SAP PLM Reviews & Product Details

SAP Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a comprehensive software solution designed to manage the entire lifecycle of a product, from initial concept and design through production, service, and disposal. It integrates data, processes, business systems, and people within an extended enterprise, providing a single source of truth for product information and facilitating collaboration across different departments. By digitalizing product development, SAP PLM enables businesses to accelerate innovation, improve product quality, ensure compliance, and enhance profitability. Key Features and Functionality: - Product Development: Digitalize product development processes to improve decision-making and innovation, connecting supply chains to enhance speed, profitability, quality, and compliance. - Integrated Product Development: Accelerate innovation by digitalizing, connecting, and streamlining product development. - Engineering Control Center: Integrate design data with business data for seamless cross-discipline collaboration. - Product Lifecycle Costing: Maintain profit margins by managing costs early and simulating impacts throughout the product lifecycle. - System Integrations: Boost efficiency and collaboration with bidirectional integrations for unified product data across the entire supply chain. - Project Management: Plan, execute, and monitor projects and portfolios across the enterprise to optimize business performance and achieve strategic objectives. - Compliance: Ensure compliance, sustainability, and extended producer responsibility obligations throughout the product lifecycle to optimize material choices and accelerate product introductions. Primary Value and User Solutions: SAP PLM provides a unified platform that enhances collaboration, reduces time to market, and ensures product compliance and quality. By integrating product development with the entire supply chain, it optimizes efficiency and ensures seamless operations across the product lifecycle. This comprehensive approach enables businesses to deliver innovative and sustainable products faster, meeting customer demands and staying competitive in the market.

Seller

SAP

Discussions

SAP PLM Community

Solution Type

All-in-One

Overview by

Alejandro Barajas (Advocacy and Amplification, Global Customer Marketing CoE at SAP)

Value at a Glance

Averages based on real user reviews.

Perceived Cost

$$$$$

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Top-Rated Alternatives

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User Insights

Average based on 66 real user reviews.

Perceived Cost

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SAP PLM Reviews FAQs

Generated using AI

Last updated: Nov 01, 2026

What is SAP PLM, and what problem is it built to solve?

SAP PLM is used to bring product information and lifecycle processes into a shared system. Users rely on it to organize product documents and data, manage bills of materials and revisions, and coordinate changes across product development and manufacturing.

What company sizes and industries is SAP PLM the best fit for?

SAP PLM has its strongest fit among larger enterprise teams, with positive experiences also represented in mid-market and small businesses. Users describe applications across several manufacturing-oriented industries and related sectors.

Company size: Enterprise teams are the most represented, alongside mid-market and small-business users.
Industries: Automotive, mechanical and industrial engineering, food and beverage, and oil and energy are prominent, with use also described in consumer goods and other sectors.

What customer support options does SAP PLM provide, and how do users find the overall support experience?

SAP PLM support is not described through specific support channels here, but the overall support experience comes across as mixed. Support evaluations are often around adequate, with some users reporting challenges getting the expertise or implementation help they needed.

What features or capabilities could make SAP PLM even more useful?

The clearest opportunities to make SAP PLM more useful are improving day-to-day usability and expanding or refining capabilities for particular workflows. Users also point to some specific functional gaps.

Simpler interface and navigation: Make common tasks easier to learn and complete, especially for new users.
Broader integrations: Improve connections with CAD and other external systems used alongside PLM.
More flexible workflows and configuration: Better accommodate organization-specific processes without costly customization.
Additional process features: Improve areas such as drawing release and visualization of assemblies and parts.

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Arvind K.

PLM Consultant (Windchill) Senior Software Engineer

Mechanical or Industrial Engineering

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

12/29/2015

"I am a PLM Consultant"

4/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

One of the beautiful and valuable feature of SAP PLM is SAP PLM has an integrated solution with SAP ERP.

This module of integration is very costly, mostly clients needs to buy a middle-ware like (TIBCO), but the current setup in SAP PLM helps in easy integration between the ERP and PLM and saves a lot of cost to the company. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

The major drawback the SAP PLM has is its package, most of the time it does not suit the client requirements and it does not have the tailoring functionalities too.

