A number of years ago, a series of events took off that, in addition to the more obvious and immediately perceptible consequences experienced by people and companies, highlighted the need to thoroughly rethink business processes. This need is particularly felt in production and supply chain management and, more broadly, in business productivity management.
Productivity is understood not only as supply chain protection, but also as product life cycle management. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), a term coined in the 1990s, has regained particular relevance after 2020.
What happened was summarized perfectly by McKinsey in an interesting article¹ on next-generation supply chains. Before 2020, strategic supply chain management efforts focused primarily on three primary objectives: service, quality, cost, and capital.
Today three additional parameters need to be added to these three:
- Resilience because the increasingly variable and volatile market, including in commodities, brings disruptions that could not be predicted just a few years ago.
- Agility because market demand is also increasingly perturbable and subject to even sudden changes.
- Economic, social, and ecological sustainability to meet the urgent needs that are becoming apparent from more and more quarters.
In this scenario, PLM emerges as the main tool to support companies in this process of overhauling their supply chain.
Product Lifecycle Management as a tool for sustainability
Product Lifecycle Management, in its modern sense, is not just a strategic approach to efficiently managing production processes. In the post-2020 era, PLM systems offer companies flexible and robust tools to adapt to rapidly changing markets and increasingly present and relevant environmental requirements.
This evolution of PLM is at the heart of a paradigm that not only aims to optimize resources and reduce waste throughout the product lifecycle, but also to strengthen a business ethic focused on ecological and social responsibility.
Integrating sustainability principles into PLM enables companies to go beyond simple regulatory compliance, propelling them into a dimension where sustainability becomes a driver of innovation and a competitive differentiator. Through detailed analysis of the product life cycle, from design to distribution, companies are able to identify the most effective interventions to reduce environmental impact, improve energy efficiency and promote the use of renewable or recycled materials. This approach not only responds to the growing demands of increasingly environmentally conscious markets and consumers, but also lays the foundation for a resilient, future-oriented business model capable of meeting the challenges of an ever-changing world.
Sustainability in PLM also manifests itself in the form of resilience, with the ability to anticipate and manage change by rapidly adapting production processes in response to external events, for example, changes in the availability of raw materials or changes in environmental regulations.
The resilience of a smart supply chain
The resilience of a supply chain today is not only a desirable feature but a crucial necessity to ensure operational continuity and stability. The intelligent supply chain, supported by Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) methodologies, is a strategic response to unpredictable market changes and logistical challenges in increasing complexity. In this context, PLM is confirmed as an indispensable approach for a supply chain that not only reacts to external stimuli but is also proactive in preventing or mitigating them.
This resilience is based on the integration of advanced technologies such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT), which ensure constant and detailed monitoring and analysis of every aspect of the supply chain. With these technologies, changes in demand can be more accurately anticipated, potential supply disruptions identified early, and corrective actions implemented quickly and efficiently.
Product lifecycle management with SAP PLM and SAP tools
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) implemented through the SAP PLM suite proves to be a catalyst for innovation and sustainability in the contemporary industrial fabric. This suite, seamlessly integrated with the SAP ERP system, makes it possible to create a supply chain that is not only resilient and risk-proof, but also sustainable, thanks to the efficient management and sharing of information among all entities involved, both internal and external to the organization, while ensuring data security.
At the heart of this solution is SAP Enterprise Product Development (SAP EPD), which enables companies to innovate and introduce new products faster by synergistically integrating information, processes and people. This integration manifests itself in a range of capabilities: from Requirements management to ensure traceability and transparency, to Collaboration to reduce the risk of supply chain disruptions, to Systems engineering to promote an engineering culture based on verifiable models. In addition, SAP Responsible Design and Production focuses on designing sustainable products for a circular economy, while SAP for Product Compliance ensures product compliance at all stages, from development to sale.
¹: Source. McKinsey article
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