Earlier this week, I attended the CIMdata PLM forum. You can find my first article with comments here – PLM Forcing Factors and Hot Topics. Today, I want to share some of my additional notes coming from the presentation done by Stan Przybylinski, VP of CIMdata speaking about the 2021 Market Review.
Stan addressed multiple points. The very first one is a broad picture of the PLM market for 2020. The market grew by 3.5% and approached $53B.
One of my favorite parts of Stan’s presentation was about M&A activity. The PLM industry has been growing by mergers and acquisitions for the last 25+ years, so there is no big surprise here. Leading CAD/PLM companies were growing and eating everything that moves in this market to build their solutions. According to Stan, the numbers from the 2021 year to date, already outperformed 2020. Over 130 acquisitions were counted already and it is more than in 2019 and 2020. Many of the market leaders are active – Accenture, Bentley, Siemens, Lectra, and many others.
However, my favorite topic was related to manufacturing entrants in the PLM business. According to CIMdata, the trend of the last five years for manufacturing firms acquiring PLM solutions. Check these two slides I captured (thanks Stan for sharing!)
It made me think about the trend towards growing an impact of software on manufacturing companies. Software is taking more of the manufacturing business. Smart products, embedded software, connected services. These are just a few examples of how the importance of software is growing. The number of lines of software code in a modern car is more than in the F15 fighter jet back in its days. Many manufacturing companies are turning into software companies and investing in software that gives them a competitive advantage.
PLM software is an important element of manufacturing infrastructure. And as manufacturing companies are looking at how to grow it, even more, they turn to the software that can help to capture data, to connect processes, to deliver intelligence, and to change business models. So, it comes as no surprise that manufacturing and industrial companies are looking at how to get technologies and services from PLM providers.
What is my conclusion?
Software is running the world. Literally, everything these days is relying on software. It is everywhere in our phones, computers, appliances, houses, cars, airplanes, delivery services, and city infrastructure. Any manufacturing company that is looking to be more competitive in 2021, will be looking for PLM software to manage data and get intelligence to optimize processes. Therefore, I expect a growing interest in PLM companies providing infrastructure capable to be used as elements of manufacturing services. Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing a digital network-based platform that manages product data and connects manufacturers, construction companies, and their supply chain networks. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.