As the packages are not flexible, implementation of customization is damn costly to invest on.

In overall it looks like a basic PLM package, they should also provide feasibility to manage options and variance and also the supplier managements inside SAP PLM. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

7/29/2016

"SAP complete solution"

4.5/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

Complete solution package, engineering, manufacturing, CRM Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

Expensive for small scale business, expensive to hire resources. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Biotechnology

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

1/5/2016

"SAP PLM A functional product in a hectic facility"

4/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

Once you learn the basic entry codes, it is easy to understand the other screens. I have no problems utilizing the software, but others have strange issues. It is good for me, since I become an important commodity in the office Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

Sometime the software can be counter-intuitive for some people. It is a great product, but when a company makes it "fit" into their other software, it can make the product very difficult to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SAP PLM:

Have a SAP representative implement the software. You need a professional because making it fit causes a GREAT DEAL OF WASTED TIME AND RESOURCES Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SAP PLM solving and how is that benefiting you?

Our inventory system has gotten better. We have a much better handle on supplies available and less down time trying to find the item needed Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sudharshan M.

SAP PLM ANALYST

Information Technology and Services

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

Originally submitted 4/10/2015

"SAP PLM -Providing Complete Picture of a Product Data-Reduce NPDI & ECM cycle time"

4/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

Complete Product data Integration to ERP Processes

Single Source of Truth for Product Data

Integration to Design tools with Engineering Control Centre. I am happy to drastically reduce NPDI and ECM Cycle by providing solution of Pro/Engineer Integration with SAP using Reiss Interface -completely eliminating the Windchill PDMLink solution with SAP PLM solutions addressing all business processes in SAP CDESK Solution.

PLM 7.02/03 which provides 360 deg visibility of products

PLM WebUI providing a work center or control center style role centric, transaction free views which are only required for a particular role simplifying the work and eliminating the complete access to SAP which may not be required and reduce errors. Features like Object Navigator, BCV, BOM Redlining, ACM, Engineering Record are excellent which will help drastically reduce the NPDI and ECM process

Visual Enterprise which provides excellent visual solutions of all 3D parts, assemblies inside SAP

Visual Enterprise Author which gives realistic feel of an assembly process helpful for assembling a complicated part by a maintenance personnel. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

Unavailability of Pro/Engineer still in Engineering Control Center. I am not sure if Solid Works integration to ECTR is available or no. I wish ECTR should have all CAD interfaces developed soon and let the consultants like me know about it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SAP PLM:

Avoid islands of information available in different software, tools, servers, desktops, etc., which will mess up sooner or later. Use a single tool for all your business processes and achieve a single source of truth, thus greatly reducing the NPDI cycle, which can drastically reduce the major amount of the product design cycle. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SAP PLM solving and how is that benefiting you?

I am a SAP PLM Analyst having experience surrounding the Product Data and its integration with the ERP. I have implemented multiple SAP PLM solutions in the areas of SAP CAD Integration, SAP DMS, SAP ECM, Engineering Control Centre, ILC’s 4PEP Change Management Process etc. addressing the Business Challenges/ Pain Areas related to the Product Data Management, CAD Drawings and Parts Management, Engineering Change Management, Association of Single source of truth in Drawings-Materials-BOM links and Document Management in an organization.

The Major Benefit which I have realized using SAP PLM is the Complete Integration of Product Data within the ERP which directly results in reduction of NPDI and ECM Business cycle which consume more time and money in the entire life of a product, Reduce the Product Launch Time and become more agile than your competitors and able to react and take advantage of market and competitive opportunities across your business networks. The complete structure in CAD assembly can be directly brought to SAP BOM in a single click thereby managing the Single Source of truth. I particularly liked the BCV (Business Context Viewer) feature whose goal is to have reporting information available that reacts to the current business context. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Steve D.

