With technological advancement, the competition in the market is getting thicker day by day. It becomes vital for businesses to withstand their competitors and to be pertinent to their users. So to fulfill this purpose, the companies should develop some significant strategic steps before introducing any product in the market. If I talk about the product life cycle, then it involves different stages like introduction, conceptualization, designing, testing, manufacturing, and then delivery. The whole process of developing, producing, and launching of a product can be digitized by employing product lifecycle management software.
All the major manufacturers of different industries like automotive and transportation, aerospace and defense, consumer goods, medical device, and industrial equipment rely on the product lifecycle management (PLM) process to provide safe and high-quality solutions to the users.
“Every company should work hard to obsolete its own product line - before its competitors do.”
By Philip Kotler (marketing author, consultant, and professor)
By employing the application of PLM software, you can manage the whole process of the product life cycle, which in turn can help you in improving productivity in your organization. From small consumer-based products to large manufactured goods like a car, you can design and develop any type of product with product lifecycle management solutions.
What is product lifecycle management software?
Product lifecycle management is the process that manages the whole lifecycle of the product right from the setting up, engineering design, manufacturing, and service till the disposal of the manufactured products.
In simple terms, the PLM system handles the manufacturing workflows along with the collaboration task.
Across the entire product lifecycle, this application connects people and data to the central arsenal of information. As a result, everyone shares the same current information on the same page. The PLM software offers excellent coordination, improved efficiency, and minimal risk during any product development.
What are the core features of product lifecycle management software:
The product lifecycle management system should have the following important features to improve operational excellence in the business:
- Collaboration and Reporting- Users can make better business decisions with the tools that provide reporting and collaboration capability.
- Workflow and change Management- The users can keep the projects on track with this functionality.
- Risk Management- Users can manage, report, and lessen the instabilities by employing this feature.
- Project Management- In real-time, users can manage product development, track, and schedule capabilities.
- Manufacturing Product Management- By tracking the project progress, the users can have greater insight into the product record. It helps in better resource management and allocation.
- Computer-aided Design Management- The CAD activities simplify the process of tracking data, mobile documentation, and product lifecycle analytics
- Business Intelligence- Users can access updated reports and charts that are surrounded by the product data.
- Quality Management – Cross-departmental product quality process can be coordinated and tracked by this feature.
- Bill of Materials (BOM) Management- In the company, the users can track, share, and visualize data across the teams.
- Supplier Collaboration- The PLM tools allow management of the audits and help in searching for the perfect supplier for the product.
- Change Management- The user can plan, execute, and analyze the changes related to the design of the product.
Who employs product lifecycle management software?
Almost all industries use PLM software. Although, it was just restricted to aviation and automobile manufacturing industries; today, every industry is dependent on this software. Key departments who can use this PLM software include:
- Designing Team - It designs the products by using PLM tools that help in storing various notes regarding the details of their designs.
- Production Team - Notes are taken by the product manufacturers to make sure that built products meet the standards of the company.
- Creation unit-The people involved in the creation of the product for the project.
- Product Manager- On all the phases of the product life cycle, the product manager can keep control with the help of the PLM system.
What are the advantages of product lifecycle management software?
The following are some of the key benefits of PLM software:
- Reduce compliance risks
- Boost productivity
- Speeds up revenue growth
- Improves product quality
- Build innovation
- Lessens Costs
- Faster product development
- Accelerates Time to Market
- Shares data along with centralization
- Enhances customer loyalty
- Scales the business
In short, PLM software enables on-time, on-budget, risk-free, and flawless production.
What are emerging trends in product management software?
The future of product management software is exciting. Let’s see how!
- Cloud Technologies- The PLM software in the cloud can manage all the complexities of product data, especially for companies that are geographically dispersed.
- IoT – The industrial internet of things (IIoT) enables communication and connectivity throughout the supply chains. It helps in linking mills, factories, packagers, and producers of labels.
- 5G- The PLM application can adapt to 5G mobile devices that can make everything accessible in the cloud.
- Artificial Intelligence - The PLM software can integrate AI technology that can take predictive algorithms to the new level by identifying the tastes of the customers.
- Virtual Twin- It focuses on materials and products and can become more practical for elements along with the components. It can deliver better results to the customers as per their requirements.
- Industry 4.0- It helps in improving manufacturing efficiency and can revolutionize the entire business operations.
If you are running a small business set-up, then you can experience the benefits of core software features by making use of free product lifecycle management software. Along with it, the open source product lifecycle management tool allows users to customize the functionalities of the PLM applications.
Generally, for the convenience of all business types and sizes, we have curated the list of top-notch quality free and open source product lifecycle management software that can efficiently manage your data in designing, manufacturing, and engineering of the product.
