Best Product Lifecycle Management Software - PLM in 2025

As the name indicates, product lifecycle management (PLM) software helps companies to manage their product’s lifecycle from design and development to disposal at the end. Therefore, it is imperative that you do educated comparisons to choose the best product lifecycle management software for your organization’s needs. However, this can be a tough task given the surfeit of PLM programs in the market. To help you, we have created this buyer’s guide which details the things to look for and evaluate in your search for the best product lifecycle management software.

A great way to start your search is to register for the free trials or demo offered by leading product lifecycle management software providers. This will enable you to try out each solution’s features free of cost and understand if the system is what you are looking for. You can start by visiting the websites of the following top PLM platforms to find out if they offer a free trial: Autodesk Vault, Autodesk Fusion Lifecycle, Arena PLM, and Oracle Agile PLM. These product lifecycle management tools have been given high rankings in our product lifecycle management software reviews that you can read to do a comparison of their features. 

• Autodesk Vault: Data management and collaboration software. Vault data management software assists designers and engineers to organize design data, handle documentation, and monitor revisions and other development processes.
• Autodesk Fusion Lifecycle: Autodesk Fusion Lifecycle (formerly PLM 360) is a cloud-based platform that is a next-generation alternative to conventional product lifecycle management. It is an affordable, easy-to-use PLM system that makes the benefits of product lifecycle management available to anyone, anytime, anywhere.
• Arena PLM: Arena PLM enables high tech companies to go fast. Engineering and manufacturing teams can use the software to drive ideation, innovation, launch, and manufacturing in quick time.
• Oracle Agile PLM: Comprehensive enterprise PLM solution for managing your product value chain. Oracle’s Agile PLM solution helps you innovate profitably, efficiently centralize product data, and streamline processes.

You can select and purchase from the following general types of product lifecycle management tools:

• PLM software from an ERP vendor: Most ERP systems offer PLM feature with their suites. Example vendors are: Infor, Oracle, and SAP.
• Best-of-breed application: This is offered by PLM-specific vendors who provide a suite of modules to manage all stages of the product lifecycle. Example vendors are: Dassault Systemes, PTC, and  Siemens.
• Stand-alone PLM modules: You can also buy CAD, CAE and other modules as stand-alone solutions. Example vendors include: CAMWorks, MasterCAM, and Autodesk.

• Computer-aided design (CAD): CAD apps create two-dimensional and three-dimensional models of components. You can use CAD software to produce designs quickly and accurately. Plus, you can update and reuse designs as needed.
• Computer-aided engineering (CAE): CAE is used to simulate products, identify weaknesses, and develop preliminary designs to make safer and more sound assets. Common CAE features are fluid dynamics analysis, mechanical event simulation, finite element analysis, and performance simulators.
• Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM): CAM is used by manufacturers to create products precisely according to design specification. CAM apps communicate with machinery to make items exactly as designed and create documentation needed to trace manufacturing trends at future dates.
• Manufacturing process management (MPM): MPM software automates and manages all the processes that are needed to make products.
• Product data management (PDM): PDM creates a central storehouse for all information related to product design and processes. PDM modules can be accessed from any device and provide data security features to secure production information.
• Reporting and analytics: You can use analytics to find where lead times are going out of control which can make your project overshoot cost estimates. Many solutions offer pre-built reports, as well as ad hoc reporting that you can customize for your needs.
• Centralized data repository: Product lifecycle management involves a lot of documentation including forms, reports, etc., that have to be accessible to relevant individuals. Keeping all files organized is also important to avoid confusion and data loss, which can result in schedule delays and other issues.
• Collaboration tools: Managing the product lifecycle involves different teams, departments, and sometimes companies. Incorporating collaboration tools in a PLM solution allows different teams and departments to be on the same page.

Quicker production

You can use CAD software to create designs more quickly and easily at lower costs. Plus, you can use CAM functionality to handle machining processes and create products quickly.

Accurate production

You can use PLM software to ensure products do not deviate from design specs during machining. Plus, you can also simulate and test designs before production to ensure the finished products are of good quality and dependable.

