Given today’s hyper-competitive business landscape, time and talent are of the essence.
If you’re designing a new product or shaking the dust off an old favorite, the faster you can automate every step — from napkin sketch to end-of-life — the more money you’ll likely make. That’s the power of the top-rated product lifecycle management software, also known as PLM software. Gone are the days when PLM was just for engineering. Savvy companies now use this strategic asset to get and stay ahead.
Helping Hands and No Headaches
The hidden costs of any software’s life cycle are the delays caused by crossed wires. Whether it’s a Chinese manufacturer using an outdated CAD file or an engineering team on the other side of the planet who needs to sign off on a schematic, a lack of coordination kills your profit margins. The good news: modern PLM software doesn’t just encourage cross-department coordination but also forces it. By using a single platform to store files, share info, and track progress, you unite virtual workforces and save real money.
Traceability: Your Secret Weapon
There is no need to point out that compliance is non-negotiable. Whether you’re adhering to ISO, sustainability regs, RoHS, conflict mineral laws, or bona fide safety standards, you’re required to document every part and process. Fortunately, the top PLM technologies make this task easier. Thanks to automation, any responsible party is automatically notified when it’s time to perform a quality task.
Meanwhile, any change, decision, or sign-off is automatically documented with timestamps. When push comes to shove, and you need to demonstrate you did everything possible to build a safe and effective widget, you can pull up the documentation in a snap.
From Clunky Coordination to Seamless Strategy
Imagine you could release your latest widget without going back and forth with spreadsheets, documents, and PDFs in every department. How much time and money have you spent on working on a revision? With a best-in-class PLM solution, everyone in R&D, procurement, compliance, and marketing has access to a single repository of truth.
It’s not just about saving yourself from errors. With fewer errors, you pick up speed. In fact, the typical product life cycle shrinks by about a quarter when you incorporate cutting-edge PLM technology, according to a Number Analytics report. That’s not just a process tweak; that’s a competitive advantage.
Built for Innovation, Not Just Organization
The best PLM solutions don’t just suppress your inner hoarder. They also bring all that customer feedback and marketplace insight back into the fold to promote future innovation. Consider the furniture company that found they could improve one of their top-selling products by 20% if they used the insights from performance data locked in their PLM vault. They increased consumer satisfaction by 15% because of this. This wasn’t an intuition-based solution but a data-driven solution.
Why It Matters to CEOs
Great PLM systems help lower the risks in developing products, reduce time to market, and cut down the total cost throughout a product’s life. That equates to better profit margins, a greater ability to course-correct, and more flexibility in the market. You can also count on ROI from a great PLM. In the age of digital transformation, it is the next generation of growth. Analysts have found that companies that integrate digital tools into their overall product strategy outperform customer expectations and scale compared to their peers.
The Right Fit Is Everything
This does not mean that one size fits all. Rather, you must find a combination that suits your size, location, and product base just right. If you’re a fast-growing startup, you’ll need one kind of platform. If you’re a multinational conglomerate managing thousands of products in countless portfolios, you’ll need another.
If you’re shopping around, start by looking at where you need help now. Are your teams so segmented that they’re working in isolation? Is every revision for a product line a massive-but-murky undertaking? Are you drowning in digital paperwork? Solving these issues will guide you toward a system that can help your operations.
Ready to Future-Proof Your Product Strategy?
You aren’t just investing to accomplish what you want today. The world’s market landscape is changing, and consumers are evolving. To be ready for whatever comes next, you will need tools that streamline the process. Quick, efficient, and sustainable innovation will give you that competitive edge.
