In today’s rapidly evolving and highly competitive market, organizations across industries are constantly striving to improve their product development processes. The ability to bring innovative products to the consumer quickly and efficiently is a key differentiator for companies looking to stay ahead of the curve. This is where Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) comes into play. PLM is a strategic approach that enables businesses to effectively manage their products throughout their entire lifecycle, from ideation to retirement. SAP, a leading provider of enterprise software solutions, offers a comprehensive PLM solution that empowers organizations to unleash the full potential of their product development processes.

Recently we invited some of the PLM industry experts to share with us and the PLM ecosystem what their thoughts were on the Power of PLM and how it can streamline processes, improve efficiency, and reduce time to market. Discover the benefits and use cases in various industries. You can watch the full video segment at the end of the blog.

In this blog post I want to outline a few highlights that our esteemed guests had shared.

Benjamin Zorn, Senior Consultant Customer and Partner, DSC Software AG; shared his thoughts about how the power of PLM enables a variety of use cases for various industries like,

• Electronics manufacturers benefiting from PLM software’s ability to offer.
• Automotive manufacturers benefiting from PLM software’s ability to offer Improved Collaboration.
• Medical device manufacturers benefiting from PLM software’s ability to offer Optimization of Product Development.
• Aircraft companies benefiting from PLM software’s ability to offer Version Control and Change Management.
• Pharmaceutical companies benefiting from PLM software’s ability to offer Compliance and Regulations.
• Household appliance manufacturers benefiting from PLM software’s ability to offer Cost Reduction.

Benjamin also highlighted the for Otto Fuchs KG, where he explained how the company accelerated their product development process using the SAP Engineering Control Center and its integrations with ERP and PLM software from SAP. Their implementation and deployment took a rapid four months’ time, and they were able to

• Establish the SAP system as a single source of truth for all their design data.
• Reduced time to market through automated processes.
• Easy access to design data across teams.
• Increased productivity and reduction of errors.

His insights showcased how enterprises can build a solid foundation for a fully integrated and future-proof PLM system that grows together with its customers.

Horst Heckhorn, SVP SAP Solutions & Business Development Executive, CENIT AG, shared his thoughts on SAP PLM powering enterprises in their journey of digital transformation, here are his key findings:

• PLM is not just an application but a concept.
• The “need for speed” in product development innovation.
• Rise of individualization of product
• The establishment of a Digital Thread that enables enterprises to make more competitive products and bring them faster to market.
• The challenge with old-fashioned thinking and local optimization.
• Real PLM experts who understand the customer requirements and help establish real-value-based business use cases.
• Add-ons and extensions that the SAP PLM ecosystem companies offer to bridge the white-spaces and integrate all systems to the company’s digital core.

His insights underlined the key to a successful PLM implementation, that addresses the people, process, and technology dimensions.

David Kramp, SAP PLM Sales Director, LeverX, shared his thoughts on the offered by SAP PLM solutions with lightweight cloud applications helping customers to take their product innovation from Idea-to-Market in record time. He spoke about

• Time-to-profit for enterprises rapidly innovating newer products and offerings.
• Sharing of design and specification information not just as documents but also visualized for the extended enterprise.
• Bringing cross-departmental teams on the same platform to work and collaborate for product success.
• Integrated nature of SAP PLM in the ERP that enables efficient change management and optimization.
• Robust handover-to-manufacturing and real-time monitoring helping bring data and insights back to the design teams.
• Designing sustainably and building products responsibly, bringing the development process closer to circular economy.
• Taking traditional PLM to the cloud with the various SAP PLM solutions and extensions.

His insights emphasised the power of PLM solutions integrated with ERP that optimise and simplify the product development and management processes.

One thing was clear from all what our guests shared: modern organizations need to adopt agile and efficient product development processes to stay competitive. From streamlining product development to enhancing collaboration, data management, regulatory compliance, and supply chain optimization, SAP PLM solutions provides a holistic approach to product lifecycle management.

By leveraging PLM solutions from SAP, organizations can drive innovation, reduce time-to-market, improve product quality, and ultimately achieve sustainable growth in today’s dynamic marketplace.

Learn more about solutions from SAP’s PLM Portfolio:

• SAP Product Lifecycle Management Software
• SAP S/4HANA
• SAP Enterprise Product Development
• SAP Teamcenter by Siemens

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