Efficient production

You can communicate with your team members and share designs, production forecasts and other information. PLM software helps you to create definitive, automatic processes for product design, creation, and disposal.

Centralized data storage 

Product lifecycle management software ensures that all necessary information, documentation, and other files are in one location. All information is also secured and accessible only to relevant teams and departments.

Need for greater integration: Smartphones are revolutionizing the PLM industry and are making the products more complex. Designers and engineers need to handle complex issues related to combining electronic, mechanical, and software elements. Manufacturing companies will not be able to keep software, electronics, and mechanical teams in silos as there is great demand for the integration of software, electronics, and mechanical elements of product data.

Internet of Things data overwhelms engineers: PLM software vendors are trying to figure out the benefits the Internet of Things can offer to their products and businesses. PLM solutions are becoming more complex as its designers are adding software and electronic components. Plus, online social interactions are bringing more data to the table. To sum up, the Internet of Things is set to create a wave of data that may overwhelm PLM software makers.

The future of manufacturing technology disruption: What does the future hold for manufacturing technology disruption? We can expect smarter software as well as full connectivity involving a range of data-capturing features and sensors that will be integrated into products. Plus, PLM software vendors can be expected to use agile, lean methodologies to make their products better. Existing development environments are likely to be disrupted by multidisciplinary interconnected datasets because of the complexity of products.

The following challenges can affect the effective use of PLM software:

Lack of integration between a bill of materials (BOM) and CAD: If you do not use a good quality CAD system, it may not automatically generate a BOM list. The solution is to use PLM software which automatically creates a BOM list and updates it if designs get revised. This ensures there is no gap between design and manufacturing.

Revision errors: Multiple revisions may be created during the design and review processes. This increases the chances of sending an older version of the design for manufacturing. This error can be expensive in terms of resources, time, and cost. With PLM software, you can synchronize data between teams, business units, and locations.

Misplaced or lost documents: A number of documents are generated during the design and manufacturing process. These include CAD drawing and parts lists, text documents, pictures, spreadsheets and more. It is easy for these documents to become disorganized and littered. Use a quality PLM software to securely store all important product documents in one place and make them easily accessible to all team members and business units.

Machine learning technology is making its way into every facet of the business industry and product manufacturing is not going to be left behind. The unfolding of Industry 4.0 also welcomes the digitalization of product lifecycle management. Although this has transformed product lifecycle management software into automation-capable solutions, adopting machine learning can turn PLM software into intelligent machines, especially in terms of the decision-making process.

Product lifecycle management relies on data, which is the language machine learning speaks along with behavior-based analytics. By integrating machine learning into the PLM framework, there is a possibility for product lifecycle management software to adjust based on the user instead of the other way around. These changes can include predictive inputs, adapting user interface according to the user’s needs, etc., which helps improve productivity.

Another contribution machine learning can make to the product lifecycle management system is in the decision-making process.  Machine learning technology can help analyze and process data and convert them into valuable insights faster, as well as deliver these insights to different teams or departments. This is particularly helpful to the during the product development stage as nights can help improve the design and specs of the product.

Product lifecycle management’s market share continues to experience significant growth and here are some of the key findings reported:

• Product lifecycle management in consumer goods market is predicted to grow by 2.02 billion between 2020-2024.
• North America remains is the region with the most opportunities in product lifecycle management in consumer goods.
• In 2018. product lifecycle management market experienced a 9.4% growth over 2017.
• North America is predicted to remain as the major player in the product lifecycle management market by capturing 38.3% of the global market in 2023.
• 37.8% of product lifecycle management market share in 2018 came from the Americas.
• In 2018, 26.6% of product lifecycle management solutions total market share came from discrete industries.
• Based on the global market revenue reported in 2018, automotive industry is the primary user of product lifecycle management solutions.
• Energy and utilities industry has the least contribution to the product lifecycle management market share (1.3%).
• On-premise product lifecycle management software dominated 2018 by taking 83.8% of the global market.
• Global product lifecycle management market is predicted to grow from $18.57 billion in 2018 to $26.33 billion in 2023.