Efficient and sustainable product management is a crucial challenge for modern companies. Pressures from an increasingly competitive global market, changing regulations, and growing consumer awareness of sustainability require an innovative approach.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) emerges as an ideal solution to these needs: a method that embraces the entire product lifecycle, from initial conception to its withdrawal from the market, including any recycling or disposal phases. This approach enables more agile, modern and effective management, ensuring that every aspect of the production cycle is integrated into the company’s strategy.

The operation of PLM

PLM is a strategy that integrates all elements of manufacturing: human resources, tools, processes, data and systems. At the heart of this methodology is information management, which must flow freely both within the company and throughout the entire value chain. This optimal circulation of data is critical to ensuring the agility and effectiveness that characterize PLM.

An effective PLM system connects every aspect of product development and management, ensuring that all stakeholders have access to up-to-date and relevant information. The main stages he focuses on are:

  • Conception and Design
  • Development and Engineering
  • Production
  • Distribution and Support
  • End of Life and Recycling

In summary, PLM functions as a central platform that gathers information, facilitates collaboration, optimizes processes, and helps decision makers through data.

PLM and SAP: tools and resources

PLM software is designed to help companies manage every stage of a product’s life cycle by centralizing all information in a single data source. This approach encourages collaboration between departments, simplifies processes and reduces errors. It also stimulates innovation by accelerating the launch of new products, which can be conceived, designed and manufactured in a more efficient and coordinated manner.

SAP offers a range of tools for product lifecycle management, ranging from cross-cutting solutions to vertical industry-specific applications. Below we delve into two main tools.

SAP Product Lifecycle Management

SAP PLM is the dedicated solution¹ that allows you to follow the entire product journey, from ideation through prototyping to development and deployment. Its strength lies in its ability to define development and production processes within the same ecosystem, leveraging advanced technologies such as Digital Twin. A key strength is the focus on sustainability, integrated from the earliest stages of ideation to product disposal or recycling.

SAP Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management

SAP PPM offers companies advanced tools to manage projects and portfolios efficiently, optimizing resources, time and costs. With planning and monitoring capabilities, SAP PPM provides a centralized overview of activities, promoting collaboration among teams and supporting strategic management of business priorities. The platform enables data-driven decision-making in real time, improving operational effectiveness and project success.

Best practices for adopting a PLM system.

The benefits of Product Lifecycle Management are quite obvious, as we have seen so far, and the tools made available by SAP for PLM allow it to be grafted into the corporate supply chain without any particular problems. To do this in the best possible way, however, the project should be born with the right prerequisites. We recall here some of the most relevant best practices for starting a PLM software adoption project.

  • Set clear goals and strategy. Establish the main purpose of the project, whether it is to reduce development time, improve collaboration, or increase product quality. Clear and measurable goals will help evaluate success and return on investment.
  • Conduct assessment and planning. Assess existing processes, identifying critical issues and areas for improvement. Define budgets, financial resources and personnel needed, considering both initial and long-term maintenance costs.
  • Integrating PLM with other business systems. Ensure integration with systems such as ERP, CRM, and WMS to ensure seamless data flow and avoid problems of outdated or duplicate information.
  • Ensuring data quality. Establish clear data management practices, with standardized formats and regular processes for updating and cleaning information.
  • Provide appropriate training on PLM. Plan training sessions specific to the business use case, working with the partner implementing the solution.
  • Implement a pilot project. Select an organizational unit to test the system, gathering valuable feedback before large-scale implementation.
  • Documenting practices. As best procedures are discovered, document them to make them accessible to the entire company and encourage rapid and shared evolution.

PLM for sustainable product management

Product Lifecycle Management is an indispensable approach for companies aiming for modern, agile and sustainable management of their products. By integrating people, processes and technologies into a single ecosystem, PLM offers a holistic, centralized view of the entire product lifecycle, from conception to disposal or recycling. This approach not only optimizes internal processes, but also positions the company competitively in an increasingly demanding and sustainability-conscious market.

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Note 1, source: SAP website

Summary