Dresden, April 1, 2025 - Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is considered a key instrument for establishing digital structures in the industry. Originally designed as an engineering tool for data collection, PLM has evolved over the past two decades into a central collaboration platform that seamlessly connects areas such as product design, production control, supply chain management, and recycling. With the agile collaboration of various development domains, the foundation for the mechatronic digital thread is created, generating a continuous digital representation of a product or service. However, market analyses conducted on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the IT solution provider XPLM reveal that 90 percent of companies currently lack such a "digital thread."
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) has evolved into a strategic platform for digital integration over the past two decades. Experts at XPLM predict a significantly growing importance of PLM in the coming years—especially due to the increasing connectivity of machines and products through the Internet of Things (IoT) and intelligent control via Artificial Intelligence (AI).
However, static processes and manual methods using Excel spreadsheets or email still dominate. "Data potentials often remain untapped in the industry because many companies lack the digital tools to optimize products and services through data-driven analysis," explains Michael Pieper, Managing Director of the software manufacturer XPLM. In light of future trends such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the increasing international competition, the industry must invest strategically in the integration of its data landscape.
"Through digital processes, industrial companies can respond flexibly to new requirements. They enhance their resilience and competitive strength with faster time to market and reduced costs," says Pieper. The digitalization expert draws a sobering conclusion: "Only 10 percent of companies have implemented a digital thread, at least in principle."
The connected evaluation of data throughout the entire product lifecycle unlocks enormous efficiency potentials. Crucial for meaningful analyses - whether with or without AI support - is a high-quality data foundation in a tool that ensures transparency and traceability. Pieper states, "The basis is always the appropriate integration solutions to gather all important information, and a PLM system to consolidate the data. Our integration solutions provide the engineering data to the PLM system in such a way that it is made available to the company-wide distributed users and external business partners in a tailored manner."
The specialists at XPLM have closely accompanied the development and increasingly complex applications of PLM systems throughout the company's 20-year history and have significantly shaped them in Germany. Pieper: "Our integration solutions break down data silos. We have created market-leading solutions for this purpose. Particularly, our expertise in connecting E-CAD interfaces makes XPLM the world's leading provider in this area. With our solutions, we digitize companies and enable seamless collaboration between different systems and disciplines, allowing for efficient, transparent end-to-end business processes across the entire value chain."
Since its founding in 2005 as a spin-off from Agile, XPLM has significantly influenced the development of PLM systems. Today, with 127 employees and more than 600 customers worldwide, the company is one of the leading providers of integration solutions. Milestones in the company's development include the establishment of XPLM Inc. in the USA and the acquisition of CAE Consulting and CCS Dresden in 2011. This was followed by further strategic acquisitions and expansion into Japan.
With 20 years of experience and innovation, XPLM will continue to play a central role in the digital transformation of the industry—serving as a facilitator for the seamless integration of processes and systems across the entire value chain.
XPLM is an industry leading provider of open, vendor independent connectivity solutions. The core competence of the company, founded in 2005, is to connect people, systems, and processes. With its unique portfolio, XPLM enables its customers to share all information generated by an interdisciplinary product development across the boundaries of systems and organizations in an end-to-end manner. Integrating and federating technical data, these solutions mean faster time to market at reduced innovation costs and thus, a rapid ROI.