Empowering Remote Teams with Next-Gen PLM Solutions

A Harvard Business School study estimates that nearly 80% of over 30,000 products launched each year fail to meet customer requirements, leading to their market failure. This staggering statistic underscores the critical role of more effective Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) in bridging the gap between product development and eventual customer satisfaction.

Challenges in Meeting Customer Requirements

Product lifecycle management is a collaborative effort involving multiple teams across:

• Concept and Strategy
• Design and Planning
• Development and Engineering
• Validation and Verification
• Supplier Management
• Manufacturing
• Testing
• Marketing
• Customer Service

In the post-COVID era, remote working and outsourcing have become the norm. This shift demands that remotely located teams efficiently share inputs, review, and approve designs and changes at each development stage. Late-stage error identification increases resource demand by 25-30%, compounded by disconnected systems creating data silos that obscure visibility and impede risk mitigation.

5 Best Practices for Collaborative, Remote Product Development

Shared Product Vision:

It's crucial for all teams to align on the product's purpose from the outset. This alignment ensures that the design, informed by insights from sales to customer service, meets customer demands and leverages the company’s strengths.

To effectively have a shared vision, it’s imperative that cross-disciplinary teams truly collaborate with each other. This communication must be data and document-driven. Additionally, visibility into changes and requirements across the value chain is crucial.

Well-planned Change Management:

Effective communication of each change is vital to maintaining smooth workflows and minimizing risks. A cloud-based PLM platform facilitates this communication, ensuring timely reviews and approvals.

Often, inefficiencies creep into the change process, and automation of change implementation with necessary risk management is key.

Document Management:

A centralized document management system enhances efficiency by improving version control, providing an audit trail, and ensuring accessible, consistent information for all stakeholders.

Risk Mitigation:

Centralized data access and a comprehensive risk repository are essential for effective risk management, allowing for informed decision-making and risk-benefit analysis.

At CQ, we pride ourselves on our unified risk management capabilities across product design, end-to-end product development lifecycle, quality, safety, and sustainability. This "connected" approach to risk handling may just be the solution you need to increase the odds of product success.

Automate to Innovate:

Automation of repetitive tasks through cloud-based PLM frees up resources for innovation, enhancing product differentiation and accelerating time-to-market.

With AI capabilities to handle repetitive tasks and semi-autonomous decision-making - a solution like CQ PLM is what may be the need of the hour.

ComplianceQuest PLM + QMS: Ensuring Product Quality Across the Lifecycle

The ComplianceQuest PLM integrates with the CQ Quality Management Solution, providing a holistic approach to change management, risk management, document management, audits, inspections, and supplier management. This cloud-based, scalable solution supports compliance with regulatory and quality standards, such as 21 CFR 820.30 and ISO 13485, through:

• Design Controls that enhance product design visibility and collaboration.
• Modern Collaboration Tools like Chatter and Design Review Management for real-time communication.
• A Single Source of Truth that integrates data across the enterprise.
• Action and Deliverable Tracking with configurable libraries and advanced visualization tools.
• Up-to-date DHF and DMR ensuring compliance and easy access to critical documents.