The next generation of product life cycle management (PLM) tools will help manufacturers face growing challenges in product development, according to Manufacturing Insights, an IDC company. The analysts also predict a movement to democratize PLM that will impact the design and workflow of the next generation of PLM tools. This movement will broaden the communities that benefit from using PLM tools and result in the emergence of a new type of manufacturing knowledge worker, called the "wiki worker".

"There's an opportunity here for manufacturers to use PLM tools more effectively to make better, faster decisions that the global economy demands," said Joe Barkai, practice director for the Product Lifecycle Strategies practice at Manufacturing Insights. "In the next generation of PLM, we expect to see that PLM is as much about effective product lifecycle decision-making as it is about product engineering. PLM tools must be used not only to support engineering tasks, but, more importantly, to create and manage a comprehensive product management strategy, culture and processes."

In addition to spotlighting the current product management challenges in his report, Barkai also identifies some of the key requirements that product development stakeholders want to see in the next generation of PLM tools, including:

• Facilitate better decision making by multiple product stakeholders
• Faster time to value from stakeholders' investment
• Innovation cultivation and intellectual property management
• Effective collaboration among heterogeneous communities

"Moving forward, we expect to see more and more stakeholders call for a new generation of analytic PLM tools that support innovation, optimize product portfolio management, accelerate time to market and promote product quality and regulatory compliance. We will see a movement to 'democratize' PLM, and, with that, new ways to use PLM tools," said Barkai.

About this study

Contact Manufacturing Insights for more information about the full report, "Next-Generation Product Lifecycle Management" (Doc #MI206274, June 2007).

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