So says analysis by Frost & Sullivan. Moreover, proliferation of the internet and advanced communication capabilities have placed emphasis on consumer feedback and regulatory compliance, further enforcing need for robust PLM strategies in discrete manufacturing industries.

The market earned revenues of $20.45bn in 2013 and estimates this to reach $27.78 billion in 2017, according to Frost & Sullivan's “Analysis of the Global PLM Market in Discrete Industries” report. Within the discrete industrial setting, demand for collaborative product definitions management (cPDM) will grow the fastest.

Despite this potential, the presence of a large number of competing suppliers is bound to have a negative effect on market growth in the long run. Moreover, the availability of several functional variants for a specific product from different suppliers is likely to cloud end-user perception and delay purchases. Weak economic climates in Europe and North America will add to challenges.

Taking into consideration the enormous scope for uptake of PLM applications in discrete industries, it is essential that vendors consolidate their progressive technological innovations. Large PLM vendors with well-formulated product suites offering end-to-end industry solutions will exert dominance in the market over the next few years.

“The increasing focus on collaborative operations will play a key role in influencing PLM functionality in discrete industries,” said Frost & Sullivan Industrial Automation and Process Control Research analyst Karthik Sundaram. “Hence, capabilities such as product data management, portfolio management, collaboration solutions, content management and enterprise integration that provide an able platform for discrete manufacturers to heighten innovation, efficiency and operational productivity will help expand the global cPDM market.

“The emergence of new end-user industries such as the biomedicine and pharmaceutics will make product portfolio expansion all the more crucial,” said Sundaram. “Extending capabilities to include virtualisation and 3-D immersive reality will also become a necessity to keep pace with demand in the global market.”

Source: Frost & Sullivan