IT Center Of Excellence, Product Lifecycle Management, SAP Solution Specialist

Mechanical or Industrial Engineering

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4/29/2015

"Ongoing Implementation of SAP PLM, still learning all of the functionality"

3.5/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

Our team first started with SAP DMS. We quickly realized the benefit of storing documents in our SAP environment with the capabilities of object links to material masters, customer masters and other custom objects that we did not have in our previous system. While there is a discipline required to capture all of these links, the power of finding all of the links quickly allows our organization to quickly respond to customers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

Standard workflow does not suit our organizations needs, so we had to custom develop solutions for our standard processes. This caused us delays in implementation and working closely with an outside consultant. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SAP PLM:

There are great benefits of SAP PLM, but realizing the full power of the solution takes some time, and we are not there yet. We had issues with change management within the organization. There are requirements to capture additional information that was not required in our past solutions. The users do not understand the why at this point because we started with a very small implementation project. I recommend understanding all of the functionality SAP PLM has to offer and develop a story/roadmap for the users/stakeholders to fully understand the strategic vision. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SAP PLM solving and how is that benefiting you?

We are trying to resolve storage of our documents in one centralized location with links to master objects. We have been successful in that implementation and have realized the benefits of finding documents and where these documents apply across our landscape. We are looking to leverage the engineering change management solution is out next phase to allow coordinated release and change of our documents along with standard SAP objects, such as material masters, routings and BOM's. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

12/22/2015

"Use SAP in my current position. All data including product, process, production, supply chain used."

4/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

It is easy to learn if you have a basic understanding of an ERP system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

It is somewhat slow compared to Oracle PLM. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Siva Sankar Reddy R.

Manage ( SAP PLM)

Information Technology and Services

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4/13/2015

"SAP PLM is the best PLM solution, If your solution for ERP is SAP then choose SAP PLM."

5/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

Highly integrated solution. No other PLM can beat on this. SAP PLM is not a toolkit solution like any other PLM's where you need to write lines and lines of code. Document Management is extremely powerful capability of revision, version and status control and adhoc workflow capability. Supports to multi CAD integration. Drive any Business transactions within SAP with SAP DMS. Extensive Change management capability, change history tracking. Extremely strong in SAP formula and recipe development. Staging of a material/Product with user defined status. For Process Industries, chemical, HIGH TECH, ASSEMBLE TO ORDER SAP PLM is the best solution. Not much development required, just configure the solution. (Other PLM systems you need to write 1 to 2 years coding with that you will end up core dumps). SAP PLM is consistent than any other PLM systems. SAP PLM has not many core dumps or crash. I have worked on PLM system like Metaphase/Team Center enterprise for years, these are toolkits and need to write lines and line of code to achieve what customer wants. SAP PLM can be implemented: For small companies we can implement in 3 months For medium size companies 8 months. For large companies 18 months to 2 years Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

Flawless CAD integration. As other CAD companies own their own PDM (Product Data Management) systems (NOT THE PLM), which can be integrated very well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SAP PLM:

Open text involvement with license is killing the standard SAP DMS functionality. Open Text doesn't do any good, just SAP strategy to sell the free functionality which is available in SAP. SAP should stop Open Text approach for enterprise content management and start concentrating on SAP DMS content server approach. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SAP PLM solving and how is that benefiting you?

Complex product structures with highly variant on products. New Product Development and Product Casting. Best Product Costing using Project Systems module on Assemble to Order projects. Process Industries formulation development is possible only with SAP without much development work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Kedar K.

EAM Consultant

Information Technology and Services

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4/21/2015

Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.

"Covering entire industry, great for business efficiency and process standardization but huge & compl"

4.5/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

As I said in title and recommended highly, it is a great product for large scale enterprises. SAP has well covered maximum (my opinion 90 to 95%) business scenarios and given features for configuration as per business needs. In addition SAP is active in continuously improving e.g. recent WIP for refurbishment. It really covers from product idea to product maintenance, service and scrapping. Though I can little comment on Product idea, I have a good work on processes thereafter. It is well defined manufacturing, operations, sales and services. It widely covers many supporting functions like variant configuration , classification, document management, engineering change management, batch management and integrates with other business suites. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

It's complex and huge nature does not allow a customer to reach upto the point to realize all benefits! I may not be at good position to say that but does SAP lacks in reaching to the customer by means of service, marketing or policies! It is very difficult to utilize all product features. Most of the time client is not willing to spend that much time in designing. Unlikely, I dislike so many features! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SAP PLM:

More time on designing, SAP audits! High client user involvement! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SAP PLM solving and how is that benefiting you?

