Product lifecycle management

This commodity is about the appellation that refers to managing artefact architecture and assembly details. For the business term, see Artefact activity aeon administration (marketing).

A all-encompassing lifecycle of products

In industry, artefact lifecycle administration (PLM) is the action of managing the absolute lifecycle of a artefact from its conception, through architecture and manufacture, to account and disposal.1 PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a artefact advice courage for companies and their continued enterprise.2

PLM systems advice organizations in arresting with the accretion complication and engineering challenges of developing new articles for the all-around aggressive markets.3

Product lifecycle administration (PLM) should be acclaimed from 'Product activity aeon administration (marketing)' (PLCM). PLM describes the engineering aspect of a product, from managing descriptions and backdrop of a artefact through its development and advantageous life; whereas, PLCM refers to the bartering administration of activity of a artefact in the business bazaar with account to costs and sales measures.

Product lifecycle administration is one of the four cornerstones of a corporation's advice technology structure.4 All companies charge to administer communications and advice with their barter (CRM-customer accord management), their suppliers (SCM-supply alternation management), their assets aural the action (ERP-enterprise ability planning) and their planning (SDLC-systems development activity cycle). In addition, accomplishment engineering companies accept to aswell develop, describe, administer and acquaint advice about their products.

One anatomy of PLM is alleged people-centric PLM. While acceptable PLM accoutrement accept been deployed alone on absolution or during the absolution phase, people-centric PLM targets the architecture phase.

As of 2009, ICT development (EU-funded PROMISE activity 2004–2008) has accustomed PLM to extend above acceptable PLM and accommodate sensor abstracts and absolute time 'lifecycle accident data' into PLM, as able-bodied as acceptance this advice to be fabricated accessible to altered players in the absolute lifecycle of an alone artefact (closing the advice loop). This has resulted in the addendum of PLM into closed-loop lifecycle administration (CL2M).