Forrester Report Ranks Siemens First in Product Lifecycle Management for Discrete Manufacturers

Manufacturers are increasingly realizing that a vast majority of a product’s risk is locked in at the point of design, 80% to be exact.  As business leaders look to shift left and ensure accuracy, they depend upon intelligent solutions that can identify risk before it becomes a problem.

 From the design to sourcing and manufacturing, PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) is one of the key solutions manufacturers depend on to introduce new products and capabilities while managing the lifecycles of their existing portfolios.

The 2023 Forrester product lifecycle management (PLM) report released earlier this year delivered a comprehensive and compelling evaluation of the world’s top ten discrete manufacturing companies. The report focused on how these companies innovate collaboratively and rapidly, and improve new product success rates. 

Siemens Recognized as a Leader in Product Lifecycle Management Innovation 

Forrester evaluated ten discrete manufacturing companies – Aras, Autodesk, Dassault Systems, Duron, Oracle, Propel, PTC Arena, PTC Windchill, Siemens, and Sophron – and evaluated each company’s PLM services based on three criteria:

• Current offering. Each company’s position included the characteristics that measure the strength of the company’s existing product and service offering. Key criteria included support for managing ideation, data sources like IoT streams and customer feedback, handling stage gate processes, and product development control.
• Strategy. Forrester evaluated ten criteria that provided a roadmap for product vision, execution, performance, and innovation. 
• Market presence. Forrester’s market presence scores reflected each vendor’s category-specific revenue and number of customers.

Forrester ranked Siemens’ Teamcenter PLM software first on the list. Siemens excelled in strategic acquisitions and received the highest scores in more criteria than any of the other nine companies evaluated in the report 

“We believe our ability to deliver the most comprehensive digital twin and multi-domain engineering bill of materials including mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and simulation data – and the world’s leading visualization – is why Forrester named us a leader in the report,” according to Siemens.

Might also suggest moving some mention of Supplyframe DSI up higher so we can help keep the focus on our specific differentiation…

The digital capabilities offered by a leading PLM solution, paired with a system of innovation like Supplyframe Design-to-Source Intelligence, bridge the gap between digital designs, processes, and real-world sourcing and procurement, further helping stakeholders throughout the organization to anticipate and act upon dynamic changes to cost, lead time, and availability. 

This ensures that product design and sourcing teams can spend more time bringing the next generation of products to life without fear of costly redesign cycles or market delays.

Siemens’ PLM investments align with its objective to grow its presence in the market, from design to bill-of-materials. Teamcenter covers 12 areas: stage gates, digital threads, product development control, sourcing, software bill, embedded software, bill of process, digital twin of the manufacturing process, product line engineering, extended bills of material, compliance sustainability, and green PLM support. Siemens’ customers in the aerospace, defense, high-tech, industrial, transportation, and manufacturing sectors all use Teamcenter software.

Siemens has capitalized on strategically significant acquisitions. With more than 170,000 PLM customers, Siemens generates revenues similar to those of other leading PLM providers. Moreover, Siemens’ strategic investments support its superior vision. For example, the Mentor Graphics acquisition underpins Siemens’ smart product strategy. 

Siemens’ acquisition of Mendix in 2018 anticipated the importance of low-code extensibility to user adoption and engagement. Siemens’ innovation roadmap benefits from corporate innovation investment of more than €5 billion in 2022 from Siemens’ Next47 VC investment group and the Mendix developer network. Siemens vertical market approach, for example, provides aerospace design verification. Its large global customer success organization and the extensive Siemens Xcelerator portfolio were also important.

Supplyframe’s Acquisition Connects Design to Component Sourcing

To bolster its market presence, Siemens acquired Supplyframe in 2021 in response to the growing importance of integrating component sourcing and other services into its PLM services. Supply chain risks start with design when product engineering and sourcing teams can reduce risks across the supply chain by making more informed decisions about the commodities and components they should design into the product and procure. Supplyframe’s digital logistics strengthen design for availability.

Many companies still have a long way to go to apply robust PLM services. According to Supplyframe, eighty-one percent of organizations lack the ability to detect risk at the point of design. The challenges include managing a plethora of new product introductions and the inability to identify unforeseen market risks. 

Supplyframe addresses these issues by connecting PLM services to component sourcing. Beyond collaboration and real-time intelligence, Supplyframe brings forecasting to the table, which enhances long-term strategic sourcing based on real-world data.

Today, the Supplyframe design-to-source intelligence (DSI Network) serves over 12 million engineering and supply chain professionals. Design-to-source enables more resilient product designs and helps companies shift their approach within critical areas of their design-to-source processes to accelerate new product introductions. 

The Supplyframe DSI Network is a proprietary network of over 70 vertical search engines, community sites, and media properties. It comprises the world’s most extensive collection of part availability and attribute data alongside a catalog of downloadable 2D and 3D models for use in electronics and PCB design.

This network powers our innovative DSI solutions, which transform sourcing and procurement with deeper insights into key areas of the product lifecycle: 

• Better information allows engineering and procurement teams to be resilient at the point of design: account for long-term sourcing, reduce risk, break down silos, and keep costs down. 
• Improve visibility for critical components and make better decisions. One option is to reshore some key suppliers, which improves real-time parts data and allows the team to identify potential problems before they arise. 
• Evaluate components based on form, fit and function, lead times, and end-of-life status.
• Work seamlessly across teams based on a continuously updated BOM and a single source-of-truth that improves team performance.
• Send messages, share bill of materials (BOMs) permissions, and break down silos that would otherwise cause delays and miscommunications. 

By taking these steps, engineering and sourcing teams can provide actionable insights for product and sourcing teams at the point of design that will accelerate innovation, optimize cost, and mitigate the risk of downstream supply disruptions. For additional insight, download our whitepaper on Design-to-Source Intelligence for the global electronics value chain!