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Making sense of PLM

Updated: 2014-11-07 13:17
By Meng Jing (China Daily)

Information technology-based solutions can help Chinese companies boost product quality, efficiency, innovation and counter challenges like rising labor costs, experts said.

Making sense of PLM

Wang Yue, senior research manager for the manufacturing insight unit of International Data Corporation, a global market intelligence provider, thinks China will not lose its standing as the world's factory, even though some of its companies are moving manufacturing to countries with cheaper labor costs.

"Though China may lose some jobs in low-end, labor-intensive industries, it still has lots of advantages in mid-to-high-end manufacturing," Wang said in a recent interview. China has been transforming and upgrading its industries with clear goals in the ongoing 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). Using IT solutions, such as product lifecycle management, will help the country achieve the goal quickly, he said.

Manufacturing PLM solution market in China was estimated to be around 4.6 billion yuan ($751 million) in 2013.

It is projected to have a compound annual growth rate of 14.2 percent from 2013 to 2017, according to IDC. That figure is higher than the 13.4 percent growth rate for the overall manufacturing IT solution market in China, it said.

Wang, whose research mainly focuses on IT trends, technologies and best practice in manufacturing industry, said PLM software enables companies to manage the entire lifecycle of a product efficiently and cost-effectively, from concept, design and manufacture to the disposal of products.

"In a nutshell, by using the software, factories can improve product quality, reduce production time and also offer tailor-made products for demanding customers," he said.

Modern manufacturing solutions like PLM can help companies launch new products quickly in the marketplace, he said. Wang cites mobile phone production as an example. "Consumers are becoming more and more picky, mobile phone makers are working very hard to offer phones at a much faster pace than before," he said.

PLM solutions are widely used in China in aerospace and aviation, military and automobile sectors. IDC, however, believes sectors like food and beverages, can also make considerable gains from PLM solutions in the long term.

Making sense of PLM Making sense of PLM
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