Product Lifecycle Management

Product Lifecycle Management or PLM is a term used for the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture to service and disposal. PLM is a set of capabilities that enable an enterprise to effectively and efficiently innovate and manage its products and related services throughout the entire business lifecycle. It is one of the four cornerstones of a corporation's IT digital structure. All companies need to manage communications and information with its customers (CRM-Customer Relationship Management) and its suppliers (SCM-Supply chain management) and the resources within the enterprise (ERP-Enterprise resource planning). In addition, manufacturing engineering companies must also develop, describe, manage and communicate information about their products (PLM).

Documented benefits include:

* Reduced time to market
* Improved product quality
* Reduced prototyping costs
* Savings through the re-use of original data
* A framework for product optimization
* Reduced waste
* Savings through the complete integration of engineering workflows