PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) Software
For managing the entire lifecycle of products, from ideation to disposal, across multiple disciplines and stakeholders
What is PLM software used for?
PLM software is used to streamline and optimize the entire product development process, enabling collaboration, data management, and process automation across various stages and teams. It facilitates the integration of different disciplines, such as design, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and customer support, ensuring that all stakeholders have access to the most up-to-date product information.
By centralizing product data and processes, PLM solutions help organizations reduce time-to-market, improve product quality, and enhance operational efficiency. They enable seamless communication and data sharing among cross-functional teams, minimizing errors and rework. Additionally, PLM solutions provide traceability and compliance management, ensuring that products meet regulatory requirements and industry standards.
What are the benefits of PLM software?
Improve efficiency
Shorter development times, faster cycles, bundled information and documentation – a successful PLM software solution can significantly increase the efficiency of start-ups, medium-sized companies and large corporations alike.
Simpler collaboration
Colleagues, partners, suppliers – everyone benefits from a robust PLM system. All information relating to a development process or a product is centrally located and readily available to everyone.
Reduce costs
Working more efficiently saves not only time, but also money. Production cycles are shortened, material consumption and requirements are recorded more accurately, workers are deployed more effectively, and compliance guidelines are automatically met.
Interdisciplinary work
Modern products the result of the perfect interplay of mechanics, electronics, and software. Interdisciplinary product development requires standardized product data, which is only available with integrated PLM software.
Digitalization
Collecting all product data in one central location – the PLM system – and analyzing it provides companies with new insights and new opportunities to utilize this data. Whether predictive maintenance or digital twins, these ‘Industry 4.0’ applications are based on access to PLM data.
Shorten time-to-market
With PLM, design teams can work faster thanks to centralized access to real-time data. PLM also eliminates time-consuming inefficiencies, such as the need to replicate data across different systems or transfer data from one department and system to another.
Increase revenue
PLM reduces scrap, waste, and costs. Savings in material and component costs result from the reuse of materials and the consolidation of component designs.
Ensure product quality
Quality problems, whether large or small, always incur costs and often have further consequences, such as loss of customer trust and declining sales over time. PLM software can ensure product quality by facilitating the monitoring of all information related to products, parts, manufacturing, and compliance with regulations.
Choose the right PLM system for your company
Before investing in a PLM platform, it’s important to be confident that you’ve made a choice that will carry your business to success for years to come. This checklist will help you test different PLM software and vendors to ensure that you maximize the return on investment across your organization.
A PLM system is ineffective without suitable integrations to your existing systems. Your PLM system should have interfaces to your PDM (product data management), ERP (enterprise resource planning), production data (e.g., CAD, CAE data), office tools, and multimedia so that all files can be opened and forwarded from this system as a single source of truth.
Who is currently editing which file? Can a file be worked on simultaneously? Who approves changes? What version of a file is available? To avoid inconsistencies and duplication, your software must have reliable data management.
A quick search with a wide range of filter functions plays a major role in saving time. No more annoying emails that have to be sent back and forth between contacts to find the latest version of a file.
A preview function that can display the file types you use is useful so that you can quickly get an overview of the existing files.
Different users can have different tasks and authorizations in PLM. Sophisticated role and rights management ensures that information only reaches the right places. This is also necessary for compliance reasons.
Innovate
Gather ideas and requirements, and create your digital twin directly with all the data associated with the 3D model.
Engineer
Advanced design and systems engineering with the most effective design tools, directly integrated into your PLM platform.
Manage data
Structure and protect your IP (intellectual property), ensuring that your data is secure, accessible, and auditable.
Simulate
Gain valuable insights into the real world through fully functional simulation models of your products.
Manufacture
Visualize virtual manufacturing, create digital prototypes, and plan production and operations.
Repurpose, reuse, recycle
Comprehensive control over your entire product lifecycle with complete traceability of processes and materials.
Why choose TECHNIA as your PLM partner?
TECHNIA is a trusted partner for organizations seeking to implement and optimize PLM solutions. With our deep industry expertise and extensive experience, we offer tailored solutions that address the unique challenges and requirements of your business.
Our team of PLM experts works closely with you to understand your specific needs, processes, and goals. We provide end-to-end support, from strategy development and solution implementation to ongoing optimization and user training. Our commitment to delivering reliable, efficient, and scalable solutions ensures that your PLM investment drives long-term value and competitive advantage.
We’ll work with you to continuously optimize your PLM processes, ensuring maximum productivity and cost-effectiveness while keeping you up-to-date with the latest PLM standards, best practices, and technological advancements.
Partnering with TECHNIA, you’ll gain access to our deep domain expertise, proven track record, and unwavering commitment to delivering innovative solutions that drive your success. Our collaborative approach, coupled with our extensive knowledge and experience, positions us as the ideal partner to navigate the complexities of PLM and unlock its potential for your organization.
