Total PLM

What is CAx software?

The PLM arena is crowded with concepts, theories, and acronyms. For the newcomer, it's a lot to sift through while trying to stay "in of the know." If you are just entering the PLM domain, this little primer will help.

CAx is an acronym that collectively refers to three different applications: CAD, CAE, and CAM. These are the foundational PLM data authoring/creation applications as they are long-established and most directly represent the physical product in the digital world. We will concisely review each of them and introduce related terms and expressions.

The Three Sustainable Value Drivers of Data Management Applications

PLM technology has become an umbrella term for a great many tools. Every day another software vendor claims they have cornered a new PLM niche. They might provide an insightful new way to access a legacy database, relate important attributes across silos of information, or enable multiple views of a product's bill of material. There is tremendous value in technologies such as these, but how do you go about quantifying their value to your organization?

PLM and ERP - Perfect Together?

PLM Technology can be a difficult domain to define. In recent years, software vendors have further blurred the lines between PLM and other technologies as they look for growth across enterprise IT domains. The boundary between PLM and ERP domains is the newest front line in the battle. ERP vendors especially have made their product categories more ambiguous, crossing over into multiple IT areas. ERP vendors feel that it's a logical extension for systems that already manage part inventory and production scheduling to reach back into engineering and integrate the product development processes as well.

Is it a good idea for you to follow one vendor's approach and put all your eggs in one basket? To answer that for you, we'll attempt to stake out some of the PLM-ERP gray areas and explore what each technology is designed to do.

What is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Technology?

There is a great deal of confusion over what is (or is not) considered Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technology. Analysts, vendors, and consultants have defined and redefined the space exhaustively- each with a slightly different spin depending on their point of view and all equally valid.

AMR Research estimates that the market for PLM software and services will surpass $20B yearly spend by 2012. Vendors expect better than 10% growth annually. So whatever it is, it's big. But how should you- the customer investigating the purchase and implementation of PLM software- characterize the domain when making buying decisions and justifying them to management?