Before that, let's explore the comparison chart of free and open source product lifecycle management software.
Free and Open source Product lifecycle management software
1. odoo (free, open source)
If today’s companies are looking for free product lifecycle management tools, then odoo is an apt choice. With real-time communication, this open source product lifecycle management software manages engineering changes.
This fully web-based software provides extensive functionality coverage to the users. The users get high-quality usability that can be scaled easily. Across multiple departments, the odoo PLM system can harness the power of an enterprise social network that helps in the communication process.
MRP, purchase, maintenance, and quality are fully integrated with other odoo apps like accounting, CRM, Inventory, eCommerce. This open source tool for product managers allows modern manufacturers to experience a quality management feature. The user will find odoo PLM powerful and easy-to-use.
(Source: odoo)
Core Functionalities
- Smart Versioning
- Integrated Document Management
- Integrated scalability
- Productivity tools
- Great user interface
- Manage engineering changes
- Bill of Materials
- Collaboration
- Manufacturing Management
- Reporting and Analytics
- Workflow Management
- Maintenance Operations
- Quality Management
- Quote Process Management
- Real-time communication
2. OpenPLM (open source, free)
OpenPLM is the open source product lifecycle management tool that helps technicians and engineers in development activities. For all business areas, this free product roadmap tool offers secure and flexible solutions for product data structure and management purposes.
The user can have more collaborative tools due to the integrations which are continuously created by this PLM tool. Under the terms of GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3), this product-oriented software can be used and modified.
(Source: OpenPLM)
Core Functionalities
- Full web Interface
- Plugins with programs like OpenOffice, FreeCAD, Google docs, FreeCAD
- User Management
- Parts and documents management
- Administrator feature
- Constructs bill of materials
- Collaboration
- Manufacturing management
- Maintenance Operations
- Quality Management
- Quote Process Management
- Regulation and Governance
- BOM (Bill of Materials)
3. PTC Windchill (free trials of 30 days)
Ptc Windchill allows users to have quick and easy access to product data. It helps in improving product quality and enables the development team to focus on the other core processes.
With this application, the manufacturers can build a digital twin and can have better collaboration by leveraging augmented reality (AR) technology. By using this software, the users get more time for innovation. With its updated architecture, this app manages comprehensive product data.
It allows manufacturers to invest in IIoT technology. The user can improve their efficiency with this software. It not only allows the manufacturing team to plan and develop products but also enables a service team to have up-to-date product information. The stakeholders can easily view and review product designs with the help of the AR design share option.
(Source: PTC Windchill)
Core functionalities:
- Product design and development
- Software Development
- Manufacturing process
- MBSE (Model-based systems engineering)
- Service Management
- PLM digital transformation
- Accelerate innovation
- Better time-to-market
- Maintenance Operations
- Reporting and Analytics
- Workflow Management
- Design Management
- Bill of Materials
- Manufacturing Management
4. OpenBom (free for a single user) (open source)
OpenBom is the open source tool for a product manager that helps in facilitating the BOM (bill of money) workflow. From CAD, it can automatically create BOM. It can manage catalogs, vendors, and purchase orders for manufacturing and engineering.
The users can have instant updates with this cloud-based PLM tool. In a single BOM, this software can connect all the data from different sources. It allows users to share and collaborate data from initial design to all stages of engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain by employing BOM facilities.
It is apt for an engineer, an individual contractor, an engineering team, a hardware startup, a contract manufacturing shop, or a more significant engineering or manufacturing business.
(Source: OpenBom)
Core functionalities:
- Real-time collaboration
- Manage production planning
- BOM Management and integrations
- Manages Vendors and Product Orders
- Track BOM change history
- Data Management
5. beCPG (open source, free for 30 days)
If you are looking for an open source product lifecycle management system for food and cosmetics, then beCPG fulfills your requirement. It manages the life cycle of the products and helps in reducing the time-to-market.
The users can create business processes to automate the tasks of product development by employing the feature of workflows for product approval and product review. This PLM software is ready-to-use for retail and consumer packaged goods industries.
In a single unified repository, this software can search for products and documents. The user can manage product information, client, and supplier data with the help of this tool. It allows users to calculate product characteristics like nutrition facts, costs, and allergens.
(Source: beCPG)
Core functionalities:
- Improves product quality
- Accelerate Innovation
- Products repository
- Recipe Management of food products
- Formula management of cosmetics
- Report
- Workflow automation
- Eco-design
- Real-time collaboration
- Compliance Review
- Requirements Management
- Supplier Management
- Cost Tracking
- Change Management
- Design Management
- Document Management
- Product Quality
6. DocDokuPLM (open source, paid)
DocDokuPLM is the open source product lifecycle management tool that serves as the business data management platform. It aims to offer powerful PLM (product lifecycle management) solutions.
