Exploring the Basic Features and Challenges of Traditional Product Lifecycle Management Systems

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the strategic process of managing all the data of the product from the design up to its disposal or recycling stage. In product development, the PLM data is the key source for better decision-making at different stages of the product lifecycle. To this aim, several PLMs have been implemented in industrial sectors. Among these PLMs, each carries some common as well as certain distinct features and characteristics over its counterparts. However, due to the complex and decentralized nature of today’s product lifecycles, all of the currently implemented PLMs face certain challenges. In this context, various software reviews and selection websites have been explored to investigate the core functionalities as well as the challenges associated with the currently implemented PLMs. Moreover, this study analyzed that most of the existing PLMs do not contain all the required features and therefore, industries usually integrate different software to make a full-fledged PLM system. However, this practice results in reducing the overall system efficiency. Therefore, this study emphasizes that it is the need of the day to adopt a novel technology i.e. blockchain to overcome the PLM challenges and its consequences in the production industries.