1. Difficulty in managing business documents e.g document flow from notification to service order and to sales order - SAP DMS, achieve link objects, SAP GOS etc. 2. Difficulty in evaluating equipment, labor performances. 3. Difficulty in structuring technical objects and linking with cost structures. 4. Scheduling complex jobs for regulatory compliance/reporting. 5. Scheduling planned services/unplanned service. 6. External procurement. 7. Third party integration for ease in processes or to keep legacy requirements. 8. Discrete asset maintenance. 9. Resource & portfolio management. 10. Project structuring and management etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Bijaya D.

Principal Consultant

Information Technology and Services

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

Originally submitted 4/14/2015

Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.

"SAP PLM is a off the self product which caters all types of industry for diverse business functions"

5/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

The beauty of SAP PLM is its versatility and its fitment to any type of industry. As consultant I have done SAP implementation starting from big like manufacturing Automotive, auto supplier, heavy machinery, Energy/Utility, process industry to consumer product, appliances, retail etc. Being an SAP consultant, I always find this very suitable when you integrate any product development to mass production and finally to customer service. SAP PLM is not an single module, but it actually maps to all business PLM functionality using SAP PLM, CADDESKTOP, DMS, NPDI using PS, QM, PP and PPM, cFolder, Fleet management using SAP PM, Recipe Management etc. Now with strong portfolio of EHS module, SAP PLM is being a standard component solution in every fresh implementation. With my many of various PLM experience working in almost 5/6 PLM vendor products, I always feel , SAP PLM has always the edge compared to others, based on its , breadth, width, depth and potential to scale-able to any extent without any 2nd thought. SAP PLMs growth I have seen in last 8-10 years, which is exponential and customer focused. You say business function, SAP PLM can map your business. I am not a sales person from SAP, but as a core PLM consultant and being in this industry for 18 years having seen multiple PLM products and implementations. Now with capability of integrating SAP PLM with all platforms like mobile, portal, cloud, big data and other 3rd party products, it has become a niche product of future. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

The thing which I dislike some times, when the product is new in the market like alpha/beta version in the market having lot of issues which trickle down to customer irritation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SAP PLM:

I strongly recommend SAP PLM for any type of industry which has vision to expand and has multiple systems to deal various stages of the product development life-cycle. This is a great product to integrate with ERP and adapting to new technologies like Mobile and cloud and analytic. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SAP PLM solving and how is that benefiting you?

Business problems normally I resolve using SAP PLM-

- Not having proper alignment of product development and company strategy.

- No visibility of new product knowledge to manufacturing

- Integration of various CAD platform to ERP (SAP)

-Tracking history, changes in life-cycle of products from inception till death

-Easy Integration to other 3 rd party products

- Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Saurabh L.

SAP IS Professional Services (PPM/PLM/PS and related Integration areas) SME

Management Consulting

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4/22/2015

"Great Stuff, something SAP was missing for years and hence loss a big market share"

4/5

What do you like best about SAP PLM?

A complete end to end integration with R&D, design to Engineering, followed right to Manufacturing or Product delivery. Extras as SAP Visual Enterprise, SAP ECTR helps a seamless integration with other PLM tools. Helps easy collaboration with External Suppliers in the value chain via usage of DMS and /or cFolders. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SAP PLM?

A very late introduction by SAP to meet the R&D and Engineering LOB. Backend SAP ERP SCM processes have been stable in organization for long, and other vendors like Siemens Teamcentre etc established the market. The TCO and the ROI to shift to the new concepts in SAP PLM would be very tough to justify. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.