Readers’ Choice Survey 2019: NPDI/PLM
The CGT community’s preferred providers of solutions for new product development and introduction, and various other aspects of product lifecycle management.
Best in Category: SAP
SAP’s dominance of the solution provider landscape extends across all categories (in case you haven’t noticed yet), which means the company is close to coming out on top of almost any list: This year, that meant “Best in Category” recognition for NPDI/PLM.
The PLM capabilities within the S/4HANA ERP suite include bill of materials management, recipe development and document and change management. The new S/4HANA Cloud intelligent product design offering is made to accelerate smarter product development through multi-discipline collaboration; requirement-driven development of smarter products; and live product intelligence across the value chain. At a recent event, customers asked SAP to focus on managing complexity as innovation speed increases, as well as on compliance, digitization of engineering, and heavier R&D collaboration.
SMB Market Leader: Dassault Systemes
Dassault Systemes offers a variety of specific functionalities for SMB clients, such as five pre-engineered bundles designed to meet the needs of various industry segments. PLM processes can be integrated end-to-end across the enterprise and beyond, linking in key partners, suppliers and customers to enable manufacturers to operate as on-demand e-businesses.
As with everything Dassault does, 3D environments are a key component of the offerings. Procter & Gamble began deploying Dassault’s 3DExperience platform in 2017 to connect thousands of users to data, colleagues and consumers, and thereby accelerate and improve packaging and product design, requirements management and program management.
Customer Satisfaction Leader: Selerant
Formula-based PLM software provider Selerant earned Customer Satisfaction honors with a 4.0/5 rating. “The package works well, the vendor is responsive to our needs, and they provide good support,” explained one client.
In 2018, Selerant announced a new version of its flagship platform, DevEX 3.6, that allows clients to bring better products to market faster and at lower cost. It also helps them unify critical aspects of the NPDI process. The company also released the new DevEX Baseline System for food and beverage manufacturers as it hones its focus on process industries even more. Clients include B&G Foods, Colgate-Palmolive and Nestlé.
Noteworthy: Gerber Technology
Gerber Technology rejoins the NPDI/PLM ranks in 2019 after a five-year absence. The company’s cloud-based PLM solutions and services are designed largely for the apparel and furniture markets. In 2018, Gerber launched a new platform to enable fashion companies to set up a purchase-activated business model. It also acquired Avametric, which develops cloth simulation technology, and partnered with ExactFlat to continue moving toward 3D workflows in the furniture market.
New customers in 2018 included Totes Isotoner and denim-focused fashion brand Citizens of Humanity. Fast fashion brand Happypunt began using Gerber’s digital solutions to reduce costs and time to market while integrating with its ERP system to provide efficiency in design and prototyping.
Return to the full Readers' Choice Survey, or download a pdf of the entire report below.