Learn More About Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software
What is PLM Software?
Getting a product to market is a long process, and PLM technology can be used to cover each step. The first point in the lifecycle is the conception of the product, wherein research is conducted to create a product catered to a targeted demographic. A PLM system can track the evolution of your product, even at this early stage.
Once a product is out of conception, it moves on to the design phase. Product designers create mockups and prototypes, as well as test the product; a PLM system is utilized to keep track of all the notes taken during this phase. From here, a product moves into production. The design is shipped off to be manufactured, and the organization must keep track of the sourcing of materials, costs, timelines, and more. A PLM system should be able to account for all of these different variables that go into creating your product.
The final step in the product lifecycle is distribution and maintenance. You’ll have to ensure your product is warehoused and distributed to the appropriate sales channels. You’ll then need to track sales and customer support data in order to fully understand your product’s performance. A PLM solution will easily keep track of these data points as your product moves onto the market.
Among the organizations that rely on these tools most heavily, top PLM software for distributed design production teams is a consistent priority, since product development rarely happens in one location and keeping design, engineering, and manufacturing aligned across sites is one of the hardest coordination problems these platforms are built to solve.
Key Benefits of X Software
- Manage files, documents, drawings, and other data for a product in a centralized location
- Control and collect document revisions
- Improve employee communication and collaboration by centralizing data and designs
- Increase productivity by eliminating redundancies
- Minimize errors and inconsistencies across teams
- Shorten time to market for a product
Why Use PLM Software?
Quicker time to market – A PLM solution will keep your team organized during the lifecycle of your product. All relevant data about a product is kept within this platform, which means your team has complete control over it. Having easy access to this information means that design teams can work faster, quickly transferring design data to production so the product can get manufactured in a timely matter.
Enhance the quality of your product — PLM tools allow you to easily control and manage the details that impact the overall quality of the product you are designing. With the help of this software, manufacturers take the notes given to them by product designers to ensure all details and procedures surrounding the manufacturing of this product are up to snuff. This is especially helpful if there are teams in multiple locations working on different phases of the product lifecycle.
Meet compliance standards — When designing and manufacturing a product, there are likely a number of compliance standards your product will need to meet. Companies must manage and maintain data pertaining to variables such as the contents of purchased goods and how products are built and modified. PLM systems reduce the risk of violating compliance standards, since these tools act as a single source of authority for this information.
Based on G2 reviews, the most trusted and most reliable PLM software for large manufacturers, including those in automotive and other high-complexity industries, earns that trust specifically through traceability and change management, keeping a controlled record of every revision, approval, and design change from concept through to production so that compliance requirements can be met across complex, multi-team workflows.
What are the top PLM software options for the aerospace industry?
For PLM software options suited for the aerospace industry, these are some of the top G2 rated software options:
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PTC Windchill: Known for its extensive features like collaboration tools, security measures, and multi-device compatibility. Dominates in managing complex product structures.
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Teamcenter by Siemens: Offers data management, digital thread integration, and compliance support features. Widely trusted in the aerospace industry.
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Dassault Design & Engineering Simulation Suite: Also known as Dassault Systemes suite, these apps provide a broad range of PLM solutions catered to a variety industries, including aerospace.
Who Uses PLM Software?
Users with any hand in the creation of a product can benefit from the use of PLM software. Teams involved in the design of a product can use these tools to store various notes about the details of their designs. Product manufacturers take these notes and ensure all products they build are sound and meet company standards. A product manager needs to keep tabs on all phases of a product throughout its lifestyle, and a PLM system allows them to do so. These solutions are useful for the design and production of any product, from anything as small as a consumer-based product to something as large as a car.
Based on G2 reviews, the right PLM platform depends heavily on company size. Smaller and mid-sized manufacturing teams tend to favor tools built around ease of use, fast setup, and CAD integration that gets BOMs under control without heavy implementation overhead. When looking at the best PLM software for manufacturing companies with 500 or more employees, priorities shift toward scalability, deep integration across CAD, ERP, and MES systems, and the ability to manage complex multi-team workflows across the full product lifecycle, with enterprise reviewers consistently rating functional breadth above ease of use when comparing platforms.
