Product life cycle management (PLM) is a systematic process of managing the entire life cycle of a product from beginning, design and development to final retirement or disposal. PLM is generally broken into four stages, including introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage and decline stage. A solid understanding of the different product life cycle stages and the limited lifespan products have will help organizations better manage new product development.
PLM solutions help define, execute, measure and manage key product-related business processes. A PLM system can offer positive outcomes to your business, such as ways to reduce costs. Product life cycle management helps organizations make product improvements while saving money and increasing productivity. Initially, it can facilitate a streamlining of services through an increase in organizational communication.
Product Life Cycle Management helps make complex processes more streamlined, cohesive and simplified. Additional benefits include:
- Improved product quality and reliability
- Capability to quickly identify potential sales opportunities
- Ability to use original data again
- Reduce waste
- Improved forecasting
- Supply chain collaboration maximization
Product development has become strategically crucial to the financial performance of most organizations. PLM offers organizations various benefits, such as lower production costs and accelerations in new product designs and launches.