It can be difficult to get a product from conception all the way to market.

The long product development journey includes stages that involve designing, testing, redesigning, validating, manufacturing and then finally distributing the product. (This process becomes even more challenging when the design is manufactured elsewhere in the world, necessitating constant communication to ensure production is running smoothly.)

Getting a product to market involves a lot of moving variables, and when it's all said and done, the entire process can take several years.

So how do manufacturers speed up this process and optimize the design of a product from start to finish? They use PLM software (product lifecycle management).