PUNE

New Trends
in PLM
LM started crea ng a buzz around the years 1998
Pto 2000 and its scope was mainly to address the
design and engineering world (CAD Data, Bill of
Materials or BOM, Change and Configura on
Management, Analysis & Simula on) and also facilita ng
the supply­chain collabora on. From a tool limited to
engineers, PLM is now turning into a decision­making
pla orm for CXOs.
• Dashboard Intelligence that helps enterprises monitor
and manage everything in real­ me and provides
personalized dashboards for be er, faster decisionmaking.
These dashboards connect all internal and
external systems together ­ industry­specific data,
social analy cs and Smart Tagging to enable decisions.
• The business strategy of PLM companies is now
moving from selling products to selling industryspecific
solu ons. The big PLM players are targe ng
industries including Healthcare, Hi­Tech, AEC
(architecture, engineering and construc on) and are in
the process of extending their offerings.
• The scope of PLM is expanding beyond engineering
needs to serve the sales and marke ng aspects as well.
This allows leveraging the digital assets built during
the product design phase for sales and marke ng.
Thus, PLM which was tradi onally focused on
op mising costs is now evolving as a tool to
strengthen the top line of companies.
• Latest technologies like Augmented Reality and 3D
Prin ng are extending the reach of PLM from B2B to
B2B2C. For instance, Dassault Systèmes’
3DEXPERIENCE pla orm addresses every
department in a company, from marke ng to sales to
engineering.
Opportuni es
in the PLM Space
he big players are focused on providing a
Tcomplete suite of PLM products but may not have
been able to reach every nook and corner. This
provides some exci ng opportuni es for smaller players:
• Add­on product development (Examples:
GeomCaliper, DFMPro by Geometric)
• Products for niche areas (Examples: NestLib by
Geometric, AutoCast ­ X by 3DFoundryTech)
• Interoperability solu ons
• Content genera on
• Services and trainings (Examples: Prorigo, Prescient,
Proto­Tech, Flexur, IFS Academy)
here are a few examples of start­ups thinking ahead of the big players and developing futuris c technology or products.
TThese usually come in the radar of big players where they become partners or are acquired or merged. (Examples: RTT
acquired by Dassault Systèmes, ThingWorx acquired by PTC)
While PLM systems are mature for tradi onal industries such as Aerospace and Defense, Automo ve and Heavy industries,
there are other industries including Hi­Tech, Consumer Goods, Fashion and Banking, Financial Services and Ins tu ons (BFSI)
which are adop ng PLM in a big way. This opens up new avenues to build products to suit specific industry needs (Examples:
Gerber PLM for Apparel industry, Innova on Factory by Dassault Systèmes for the BFSI sector)
New technological trends including Cloud, Mobile, Big Data & Analy cs, Internet of Things (IoT) and 3D Prin ng open up doors
to re­think PLM in new ways such as 3D modeling on Cloud, Mobility apps, IoT and Analy cs apps for op mizing and monitoring
manufacturing processes.
A new ecosystem is fast emerging where there is a strong synergy between small companies in niche technology areas and
established PLM players that complement each other to provide comprehensive solu ons to customers.
THINK PUNE REPORT 2014
chejad@gmail.com
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