing product designs that meet those plans and that can be effectively built and supported.

 

Implementing an all-encompassing PLM solution can be daunting and overwhelming, however, so the best strategy is to begin with an overall enterprise strategy followed by a tactical plan for deploying systems in manageable pieces. A broad PLM solution will not be deployed overnight in one step, but in manageable steps, making sure systems in individual areas are set up to operate optimally across the enterprise and full lifecycle, not in isolation from the other areas.

 

Because of the corporate impact and the broad reach of PLM solutions, involvement of top management in these implementations is decisive. Indeed, PLM expansion is being driven principally by C-level executives who don’t give passive nods of approval for such strategies but who pro-actively provide the impetus for such initiatives. These forward-thinking executives have the insight to recognize the significant business value of a broad PLM footprint, the resolve to make the necessary investment in the approach, and the management skill to assemble and motivate teams that will turn the vision in a reality across the enterprise. Such companies will undoubtedly be in a strong position to compete over the coming years in extremely challenging global markets that hold tremendous opportunity for those with enough fortitude and foresight to invest in PLM solutions that reach across the enterprise and full product lifecycle.