What is PLM?

PLM stands for Product Lifecycle Management and describes the strategic concept in managing product-, process-, manufacturing- and service-knowledge.

During the 1980s the computer aided design (CAD) of mechanical, electrical and electronically products started, e.g. in the aviation-, mechanical engineering and shipbuilding industry. The fast growing amount of digital CAD documents required a solution for managing the huge amount of data. Furthermore, additional CAx-applications were employed such as NC-programming and -simulation (Computer Aided Manufacturing, CAM) in the sector of product development. This development then caused the need to organize the several different systems. The so-called Engineering Data Management (EDM) systems were the result, followed by Product Data Management (PDM) systems that were meant to meet the requirements of data management and system integration.