Need help with PLM software?
Johannes Storvik and team are on-hand to provide tailored guidance and support with a deep knowledge of the full Dassault Systèmes portfolio. Reach out for a free consultation today.
PLM software FAQs
Fundamentally, all industries are under pressure to produce products in ever shorter timeframes with greater innovation. So, PLM systems are used in a wide variety of industries.
From a financial perspective, the highest investments and expenditures in PLM are found in the highly specialized automotive and aerospace sectors.
Here you can see an excerpt about the different industries and application areas of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform (PLM system from Dassault Systèmes):
Industrial equipment
- Accelerate the development and delivery of personalized products
- Connecting systems, people, and data to bring together different disciplines to drive innovation
- Using Big Data to increase profitability
- Building sustainable and responsible manufacturing through circular innovations
Learn more about the challenges PLM systems help industrial equipment manufacturers overcome.
High-tech
- Ensuring product performance and compliance through realistic simulations of product use by the customer
- Shorter innovation cycles for new products
- Improving cooperation among business partners
- Reducing errors, rework, and risk
Learn more about the challenges PLM systems help high-tech companies overcome.
Consumer packaged goods
- Shortening time to market thanks to virtual technologies
- Eliminating silo structures that hinder collaboration
- Digitization of internal data to enable better reuse when launching in other markets
Learn more about the challenges PLM systems help CPG companies overcome.
Life sciences
- Holistic approach to product development
- High-quality, personalized products through predictive and adaptive manufacturing approach
- All information in one place to make the best decisions at the right time.
- Full control over all products, parts, reagents, manufacturing and regulatory compliance
- Collaboration and integration with patients, physicians, suppliers, and partners
Learn more about the challenges PLM systems help life sciences organizations overcome.
The implementation of a PLM system is a groundbreaking project that has long-term, cross-company implications.
The following basic criteria should be considered when selecting a PLM system:
PLM functionality
Does the PLM system map your business processes? Is there a PLM industry solution that best covers your business processes out of the box, without extensive customization? How flexible and scalable is the solution?
PLM future viability
Your PLM system should be able to grow and evolve with your company. The modularity and openness of the PLM system ensure your future competitiveness.
Choose an established software vendor that guarantees continued system development and regular updates. Cloud-enabled PLM systems offer greater flexibility, agility, and easier scalability.
PLM partner
The selected provider should demonstrate strong expertise and credentials not only in the system itself, but also in your industry. They must also guarantee sufficient capacity for PLM implementation.
The number of tasks/functions varies from system to system. These are the basic tasks of a PLM system:
Data management (CAx, CAD, CAE, PDM)
A PLM system manages various types of technical data from various authoring systems. Release and version management are standard features.
BOM management
Managing bills of materials is one of the most important PLM functions. The solution must not only be able to create and manage eBOMs (engineering bills of materials), mBOMs (manufacturing bills of materials), and sBOMs (service bills of materials), but also synchronize them with each other if necessary.
Change management
Change-relevant information flows automatically into the change process/change management, is available to all areas, and ensures complete traceability.
Configuration management
The creation of product variants is strictly documented in a PLM system to ensure a complete change history and version management.
Quality management
Integrated QM ensures compliance with all guidelines and standards, prevents errors, and ensures the production of high-quality products.
A PLM platform ensures close networking of users, information, and processes and effective collaboration and communication between company divisions and locations.
A PLM platform is never a rigid entity; it evolves with business and market requirements. Certain functions and/or applications can be easily added. The PLM platform’s cloud capability is a key prerequisite for future flexibility and agility.
A PLM platform not only facilitates internal collaboration, but certain features also allow for easy integration with your external partners and suppliers.
Integrated enterprise change management, for example, allows your suppliers to be involved early in the change process, enabling faster response.
A PLM platform is a suite of solutions for various business areas – from design and production to sales and marketing. It provides each area with its own specific tools.
The strength of a platform lies not only in the number of available tools but also in its connectivity. The same, up-to-date data is used across all departments and serves as the basis for decision-making.
A PDM (product data management) system covers only a small part of the product lifecycle, namely the design and construction phases.
During this phase, product data arises in the form of master data, BOMs (bills of materials), CAD (computer-aided design) data, models, part information, or manufacturing instructions.
A PLM system goes much further and encompasses all phases of the product lifecycle. However, a PDM system can be easily integrated into a PLM system to serve as a solid foundation.
A PLM platform can be thought of as a digital environment that integrates people, processes, software, and data. A PLM platform provides companies with the necessary infrastructure to create and realize a product or service – from the initial idea to its final recycling.
Users of a PLM platform benefit from real-time and always up-to-date data availability (a single source of truth), seamless collaboration across disciplines and locations, and easy communication.
CAD software is automatically connected to CAM applications, so every single product change is documented and made accessible to every project participant in all company systems. This optimizes work processes, increases productivity, and accelerates innovation.