This week, Staples made the surprising announcement that it will close 225 of its North American stores by the year's end -- a move that sent chills through stockholders, as shares dropped over 10% before markets opened. The recession had done its damage to the industry, which faces increasing competition from online retailers.

If you're one of those individuals who has to sit and wonder "what is PLM software" when asked, you're probably missing out on something that could provide you with a number of benefits to your business. Product lifecycle management systems are used to examine and manage the lifecycle of a product, from its initial conception, to the very end when it is no longer of use to anyone.

This posting describes an approach to PLM implementations when an OOTB approach is not feasible and following this process leads to the characteristics a first rate PLM implementation.  The engagement should be run in an agile manner with frequent deliverables that can be signed-off.  The deliverables start as light-weight easily refined components of a Paper Prototype (PP) and evolve with feedback to a Demo Prototype (DP) and finally to a Conference Room Pilot Prototype (CRP) that shows the total solution.  Each prototype is signed off by the business users.  The purpose of the prototype refinement is to gradually transition the user from a paper-based world into an understanding of a PLM-based solution.

Product Definition Knowledge Management (PDKM) is a solution architecture approach that guides the use of PLM in supporting the full lifecycle of a product.  The purpose is to have all the relevant product information in one place, connected to meet business needs, and safe.  In other words, PDKM is a single source of the truth.  The PDKM solution covers the product definition scientific and engineering information from the earliest research through all the improvements made to the product and its manufacturing process until the end-of-life.