Have you heard about the concept of “data products”? I’ve been following different topics related to data and related technologies and found the concept interesting. In my view, the concept of “data products” has gained significant traction across industries.
Is it something that can change the way we think about Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)? Can it be a part of digital transformation strategy and business process improvements? Can digital transformation initiatives can include creation of data projects for copanies using various applications of digital technology?
Manufacturing is becoming increasingly data-driven. For many companies, the data created by PLM software, supply chain management, and other applications including customer data and data produced by marketing and sales teams is an important part of the business. It is a source of intelligence and sometimes a source of new business solutions.
In my view, PLM systems are poised to evolve into powerful data products, offering new opportunities for innovation and efficiency. Let’s talk about it more in details…
What Are Data Products?
Data products are purpose-built tools, applications, or services that leverage data as their core component to deliver value to end users or customers. They process data to generate insights, supporting informed decision-making and addressing specific business challenges1. Key characteristics of data products include:
- Purpose-driven design for specific business objectives
- Self-contained packaging to address business needs directly
- Easy accessibility and usability for stakeholders and AI systems
- High-quality, cleaned, and transformed data ready for analysis
- Reusable components that can be applied across multiple data products
The Growing Importance of Data in Manufacturing
The manufacturing sector is experiencing a data revolution. Data collected from products manufactured by companies is needed to improve product design and optimize maintenance. Information captured from production facilities can help to optimize supply chain management and procurement. Data used for machine learning and new AI opportunities is becoming a driver for innovation. The ability to harness and interpret data becomes a key differentiator for companies looking to stay competitive.
The Evolution of PLM: From PDM to Data-Centric Solutions
The history of PLM goes back to CAD file management. This is how PLM systems were born. Later CAD companies expanded their PDM products and built PLM vision, but the reality and vision were disconnected. Current PLM systems, although developed with many extended functions are still very much CAD/PDM centric.
The last decade changes made PDM practically bundled or, sometimes, especially in the case of cloud CAD, part of a CAD system. Which brings a question about PLM expanded role and functions PLM solutions deliver to customers. I can see how PLM has expanded its scope to encompass a broader range of data-centric capabilities. to me it means that more companies are looking at PLM transformation from the role of engineering CAD manager to a place where data-centric solutions can be delivered.
Monitoring Product Behavior: A New Frontier for PLM
As the need to focus on various aspects of data and monitor “product behavior” across different lifecycle stages grows, PLM systems are well-positioned to evolve into comprehensive data products. Similar to how Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems monitor customer behaviors, PLM can monitor product behaviors throughout their lifecycle.
Examples of PLM-Driven Data Products
In my view, it can become an interesting trend. As I pointed out in my earlier article about development of AI CCB Agent and Collaborative Workspace, such a service can dynamically collect information and present it for decision making – people controlling change process.
PLM vendors and new providers can deliver a range of data products that leverage the wealth of information available throughout a product’s lifecycle. Some examples include:
- Change Impact Analysis Tools: These data products can analyze the ripple effects of design changes across the entire product lifecycle, helping manufacturers make informed decisions about modifications.
- Supply Chain Recommendation Engines: By analyzing historical data and current market conditions, these tools can provide actionable insights for optimizing supply chain operations.
- Real-time Maintenance Monitoring and Optimization Tools: These data products can predict maintenance needs, optimize schedules, and reduce downtime by analyzing real-time data from products in the field.
What is my conclusion?
As data becomes an increasingly valuable asset, we’re likely to see a transformation in solution providers. Digital transformation efforts will lead companies to find how to use product data to optimie the business processes. I can see how a future of PLM as data products is accelerating. Monolithic PLM systems may be disassembled into various services. PDM capabilities will be now bundled with CAD systems and data products will be emerging as a critical component of this unbundled PLM ecosystem. This shift will enable manufacturers to leverage their data more effectively, driving innovation, efficiency, and competitiveness in an increasingly data-driven world.
By embracing the concept of data products, PLM providers can offer more targeted, flexible, and valuable solutions to their customers. Such products will lead to more successful digital transformation. A bundled business systems such as monolithic platforms will become digital solutions to provide a data. Product data management (PDM) will be part of CAD and modern PLM software will be delivered as ‘data products’. In PLM, the industry might stop to develop highly integrated PLM suites, and switch to ‘data services’ capable to adopt the idea of data collecting and transforming into valuable solutions. I can see how digital transformation leaders already started to use customer feedback data, instant data sharing by customers in their business models. And this is just a beginning. Think what data you can monetize tomorrow is coming a way to “rethink” legacy systems instead of locking data like it was before.
Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
Disclaimer: I’m the co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM, a digital-thread platform providing cloud-native PDM, PLM, and ERP capabilities. With extensive experience in federated CAD-PDM and PLM architecture, I’m advocates for agile, open product models and cloud technologies in manufacturing. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.
