Product Lifecycle Management

The Product Lifecycle Management global market research study delivers current market analysis plus a five year market and technology forecast. The study is available in multiple editions including worldwide, all regions, and most major countries.

​Product Lifecycle Management Is Part of a Broader Digital Transformation Strategy

ARC’s research on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) finds that healthy growth is expected across multiple geographies and industries as innovative technologies, complex product needs, and digital transformation challenges are being solved by enhanced PLM solution sets. Despite headwinds in the automotive and aerospace industries they continue to be the largest adopters of PLM solutions.

Pharmaceutical & biotech is embracing product lifecycle management, resulting in a leading position of growth. PLM helps companies reduce time to market, streamline processes, increase revenues, and cut cost while meeting stringent regulatory demands. Solutions can range from drug development, molecular simulation for compounding, clinical trials management, and laboratory data management to name a few.

Product Lifecycle Management Strategic Issues

In addition to providing a five-year market forecast, the PLM market research provides detailed quantitative current market data and addresses key strategic issues as follows.

Explore Options When Selecting Deployment & Licensing Models    

For deployment options, companies are presented with on-premise data centers, on-premise private clouds, hosted data centers, hosted private clouds, and public or hybrid cloud options, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. The three primary payment structures are either high-cost perpetual licenses with recurring maintenance fees, subscription licenses that include updates and support services, or curated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) packages. 

For companies considering moving to the cloud, most PLM suppliers are already set up to provide managed cloud services. This can be hugely beneficial for companies that lack the IT infrastructure or expertise to host the software on premise. Even large companies, which have previously invested in the necessary infrastructure, are realizing the benefits of moving to cloud computing. Cloud computing and related services empower companies to deploy projects faster and companies can scale as needed. 

This deployment option also eliminates the capital expenditure required to install or upgrade a server infrastructure. Lower maintenance cost associated with hardware and necessary IT staff is achieved through economy of scale; so is greater resiliency and redundancy of the data center. However, despite all the benefits of cloud computing, on-premise solutions are still viable and sometimes preferable. 

The primary advantage of on-premise deployment is control. With on-premise solutions, companies can work with PLM providers to customize the software to meet their specific needs. Because PLM solutions are integral to the operations of an engineering organization, the customization and broader functionality offered with on-premise deployment can sometimes outweigh other deployment options.

Foster a Cross-collaborative Culture    

Now that a clear vision has emerged to digitize the product lifecycle from design through the manufacturing, successful manufacturers need to integrate an end-to-end solution involving multiple constituents within an organization. Leverage relationships between people inside the organization and outside the organization. Product complexity is driving a need for more collaboration as PLM developers are approaching new territory with their product development. Companies must now pair their internal experts in collaborative relationships along supply chains, consultants, and their customers.

Explore the Benefits of Virtual Simulations and Digital Twins    

The use of digital twins is becoming more of a standardized component of an overall digital transformation strategy. Many industries are recognizing that the implementation of digital twins is important in implementing predictive and prescriptive analytics to optimize operational performance. In discrete industries, such as automotive A&D and manufacturing, a digital twin can be implemented to connect all product data throughout a new product development cycle. One way to envision such a digital twin is as an information model that forms associations between all the tools or methods used by engineers to design, test, and validate a product. These include design requirements, 2D/3D models, virtual simulations for test and validation, and real-time functional field data, leading PLM suppliers to offer all these technologies, including platforms and solutions required to implement digital twins across a range of industries.

Advanced virtual simulation technology is an integral component of the digital twin. Comprehensive simulation platforms can simulate and validate the functionality of product design concurrently, enabling the designers to validate their designs as they go. In the context of the digital twin, real-time sensor data can be used to populate simulation applications that then emulate the physical product and enable design improvements.