TechDrummer is the premier site for latest in the PLM domain. We cover PLM news, latest jobs, projects, solutions, software in the Product Life Cycle Management field

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise.

It is one of the four cornerstones of a corporation’s information technology structure. All companies need to manage communications and information with their customers (CRM-Customer Relationship Management), their suppliers (SCM-Supply Chain Management), their resources within the enterprise (ERP-Enterprise Resource Planning) and their planning (SDLC-Systems Development Life Cycle). In addition, manufacturing engineering companies must also develop, describe, manage and communicate information about their products.

Product data management (PDM) The use of software or other tools to track and control data related to a particular product. The data tracked usually involves the technical specifications of the product, specifications for manufacture and development, and the types of materials that will be required to produce the good. The use of product data management allows a company to track the various costs associated with the creation and launch of a product.

Market Share

Total spending on PLM software and services is estimated to be above $15 billion a year but it is difficult to find any two market analysis reports that agree on figures. Market growth estimates are in the 10% area.

Looking at segment split, currently most of the revenue generated is in the area of EDA and high end MCAD (each above 15%), followed by AEC, low-end MCAD, and PDM (each above 10%). The other notable segment is CAE at above 5%. It is however predicted that the collaborative PDM and visualization areas will increase in dominance.