PLM Interest Group

The Professional PLM Initiative champions the benefits and practicalities of professionalism in PLM, to show how a recognised Professional Body can be established.

It may seem obvious that everyone should become 'more professional', but there is no definition of what that actually means.  There are no criteria to assess skills and experience, either within an organisation or when hiring, and there is scant recognition of achievement when PLM succeeds.

			The PLM Interest Group is hosting the Initiative, guided by an International Panel of practitioners and organisations who meet regularly to review progress and offer their guidance.

In essence, PLM is the same all over the world, and so there will only be one PLM Profession.  Professional qualifications for any given role will be the same for everyone.  Learning from each other to define the agreed syllabus and skill sets will be very productive, and practitioners everywhere are invited to get involved.

The Vision of the Initiative is to have raised PLM onto the same level as existing professions, by gathering and formalising the skills and experience that we have all learned.

There are many elements to PLM, and many things will need to be defined to maintain a PLM Profession. Some of these elements can be built 'from the ground up' and then incorporated, so that the process generates immediate practical benefits for those who take part.

The Panel has identified six of these themes that should be useful and productive:-

However, the first step forward will be the development of the PLM Body of Knowledge.

If a profession is formed then criteria will need to be defined against which to certify practitioners as having reached a certain grade, and to accredit educational institutions as providing training to adequate standards.

The 'top down' way of doing this would be to set up a working group to establish the curriculum (allowing for the many different types of role that exist within PLM); and to flesh this out with detail about the skills and knowledge that are required.  This detail, when structured and published, would become a core part of a wider PLM Body of Knowledge.

Work has already started on this, and the Working Group has produced the first draft of a neutral PLM syllabus.  This is now 'parked', because in the meantime, the Professional PLM Panel has opened up a new initiative to develop the Body of Knowledge directly.

The PLMIG is hosting an International Panel of PLM practitioners and organisations that began meeting at the start of 2025.

The Panel is a 'Round Table' group whose aim is to define a common view of the way forward on the path to a profession, and to provide input and guidance on its parameters and structure.  Their primary consideration is how establishing a profession will affect their organisations, the marketplace, and the future of the industry.

The Panel has met four times starting with the inaugural meeting on 28 January, and participants from seven countries have been involved.  A wide range of ideas have been covered, but its most important finding was unexpected: the realisation that when all of the technological novelties are stripped out, PLM is the same as it was ten or twenty years ago.  And, by extrapolation, it is not likely to be any more advanced by 2035.

The Panel's fifth meeting on 17 June was therefore thrown open, addressing the theme of 'PLM Progress over the last and the next decade'.  It started with the White Paper, which states where PLM ought to be; and reviewed various industry vision statements that have been declared and missed.

The direct result of this is the PLM 2025-35 Project, which will integrate the development of a PLM Profession with the parallel definition of a neutral PLM Body of Knowledge.

The work of the Professional PLM Panel will continue.  Participants from all types of organisation (users, vendors, integrators, consultants, and educational institutions) are encouraged to join; and from all parts of the world.  PLM is a global subject, and so input from as many countries as possible is desirable.  The meetings are in a Round Table format, held on-line and scheduled to allow different time zones to take part.  If you think you might like to be part of the Panel, there is a Datasheet that explains all the details.

Download the Datasheet >>>                              Download the Datasheet [PDF] >>>

A first draft Datasheet has been produced and is now being 'socialized' around the industry.  It will evolve in the next few weeks and so feedback is welcome.

Download the Datasheet [PDF] >>>

If you would like to know more about the Initiative or take part in PLM 2025-35, you can request information via plm2025-35@plmig.com.

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