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In the industrial scenario, product lifecycle management is the method of managing the total lifespan of a particular product. It starts from the conception stage, then leads on to designing and manufacturing, to advisory services and finally the disposal stage. PLM combines data, people, business systems; IT processes and offers all essential product information that is essential to the enterprise.

Product lifecycle management is included as one of the four keystones of any organization’s IT structure. It is imperative for all enterprises to manage information and communication with customers (CRM), suppliers (SCM), resources in the enterprise (ERP) and their planning (SDLC). In addition to this, engineering enterprises and other organizations also need to develop, manage, communicate and describe inputs related to products. Another form of PLM is called people-centric PLM. Whilst the conventional PLM tools are installed only during or on the release stage, the people-centric PLM is targeted at the design stage.
Benefits of product lifecycle management tools by various service providers are as follows:-

1. 1. There is minimized time to market
   2. Refined product quality
   3. Waste Reduction
   4. Minimized prototyping costs
   5. There is a separate structure dedicated to product optimization
   6. Potential sales scopes and revenue contributions can be quickly and easily recognized
   7. The quote generation request is more timely and accurate
   8. Original data results in savings
   9. There is savings that results from a comprehensive assimilation of engineering workflow
   10. The contract manufactures have access to the centralized product data

The various areas that are included in PLM are listed below-

1. 1. Product Data Management (PDM)
   2. Product and Portfolio Management (PPM)
   3. Systems Engineering (SE)
   4. Manufacturing Process Management (MPM)
   5. Product Design (CAx)

Companies dealing in this service are coming up with various solutions that can be of great use to the enterprises and organizations. To mention one is the agile product life cycle management that is aimed at the global resource and development. This combines state-of-the-art PLM tools and unique methodology that acts as a catalyst in overcoming ordeals of working over a well-distributed environment in order to come up with high-end products. The PLM solution tools also reduce the development charges by 30 percent.
The very nucleus of Product Lifecycle Management lies in central management of the product data and the technology that is used to avail this information. A discipline sourced from innovative tools like PDM, CAM and CAD. It is more than just a software technology and is looked upon as a business strategy.