CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
10 April 2007
CIMdata News
Vendors Meet at CIMdata Vendor Forum to Discuss Direction of PLM Industry: Companies exchange ideas and insight on business strategies and opportunities in the evolving Product Lifecycle Management market
Consulting and research firm CIMdata Inc. successfully held its annual North American PLM Vendor Forum in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with representatives from major PLM solution providers and suppliers of a wide range of niche-focused PLM-related offerings. CIMdata will hold similar forums in Stuttgart, Germany, on April 19th, and in Tokyo, Japan on April 25th. The series is the world's premier gathering of technology and service providers focused specifically on the PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) market and issues concerning its development and growth. Participating companies came together to hear CIMdata's perspective on market development and trends, and to discuss the important issues impacting PLM strategy and business performance.
This year's theme "PLM Matures: The Community's Strategy for Success" provided a focused review and discussion of challenges, opportunities and effective business strategies for suppliers in this rapidly-growing market that continues to mature and evolve.
A perspective on the state of the PLM market and important industry trends was presented by Ed Miller, President of CIMdata. "The PLM market is now recognized as a major enterprise-solution investment for user companies. The consolidation among major solution providers in the market is an indication of the scale and attractiveness of potential opportunities for the community," he noted, adding that companies are placing increased focus on leveraging their basic PLM investments in a variety of ways.
"Within the industries that have traditionally invested in PLM, new niche offerings that expand the scope and value of PLM solutions are being developed," said Miller. "More cost-effective solutions are offered to smaller companies, and industries that have not traditionally invested in PLM are becoming more aware of its potential value and demanding solutions that address their needs. While this PLM expansion reinforces the maturing of the base market, it nevertheless highlights the tremendous potential that remains and the need for the PLM community to come together in addressing the evolving direction of the industry."
Suppliers discussed these and other trends, and appreciated the opportunity to participate in a frank and open forum for the exchange of ideas and perspectives with peers as well as CIMdata consultants and analysts. "It was very valuable and informative to discuss both the current state of PLM and exciting new developments such as the emergence of Enterprise Simulation Management in a vendor-neutral and collegial setting," said John Janevic, Senior Director of Global Marketing and Business Analysis at MSC Software. "This type of dialogue provides critical input to our planning process."
Peter Schroer, CEO of Aras Corp, noted that "The CIMdata Vendor Forum was a very productive investment for us. This was the right forum for us to meet with potential partners for our open source PLM software solutions, and to learn about the market trends driving end-user deployment of PLM technologies. We agree with CIMdata's goal of building a more vibrant PLM Community, and look forward to the participation of our open source PLM community members in future CIMdata events.
Terri Pruett, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing for Agile Software emphasized the educational value of the Vendor Forum, "This event provides PLM vendors with opportunities to network and discuss issues common to everyone in the market, and to both learn about and validate interesting and new issues that we all face."
CIMdata also unveiled its analysis of the PLM market through 2006 and early 2007. A presentation by Ken Amann, CIMdata Director of Research, included statistics on market growth across industries and regions, and the revenue performance and market share analysis of leading PLM solution providers. "The PLM market demonstrated significant growth and experienced a stronger than expected year in 2006," explained Amann. "Our research indicates that the overall PLM market grew 10.4% to reach $20.1 billion in 2006. This strong growth rate is attributed to continued recognition of the value of PLM in improving companies' business performance." According to Amann, PLM investments are forecasted to continue their climb over the next five years, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 8.5% to exceed an estimated $30 billion by 2011.
These statistics together with the CIMdata insight into market trends, user perceptions and industry directions provide important information vendors indicated they use in formulating their business strategies.
"The CIMdata Vendor Forum is about more than getting an early view of their PLM market numbers. The CIMdata consultants work closely with end users to select strategic PLM technologies," explained Stan Przybylinski, Manager of Business Intelligence at Dassault Systèmes. "The Forum is a good place to understand their insights into the user community."
Jon Heidorn, Vice President of Marketing America at UGS, said he found the depth of CIMdata's analysis of the PLM market valuable and very informative, and he noted overall that "CIMdata's vision of the evolution and breadth of the PLM industry is enlightening. I appreciated the challenge that as players in this industry we all have a part to play in moving the PLM industry forward."
What is PLM?
PLM is a strategic approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions in support of the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information. It spans the extended enterprise from product concept to end-of-life-integrating people, processes, business systems, and information. Leading solution providers recognize the importance of PLM to business, and major industrial firms are already reaping significant benefits from their PLM implementations, in sectors ranging from aerospace and automotive to consumer packaged goods and petrochemical.
PLM ties together design, manufacturing, field service, purchasing, marketing, suppliers, customers, and other organizations and disciplines throughout extended intercompany supply chains. PLM allows companies to maximize their investment in resources, supply chain participants, and current and future IT technologies. It enables companies to unleash their past investments in multiple IT solutions, while maximizing their return-on-investment.
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