Kinds of PLM Software
PLM systems all typically serve the same purpose—to manage a product’s lifecycle, from conception to distribution. For that reason, there is not a lot of variety within the PLM ecosystem. However, there is a slight variation in the way these solutions may be deployed.
Some PLM systems come from an ERP vendor, as they can be featured directly in those suites. A number of PLM-specific vendors offer best-of-breed applications. These are a suite of modules that are used to manage all stages of the product lifecycle. You may also select a standalone PLM module to perform the tasks that you need.
PLM Software Features
Bill of materials (BOM) management — A lot goes into building your product. You will need various materials and different quantities of each. PLM software helps keep track of this information and enables the management, visualization, and sharing of data across any team in your company.
Change management — Bringing a product to life is a difficult task, and there will likely be many changes along the way. Change management ensures that there is an orderly process to request, plan, implement, and evaluate the changes to a design or process related to the product.
Reporting and analytics — Product data storage is one of the key components of a PLM system. To best utilize the product information stored within the platform, a PLM solution should have robust reporting capabilities.
Quality management — These solutions offer workflows that coordinate, manage, and track cross-departmental product quality processes. All of this information will be stored in the PLM system, making it the single source of truth for quality management. This means you can easily improve product quality while you reduce time-to-closure.
Supplier collaboration — Getting your product to your target demographic is the end goal for anyone involved in its creation. A PLM system may have the functionality to help you find the best supplier for your particular product. You can approve vendors, manage their audits, and more with the help of a PLM tool.
Product data management (PDM) — One of the key benefits of a PLM tool is that it keeps track of all your product data, enabling the organization, management, and analysis of your information. Teams across your organization can add their own notes about revisions and releases as well. This encourages cross-departmental collaboration for product design and manufacturing.
Other Features of PLM Software: AutoCAD Integration Capabilities, BOM visualization Capabilities, CAD Capabilities, ERP Capabilities, Ideation Capabilities, Inventor Integration Capabilities, MES Capabilities, Modular PLM Providers Capabilities, Optimization Capabilities, Solid Edge Integration Capabilities, Solidworks Integrations Capabilities, Virtual Testing Capabilities
Additional PLM Features
Kind —
While it may not be universally offered by all PLM products, some solutions offer different CAD capabilities so that you may produce a 3D design of your product. Those tools that have computer-aided engineering (CAE) functionalities allow you to simulate products and identify weaknesses in the early design stages. PLM solutions may also offer computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), which communicates with the machinery used to make the product to ensure it follows the precise specifications you put into place. An efficient PLM system also automates a number of processes, so that the transition between each phase of the lifecycle is as smooth as possible. Workflows, task distribution, and communication between different departments may be automated with these systems.
Some PLM tools have business intelligence functionalities. You can access updated reports, charts and graphs surrounding your product data within these platforms. PLM solutions equipped with this functionality should also give you the ability to display specific data the way you want to see it, enabling insight into trends and potential bottlenecks across your company.
Potential Issues with PLM Software
Potential data loss — A number of documents are generated in the product design and manufacturing process. The fact that a PLM system houses all product information also has the potential to be its undoing; if your PLM system goes down, you lose access to all data. This includes different kinds of documents as well, such as CAD files, spreadsheets, pictures, and more. If your solution is not secure and reliable, there is always a chance you could lose your data—and with a PLM solution, that means you could lose everything.
Revision errors — A product goes through many changes throughout its lifecycle. Each change should be documented to better keep track of the most current version of the product. The more documentation, the more likely the chance of sending over an older version of the product to design or manufacturing. A misstep like this could cost your organization time and money.
Lack of integration — A smooth product lifecycle requires many moving parts. Sometimes that means integrating multiple products with your PLM solution. For example, if you do not have an efficient CAD solution, your PLM system may not automatically generate a BOM list for you. Based on G2 reviews, PLM software integration with CATIA and NX are among the most commonly cited CAD connections in this category, with reviewers describing these integrations as central to keeping design data, BOMs, and revision histories synchronized without manual re-entry across tools.
