When you sell a particular product, it helps to be in touch with exactly how many resources it requires. Your goods obviously benefit from a keen eye on quality to ensure they’re being created and distributed correctly, but it takes more than just a skillful set of eyes to measure the worth of your products. This is where product lifecycle management, or PLM for short, can help.
PLM implementation is all about creating a unified method of viewing products in their current state — as well as the myriad operations it takes to get them to the customers — and evaluating their success. Are they doing what they’re supposed to do? Are they satisfying customers because of how easy they are to use? These are the kinds of questions PLM tools seek to answer.
A good PLM strategy views the following aspects related to the manufacturing of a particular good:
- product cost
- sales history
- marketing information
- time spent on production
So, why are these aspects important? Obviously, the number of customers (and, in turn, the amount of profit) is directly related to the retail cost of the product. But before all that begins, there are production costs to consider, too. PLM implementation allows you to view both of these and how they’re related to each other and how they influence each other. The same thing goes for sales history of the product.
In the modern marketplace, you have to market your product correctly if you want it to sell. Most PLM implementation software will compile information that you can use when you plan out the marketing plans for your products, especially when it comes to increasing revenue. When you’re sitting on a good idea, after all, you have to know how to sell it.
When writing out your business’ PLM implementation plan, remember that the entire PLM industry is worth a total of $25 billion worldwide. That means more companies have wised up to viewing the quality and regulation issues of their products by means of a third-party software system. This is all in order to make a smoother overall process that can land your product (and your company) at the top of its game.
