Modern Product Lifecycle Management Technologies

Since the launch of Industry4.0 initiative and with the desire to improve product development, product-lifecycle-management (PLM) technologies have been slowly evolving in the background. PLM technologies have come a long way from just allowing a basic collection of product information to platforms that are capable of incorporating information coming from Computer-aided technologies (CAx) systems, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), manufacturing execution systems (MES), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and  Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) tools.

With the increasing demand for mass customisation, the manufacturing sector must have a deeper understanding of the product – process workflow. To achieve this, businesses are turning more towards data-driven manufacturing, extracting every bit of information from product lifecycle management systems. With PLM, it is possible to manage the data generated during the various phases of the product lifecycle, this, in turn, can reduce the time required to bring a novel product to the market or extend the lifespan of an existing product. In a rapidly changing global market, manufacturing organisations are having to switch from a more traditional static operational business models to a more pro-active model. These pro-active models would leverage the ERP, MES and SCM systems to be capable of reacting to changing customer needs and market trends. This will help manufacturing organisations to stay competitive.