If we talk about PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) today, we of course need to discuss the influence of IoT technologies on the value chain. Digitalization offers unprecedented opportunities, whether it be the digitization of products, production or the entire logistics and purchasing chain as well as further downstream customer service. And of course, always under the premise of competitiveness and differentiation, cost control and optimization as well as “throughput times”. True industry insiders whisper no longer about value chains, but value-added networks. The networked digital world (Internet of Things) will ultimately be the result of mainstreaming IoT innovations. The world after the Industry 4.0 evolution.

Smart like Industry 4.0, is the other key word of the hour. Product development evolves into smart engineering, the digital factory becomes smart production, customer service suddenly is smart and the supply chain will soon evolve into smart supply chain. Perhaps the PLM Professional will become synonymous with Smart Professional. All joking aside, we firmly believe in the role of PLM Professionals as Industry 4.0 Professionals. They are at the forefront of making the Industry 4.0 evolution more tangible to their companies, be it the comprehension of opportunities and the setting of its foundation or implementing know-how at the process, system and data integration levels.