MCAD/CAM

Product lifecycle management solutions work collaboratively with other solutions in today’s dispersed work environment.

by Jim Romeo

The Cannondale World Cycling Team uses bicycle parts made by SRAM LLC, a manufacturer of high-performance components for the cycling industry. SRAM is geographically dispersed with knowledge workers located throughout the globe, including Chicago, Asia and Europe. SRAM designers and engineers use PTC’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution to manage various facets of their design process, from drawing production to sub-component design and material management.

PLM solutions are interconnected and interact with many other enterprise solutions. In some cases, such solutions are subsets of PLM, while others perform functions of data management, workflow and accountability, but have different names. Key solutions include product data management (PDM) software and enterprise content management (ECM) software. They enhance and, in some cases, replace PLM, but all have a common cause: manage workflow, provide accountability and controlled access, and provide centralized data management and control to build a better product or service.