Clear Operational Improvements and Customer Support Will Be Critical for Future Product-Centric Quality Management Systems (QMSs)

The US$3.1 billion Quality Management System (QMS) software market is shifting from document-centric to product-centric solutions to ensure compliance with quality standards. QMS software providers such as ComplianceQuest (ProductQuest), PTC (PTC Windchill, Arena), and Siemens (Teamcenter Quality) are spearheading the transition to product-centric quality management by bridging Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and QMS solutions. Examples of companies that are behind the curve of bridging PLM and QMS are Octave Reliance (formerly ETQ) and MasterControl, where they market connections to enterprise systems such as PLM (Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as well), but don’t offer an inherently product-centric QMS.

The difference between product-centric and document-centric QMS solutions lies in the software’s architecture: document-centric solutions manage quality through controlling documents, where specific products are a reference field. A product-centric QMS makes the product record the central component of the system with quality processes linked as attributes of the product. Bridging PLM and QMS entails strategic shifts in both product capabilities and messaging, such as making the Bill of Materials (BOM) structure centrally linked within a QMS and reframing quality management from a tool for compliance to a broad product quality platform. Vendors making these strategic shifts reflect pressures on customers to improve quality levels, while bolstering traceability throughout the product lifecycle.

Improving quality levels is the top operational challenge facing manufacturers (see ABI Research’s Industrial and Manufacturing Survey 2H 2024/1Q 2025: State of Play for Digital Transformation) as they continue to face skill gaps in the workforce, geopolitical risks in the supply chain, and increasing product complexity. Product-centric QMS software directly responds to these critical challenges faced by manufacturers today by enabling quality risks to trace directly to product components—reducing manual linkages and simplifying responses to disruptions from the supply chain to production.

However, product-centric QMS software faces both technical and organizational challenges. Migrating from a document-centric to product-centric QMS requires rearchitecting how quality data are stored and shared. Meanwhile, regulatory bodies are primarily interested in quality documents, not BOMs. Customers primarily interested in abiding by regulations and passing audits but lack the interest or bandwidth to develop their quality management solution into a platform that merges PLM and QMS functionality are unlikely to invest in product-centric QMS software.

Product centric-QMS software has the potential to change how manufacturers approach quality management, but suppliers must clarify their market strategy and support the change management that follows adoption. The following are three key areas of improvement.

• The priority for QMS software suppliers must be to solidify their messaging—the dichotomy between document-centric and product-centric QMS is powerful, but it takes time to explain. No vendor has fully claimed a concise narrative that highlights how product-focused QMS software enhances traceability and digital threads, improving upon document-centric solutions.
• As QMS software suppliers refine their messaging, they must recognize the change in audience as well: embedding quality throughout the product lifecycle requires input from design, engineering, and manufacturing teams, in addition to the quality team. As a result, decision makers for QMS software include engineering and operations leaders, as well as heads of quality. Messaging for a product-centric QMS must shift from pure quality and compliance language to highlighting clear operational improvements.
• Vendors must also work with customers to implement change management solutions that accompany product-centric QMS. Embedding quality throughout the product lifecycle not only removes data silos but necessitates breaking down operational silos as well. Input is required from design, engineering, and production teams, in addition to quality teams. Suppliers must help customers recognize the procedural changes that are entailed to ensure successful implementation and quick time to value.