Many PLM implementations start with a grand vision. However, after years of implementation, they often end up as nothing more than complicated system designs. They were originally selected largely on the basis of their functional scope - with the intention of controlling the entire life cycle of a product, and in the end it is not uncommon for the purpose of the PLM system to be severely limited in order to make it into productive use at all.

Many companies are now even operating the third or fourth generation of PLM systems. Despite this, they are often not in a position to use the latest technologies and apply them to all originally intended areas of application. This is mainly due to the fact that architectures and representations have to be modified that were never intended for such adaptation. This forces companies to spend money on software maintenance and other resources to keep legacy systems running.

This means that new functions and applications based on the latest technologies cannot be rolled out quickly enough. Existing PLM implementations remain stagnant and fall further and further behind. As a result, poor technical implementation becomes an ever greater financial burden for the company. Eventually, the "technical debt" grows and it becomes increasingly difficult to justify new upgrades. Budgets should actually be used to enable innovation and adapt to new business requirements. Instead, they are being burned to maintain legacy systems.

New challenges
Until now, many PLM implementations have been more like a product data management system and have remained stuck in the silo trap. But future PLM solutions must be able to do much more. They will be about creating company-wide transparency and the associated management of data, changing processes and leaving silo thinking behind.

However, the framework conditions have changed dramatically. Technology is developing almost exponentially, penetrating ever new areas and growing together with them in different ways. This can be seen in application areas such as social media, mobile, analytics, cloud, AI, ML, AR/VR and IoT. For example, IDC forecasts an increase in global data from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to 275 in 2025 (The Digitization of the World - From Edge to Core, IDC, 2018). In addition, customers want connected and digitized products. However, greater complexity places new demands on manufacturers. They need to build more agile supply chains in order to meet demand.

In this context, "out of the box" has largely lost its validity. Comprehensive, easy to implement, highly configurable - that sounds good at first. However, it no longer makes sense to measure PLM providers solely against these requirements: in order to keep pace, many traditional providers of out-of-the-box solutions had simply integrated more and more technology. This included separate architectures that had to be integrated. The complexity grew continuously as a result.

The Aras Product Innovation Platform, on the other hand, enables users to carry out updates and integrate new technologies. Such a solution grows with the requirements. For example, users can easily configure it, use no- and low-code developer tools, easily expand components and link systems with each other.

But what will tomorrow's processes look like? No one can predict exactly. New technologies, company takeovers or integrations as well as constant competitive pressure can have an impact on future company processes. Against this background, it is particularly important to rely on a robust and always up-to-date PLM technology. It should enable integration with all required technologies and be able to accommodate and work with all conceivable data sets. If this is the case, companies have the best prerequisites for both running their day-to-day business efficiently and reacting agilely to unforeseen events.

PLM providers have a special role to play in preparing companies for the future. They must provide an up-to-date and flexible platform that can be easily scaled, expanded, adapted and integrated with many other technologies. as