Enterprise Resource Planning
MODULE 14 : Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Product Data
Management (PDM)
Topics
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
• Significance of PLM
• Product Data Management (PDM)
• PDM, a subset of PLM
• Role of ERP, SCM, CRM, etc. in PLM and PDM
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
PLM is the process by which manufacturing companies develop, describe, manage and
communicate information about their products, both internally and among their supply chain
partners. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) usually consists of products, investment period,
growth, maturity and decline stages. PLM itself is a way of thinking, not the management of
specific means.
Benefits and Significance of PLM
• At its best PLM software enables engineers to access more accurate information of part,
supplier and product, so that they can make better design decisions.
• This in turn enables the company to produce better products that are less costly to produce.
• With PLM software, the product development process itself becomes more efficient through
automation and technology enabled collaboration.
PLM manages the innovation process – enabling companies to quickly create right-to-market
products and to leverage part re-use. It focuses on the digital, context-oriented intellectual
property (information), functions and business processes – the assets associated with product and
plant definition. It manages the definition lifecycle and the relationships between product–related
information and processes.
Relation between PLM, ERP, CRM, and SCM
Figure 1: PLM, ERP, CRM and SCM
Prepared by Dr. NASINA JIGEESH
Enterprise Resource Planning
PLM vs. ERP
ERP and PLM solutions address different business needs and processes.
For example, PLM links product requirements to the functional definition of a product, the
geometry of the product, and the service procedures used to maintain the product. PLM
applications have been designed and optimized to maintain digital information in context.
ERP ensures that a quality product is produced according to customer demand in a timely, cost-
controlled manner. It is focused on the physical, transaction-oriented business processes and
deliverable assets, and addresses production planning and scheduling, inventory management,
cost, and other physical aspects of product production. It has been optimized to manage
transactions and large volumes of historical transaction data.
PLM architecture
Obj ect-orien t
ed
Struct uredforkn owl e
dgereusea ndi
nformat
ionma nagement
Ad- hocr el
at i
onshipnavi
gationinmulti
pledir
ect
ionsov ermul
ti
pleobj
ectt
ype
s
Adva ncedv ersi
on,ite
rat
ion,basel
ine
,andviewca pa
bilit
ies
Ri chr el
a t
ion shi
pswi t
hconte x
tualat
tr
ibut
es
Con figur at
ionma nagementintr
oducedearl
yinth
ede signproc
ess
Fi
gur
e2:PLM Pr
oce
ss
Thispr
o ce
ssb e
ginsatt
heear
lies
tphasesofde si
gnanddevel
opmentandcont
inuesthr
ougho utthee nti
re
l
ifeoftheproduct
,wh i
chin
cludesproduc
tionl a
unch
,volumeproduc
tion
,and,fi
n a
lly
,r e
tir
e ment .PLM
so
ftwarehelpscompani
esbet
terma na
gethe irpr
oduc
tsth
roughoutt
heirl
if
ecycl
einpa rtbys er
vi nga sa
si
nglec e
ntra
ls our
ceo fpr
odu c
ti n
format
i onthatcanbes ys
temati
cal
lyshareda cr
o s
sa ne xtended
ent
erpr
iseandaccess
edbyothersys
tems.
UnlikeEn t
erpr
iseResou
r c
ePlanni
ng(ERP)syst
ems,whichexceli
nma nagi
ngapr oduct'
smanufact
uri
ng
datawhileinproduct
ion,PLM sys
temsar
ede s
igne
dt oma n
agea l
ltheprod
uct
'sinfo
r mati
onfrom i
nit
ial
concepttoendoflif
e.I
np art
ic
ula
r,PLM sof
twar
eprovide
sbe ne
fit
sduri
ngthepro
d uct'
sdesi
gna n
d
developmentphasewhene ngi
nee
rsmakethecri
ti
caldesi
gnde c
isi
onstha
tdete
rminet hequal
it
ya ndcost
oftheproductoveri
t'
sli
feti
me.
Prepared by Dr. NASINA JIGEESH
Enterprise Resource Planning
ERParc
hitecture
Transacti
on-ori
ented
Organizeda r
oundphy s
icalproduct
sandproces
ses
Rela
tion shi
psarethi
nan dusuall
yunidi
rec
tion
al
Inf
lexiblenavi
gation
We a
kc onfi
gura
tionma nagementtool
s
Fi
gur
e3.Pr
ima
ryEn
ter
pri
seDoma
ins
Largee nte
rpr
is
esma yin
tegra
tePLM an
dERPt owor kdownwar
dalongthei
rsuppl
yva
lue
ch
a in.Thesecompani
eswanttoena
blet
hei
rsuppli
erstoex
cha
ngede
sign,c
hange,an
dot
her
i
nfor mat
iondi
rect
lywi
ththei
rPLM a
ndERPenvir
onme n
ts
Product Data Management (PDM)
Produc
tDa taManage
me nt(
PDM)i sb a
sed ontechnologyst
anda
rdi
zat
iona
st h
eb a
sis,to
computer
-ai
deddes
ignCAD ( Comput
erAssi
s t
antDesign)asame ansofpr
oductt
echnic
al
i
nformati
onandt
heoutpu
tofPDM canfor
mtheba s
isofERPda t
a.
PDM, a subset of PLM
PDM isas ubse
tofala
rgerc
onceptofproduc
tli
fec
yc l
emana
gement(PLM).PLM enc
ompas
ses
th
epr oces
sesneededt
olaunchnew product
s,managech
angest
oe xis
ti
ngproduc
tsandr
eti
re
product
sattheendoft
hei
rli
fe.
Prepared by Dr. NASINA JIGEESH
Enterprise Resource Planning
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT (PLM)
Document Management P
Component Management D
Configuration BOM Management M
Clas
sifi
c a
tionMa nagement
Workflow/Pr ocessMa na
geme nt
ChangeMa na gement
Port
foli
oMa n agement
Proj
ectRe sour ceMa n
ageme nt
Quali
ty&Compl i
anceMa nagement
Requiremen t
sMa nagement&Sy st
emsEngine
eri
ng
Ma n
uf act
uringPr oces
sMa nagement
Ma i
ntenance&Re pai
rOpe r
ati
onsMa n
age
me nt
Sourci
n g&Suppl yCh ai
nMa n
agement
Prepared by Dr. NASINA JIGEESH
