Few analysts in PLM have a better understanding of trends and where the industry is headed than Peter Bilello, President and CEO of CIMdata. The industry is extremely complex, especially in light of developments in terms of digitization and new technologies in recent years, and the associated methodological changes. This is all accompanied by products that increasingly lean towards more software and electronics elements at the expense of, for example, mechanics. Altogether, this forms a portrait of a product development and manufacturing landscape that is experiencing dramatic change.

The question is: how do these development directions affect the approaches taken for product realization?

Peter Bilello discussed this issue at the recent digital event PLM Road Map & PDT 2021. I asked Bilello to summarize the five main trends, and he pointed to digital transformation, convergence effects in light of generative design and additive manufacturing (3D printing), model-based engineering, big data and data analysis, and agile product development. What were his reasons for naming these five trends?

Many companies are developing at their own pace, rather than at a technology-optimized pace, which can be taken as an indication of a growing gap between those who make more massive investments in new technologies and those who are more cautious. The head of CIMdata, Peter Bilello, summed up the matter quite well during the CIMdata and Eurostep event, PLM Road Map & PDT 2021. “Where is your company? Can you afford to be a follower? Is your PLM plan ready for the future? Probably not,” he said.

Before we look at Bilello's trend analysis, it is worth noting that this year's conference—perhaps the most important of all, in the now-vast range of digital events—was attended by just over 200 visitors. The title of this year's event was, "Disruption: the PLM Professionals' Exploration of Emerging Technologies That Will Reshape the PLM Value Equation." Discussion at the event revolved around how new technologies affect and reshape the current PLM landscape and associated value chains.

Is this a problem?

It can be, and not just one problem but several, Bilello said. “We must continuously and actively re-examine and reshape PLM by learning, experimenting and discussing in order to achieve more efficient utilization of the great development steps in digital product realization technology.”

New Solutions Must Not Interfere in Existing Approaches Without a Good ROI

In this context, Bilello and CIMdata emphasize an increasing number of technology functions, such as clouds, additive manufacturing, platforms, digital threads and digital twins, all with the potential to realize visions linked to product realization. But nothing comes immediately, and technology acceptance takes time.

At the same time, companies rarely invest maximum resources in new untested technology if the old technology still works well. Experiments and pilot projects that demonstrate benefits are good, but cannot expect to be implemented on a larger scale if they disturb existing setups too significantly and can’t show a strong Return on Investment (ROI).

Bilello explains that this means many companies are developing PLM at their own pace, rather than at a technology-optimized pace. This can be interpreted in several ways, but one interesting angle is that it can be taken as an indication of the growing gap between those who make more massive investments in new PLM and automation technologies, and those who are not on their toes in that respect.

The CIMdata leader's conclusion is well summarized by a few questions:

Where is your company? Can you afford to be a follower? Is your PLM plan ready for the future?

“Probably not,” Bilello said.

"Graph Databases, Low Code and Generative Design”

It is important to be on your toes, Bilello claims. He added a number of other observations about technical trends and their usefulness. This discussion centered on technologies such as topological data analysis (TDA), graph databases, low code/no code platforms, 3D printing, DevOps and flexible ways of working during product development.

No matter what you work with in terms of products and services, it is important to not only look at what is available, but to simultaneously look toward the horizon. All your PLM functions and activities should be looked at from this perspective, and must be accompanied by preparedness to establish new ways of working and updated individual skills.

Generative design—solutions based on the software itself "designing" a product based on entered parameters, such as strength and the like—is one of the important trends that Peter Bilello points out.

Five Important Trends in PLM

So, what are the five most important trends in PLM? I posed this question to Bilello, and he sums it up with each point below and the motivation for why each trend is significant and what the related challenges are:

1. Digital Transformation

“For many companies, across multiple industry sectors, the need to transform their data into a competitive advantage is critical, and from a product data prospective, this can’t be done without an appropriate PLM strategy and associated solution environment. In the engineering and manufacturing-focused companies, this transformation typically includes enablement of the digital thread and twin; here is again where PLM comes into play. The main challenge is to think big, but act in a small and steady manner,” Bilello said.

2. The Convergence of GenDesign, AdvMat & Additive Manufacturing

In this trend, GenDesign stands for generative design, AdvMat for Advances in Mathematics and Additive Manufacturing for 3D printing. “The convergence of these technologies and approaches to design, manufacture and support (e.g., spare parts delivery) has the potential for dramatically changing the cost of product development, manufacturing and support, as well as bringing to market products that are always right the first time. Challenges include the lack of the necessary engineering skills and an appropriate end-to-end strategy,” said Bilello.

French PLM developer Dassault Systèmes is one of the players in the PLM market that advocates the use of model-based design solutions.

3. Model-Based X (X = Engineering, Design, Systems Engineering, Enterprise, etc.)

“While we have been talking about Model-Based-x for years, most companies are still not truly doing model-based anything,” said Bilello. “The benefits of MBx are significant when enabled properly. Some of the key benefits include reduced total cost of product ownership, since the product would be optimized for life and not just for engineering. Additionally, it allows the organization to efficiently and effectively engineer, manufacture and maintain their products. Challenges include the lack of the necessary engineering skills, an appropriate end-to-end strategy and a systems mindset.”

4. Big Data / Analytics

“It’s all about the data and it always has been,” Bilello explained. “At the end of the day, companies create data that in turn gets used to produce and deliver its products and service. Beyond that, all of today’s and tomorrow’s smart connected products generate significant amounts of usable data; data that we need to capture and draw out insight quickly. This is where big data analytics comes into play. With AI and machine learning (ML), analytics is becoming more useful and powerful, and when implemented appropriately the insights are timely and highly useful in making critical business decisions. Challenges include an organization’s willingness and/or ability to bring insight back the workers who need it most.”

5. Agile Product Development

“Agile isn’t just about software development anymore—at least it shouldn’t be. An Agile product development methodology can significantly change how industrial companies design, engineer and bring to market products and their associated services. Agile has the potential to dramatically shorten the time to market, especially for complex products and problems that do not readily have a solution. Agile product development, along with the above four trends, will drive significant benefits related to cost, time and quality. Challenges include an Agile mindset and the appropriate training and supporting tools,” Bilello said.

Three "Honorable Mentions"

“In addition to the above, I have three areas which are worthy of 'honorable mention' in this context,” adds Peter Bilello. These include:

Application Containerization, further enabling a solution’s transition to the cloud.
Low-Code/No-Code Development Platforms, which along with an Agile development approach, will have a multiplying effect on the configuration, deployment and continuous improvement of IT solutions.
DevOps, required to bring PLM and its enabling solutions to the enterprise level.

An Investment Without a Country

Alongside Peter Bilello's exciting exposition on the PLM trends, there were a number of high-quality presentations during this year's PLM Road Map & PDT, such as that of the U.S. Army's new CIO, Dr. Ray Iyer. He is leading an unparalleled venture within the U.S. military, and there are a lot of PLM and IT related challenges and opportunities that will be in the spotlight as the U.S. Army modernizes and steps into the future. The investment is also resource-wise thereafter, with a focus on technologies such as cloud-based data processing, big data analysis and artificial intelligence to achieve digital superiority over what the enemies of the United States can line up.

Dr. Raj Iyer. CIO U.S. Army. (Image source: Spc. XaViera Masline.)

In a coming article, engineering.com will go into more detail on Dr. Iyer's views on PLM and IT in this context.