You're struggling to manage your product design. What PLM software should you be using?

1 What is PLM software?

PLM software is a tool that helps you manage the entire lifecycle of your products, from concept to launch to retirement. It allows you to store, organize, and share all the information and data related to your products, such as sketches, specifications, materials, costs, samples, feedback, and revisions. It also helps you collaborate with your internal and external stakeholders, such as designers, engineers, manufacturers, and retailers, and track the progress and status of your product development projects.

2 What are the benefits of PLM software?

Using PLM software can bring many advantages, such as improving product quality and consistency by reducing errors, rework, and waste. It can also speed up the product design process by automating tasks, workflows, and approvals. Moreover, it can enhance the creativity and innovation of the product design team by giving them a centralized platform to share ideas, inspiration, and feedback. Ultimately, PLM software can help boost the profitability and competitiveness of your business by lowering costs, increasing margins, and reducing time to market.

3 How to choose the right PLM software for your business?

When selecting a PLM software for your business, there are many factors to consider. Firstly, you need to ensure the software can scale with your business growth, support your product range and complexity, and align with your strategic objectives. Additionally, you should factor in the budget and resources required for implementation, maintenance, and upgrades. Furthermore, you should consider the user needs and preferences of designers, engineers, managers, and suppliers. This includes the usability, functionality, and compatibility of the PLM software with existing systems and tools. Ultimately, you need a PLM software that offers a good return on investment.

4 What are some features to look for in a PLM software?

When evaluating different PLM software options, you should look for features that can enhance your product design process. Cloud-based and mobile-friendly PLM software can give you flexibility, security, and accessibility to your product data and collaboration tools. It is also beneficial to have a customizable and configurable PLM software so that it can be tailored to your business needs and preferences. Additionally, an integrable and interoperable PLM software can enable you to connect and exchange data with other systems. Finally, an analytics and insights PLM software can help you monitor the performance and impact of your product design process.

5 How to implement and use a PLM software effectively?

Once you have chosen the right PLM software for your business, you need to implement and use it effectively to maximize its benefits. To do this, it's important to plan and prepare your resources, data, and processes. You should define goals, scope, and timeline for the implementation, assign roles and responsibilities to your team members and stakeholders, clean and migrate existing product data, and optimize product design processes. Additionally, you must provide users with clear documentation, tutorials, and guidance on how to access, navigate, and operate the PLM software. It's also vital to offer ongoing technical and functional support and feedback to resolve any issues or challenges they may encounter. After implementation, you should evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the PLM software by collecting data and feedback from your users and customers. Finally, identify and implement any improvements or enhancements based on the data and feedback.