Design News Radio Explores Next-Generation PLM

Curious about how Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools and concepts are changing the face of product design? Make sure to join us Thursday, Jan. 26, at 2:00 p.m. EST for Design News Radio's program, PLM: The Next Generation (register here), to find out how.

I'll be joined by Dr. Michael Grieves, a noted PLM author and professor at the Consortium of Universities for International Studies. Dr. Grieves wrote one of the consummate books on PLM years ago, Product Lifecycle Management: Driving the Next Generation of Lean Thinking, and he's just followed up with his latest take on the discipline, Virtually Perfect: Driving Innovation and Lean Products through Product Lifecycle Management.

PLM was launched more than a decade ago with the lofty vision of creating an enterprise-wide, central repository for all product-related data, from the earliest customer requirements feedback through quality and failure data collected in the field by maintenance and support personnel. The idea beyond this closed-loop vision of PLM was to have continuous workflow and continuous flow of information so every constituent in the product development process, whether in an internal functional group or part of an outside partner, was working off the same set of information. The goal is to drive innovation, to reduce error and development time, and to take costs out of the equation.

Early adoption of PLM has brought wholesale changes to the product development processes of companies in industries such as automotive, aerospace, and defense. In its more recent, user-accessible format, PLM has begun to filter into the processes of smaller manufacturers in other industries, bringing about significant business benefits there as well.

In our radio program, Dr. Grieves and I will discuss the progress PLM has made over the last decade, the challenges companies still face in implementation and getting value, and how new technologies like cloud and mobile computing stand poised to take the discipline to the next level.

So register now for the radiocast, PLM: The Next Generation, to be held Jan. 26, at 2:00 p.m. EST. Following the radio program, there will be a live, online chat with Dr. Grieves where he will field your questions.

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