Long Live the Thread

Idea in Brief

PLM technology does not Manage the Product Lifecycle, and realistically never will. This article may fall into the sort of anti-PLM rant which haunts me on YouTube decades from now, I’ve taught a business-oriented graduate management course called “Product Lifecycle Management” since 2013 and every year I need to explain that “well, PLM doesn’t cover the entire product lifecycle”.

The market for “PLM” generates $20B annually and plays an important role in product development, but the term has a longer and broader history than either CAD files or the Databases which manage them. A broader view of the necessary technology is needed. If we wish to manage the fullest extent of a product lifecycle, we must look past PLM technology and adopt the more inclusive Digital Twins and Threads.

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