Manufacturers leverage Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software to oversee the entire life cycle of a product, from design to disposal. A PLM solution collects various data points tied to other enterprise software applications and makes them accessible to users across manufacturing departments. These data are essential for manufacturers to optimize their production process, comply with regulations, promote employee collaboration, generate documentation, reduce quality issues, etc.

There are many PLM software solutions available, but they don’t always have the same capabilities and differ in their approach to product visibility. To help simplify the purchase decision process and provide competitive benchmarking, this blog post compares 5 renowned PLM software options from ABI Research’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) for Large Discrete Manufacturers competitive ranking.

Key Takeaways 

• Siemens has taken the top ranking for PLM software, swapping spots with second-place PTC since the last assessment.
  
• Dassault Systèmes ranked third once again, with a strong PLM solution in ENOVIA.
• Autodesk and Aras traded spots, with the former ranking fourth in the 2025 assessment. Aras rounds out the top five PLM vendors. 
  
• The inclusion of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a key differentiator as it streamlines production and design processes. 
• Support for Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is also a deciding factor for many large discrete manufacturers.
• The top implementing vendors of PLM solutions offer flexible deployment options (on-premises and SaaS) and allow customers to purchase the solution in multiple ways.
  

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) will be mandatory for some products shipped to and within the European Union (EU) as early as 2026 as part of the EU’s European Green Deal (EGD) and Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP). Eventually, nearly all products entering EU nations will require a DPP, affecting local and international businesses in numerous industries. A DPP will forever transform how physical goods are tracked through the supply chain, providing sustainability-related information via data carriers like QR codes.

Author

  George Chowdhury, ABI Research Industry Analyst 

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