The user can manage the entire lifecycle of the products with this PLM business solution. It allows setting up of the information backbone. This software works as the cross-platform as people from inside and outside the company are involved in its working.
It manages bills of materials, baselines, product configurations, and product structure management. Inside the browser, the user can visualize and share products’ digital mock-up. This software brings collaboration features like chat, video-conference, presence indicator, and notifications.
(Source: DocDokuPLM)
Core functionalities:
- Document Management
- Product Configuration and structure
- Bill of materials
- Process Management
- Change Management
- Data Visualization
- Workspace Management
- Digital Mock-up
- Collaborate
- Connection with third-party tools
- Seamless integration
- Manages document assets
- Tracks and organizes changes
7. FusePLM (20 days free trial)
FusePLM software allows users to manage the product’s lifecycle effortlessly. Throughout the supply chain, it improves collaboration. The software enables building better products and release to market in a faster way.
This cloud-based solution makes use of a card-based approach to manage the documents and bill of materials. Under tight schedules, this app can change products confidently. You will find this solution simple and affordable to use. The application is built on Amazon’s secure AWS (Amazon Web Services) platform.
It holds the capability to carry out tedious product management tasks with the help of AI technology. The manufacturing companies can manage BOM (Bill of materials) with this easy-to-configure PLM tool.
(Source: FusePLM)
Core functionalities:
- Cost and time optimization
- Support for an existing database
- Ease of data import
- Intuitive UX
- Change and document management
- Cards-based workflows
- Multiple views of BOM (Bill-of-materials)
- Manage engineering documents in the cloud
- Integrated task list
- AI-enabled chatbot
- Kanban Workflow
- Supplier Management
- Product Data Management
- Requirements management
Aras Innovator is the open download and open system architecture PLM (product lifecycle management) software that helps in multi-site manufacturing. This web-based software solution enhances supply chain security and provides quality compliance to the users. Your enterprise can share information and collaborate with this tool.
The companies of all sizes can effortlessly manage the product complexity and fast-changing processes with the help of this product lifecycle management tool. It efficiently manages the process of product development.
In your business, you can easily adapt this product roadmap tool as it holds the capability to deliver a scalable and full-featured PLM suite. It can make PLM more productive and approachable to everyone due to simplified user experience in a clean and modern HTML5 browser interface. For example- the renowned BMW car is making use of this software.
(Source: Aras Innovator)
Core Functionalities:
- Multi-CAD (computer-aided design) Data Management and Visualization
- Cross-discipline product structure
- Advanced product quality planning (APQP)
- Change Management
- Project Portfolio
- Enterprise Capabilities
- Complete PLM suite
- Adaptable business processes
- Model-based service-oriented architecture
- Product Costing
- Bill of Materials (BOM)
- Quality Compliance
- New product development and introduction
- Document Management
Although the above mentioned free and open Source product lifecycle management software is undoubtedly valuable, Oracle Agile PLM is gaining popularity too. The article below highlights the features of the same.
Oracle Agile PLM (popular)
Oracle agile is the comprehensive enterprise PLM solution that helps users in managing the product value chain. This software allows users to centralize product data efficiently. This PLM solution manages entire product value chains so that it can lead to winning products.
The software is widely used by several industries and manufacturers, including those dealing with; life sciences, consumer packaged goods, and industrial manufacturing. It helps in accelerating product innovation and in maximizing profitability. With this application, the user can improve product design and can optimize the global product network. The user will find this software simple, adaptable, powerful, secure, flexible, and fast.
(Source: Oracle Agile PLM)
Core functionalities:
- Product Collaboration
- Product Governance
- Product Cost
- Product Lifecycle Analytics
- Quality and Cost Management
- Sterilization Management
- Customer Needs Management
- Product Network Optimization
- Enterprise Visualization
- Regulatory Compliance
Key Takeaways
In the modern manufacturing atmosphere, it is essential to look after the entire lifecycle of the product so that it enhances the productivity of the organization. The product lifecycle management tools provide market-proven solutions to the companies. The PLM technology manages the tasks related to the conception of the product, tracks the evolution of the product, keeps the record of the notes associated with the testing of the product, and manufacturing of the designs.
The list of free and open source product lifecycle management software mentioned above will allow businesses to manage the entire product life cycle processes proficiently, to have a better quality product and helps in increasing the chances of meeting costs along with revenue targets. Without any stress, the product lifecycle automation process allows users to track and handle data efficiently.
If you are interested to know about more advanced features of product lifecycle management software, then you can explore the list of best product lifecycle management software at the GoodFirms platform. In case you have come across any of the open source product lifecycle management software, then feel free to share your precious views on the same.
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