The aim of the course is to introduce students to the basic concepts of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and life cycle thinking. The acronym PLM comes directly from the market experience and enables a holistic life cycle-oriented way of thinking through a set of principles, methods and tools supporting a more effective and efficient management of the life cycle stages of industrial products, from their design/engineering, to production, distribution, usage until disposal/end of life.

In its comprehensive meaning, PLM is a business approach based on collaboration and integration of people, processes and technologies, which aims to support the development of more innovative, reliable and sustainable solutions (products and services) in a shorter time.

From a managerial perspective PLM encompass (i) a strategic management point of view where the product is the enterprise value creator; (ii) the application of a collaborative model for the empowerment of the core competences distributed along the different actors involved in the lifecycle (e.g. designers, engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, etc.); (iii) the adoption of a number of IT solutions for establishing an access-safe product information management environment.

From a technical perspective, PLM is a matter of methods, standards and techniques for structuring the engineering processes, as well as a matter of computer-based tools for enabling virtual prototyping and collaborative workspaces. 

The aim of the PLM course is to introduce students to the concepts and elements of PLM from both managerial and a technical perspective, giving also the basics to run the introduction of PLM (as approach, models, methods, and tools) in the industrial practice, with the ultimate purpose to grow a life cycle thinking attitude into the students.

The PLM course is a mix of frontal lectures, industrial cases, interactive class exercises, and serious games. Course topics include:

-Life cycle thinking, product life cycle management, product life cycle phases

-Innovation, New Product Development Process and Concurrent Engineering

-Lean Product and Process Development

-The Front-End Process

-Design Methods (Design for Manufacturing and Design for Environment)

-Value and Function Analyses (QFD & VA/VE)

-Prototyping, Examples from Virtual Prototyping and CAD tools

-Process Mapping and mapping application case

-Collaborative Platforms (PDM & PLM)

-PLM system and PLM system implementation

-PLM Projects Evaluation. Application case

-Introduction to sustainable product development and circular economy

-Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) Game

-Life Cycle Perception Game

Class attendance is not mandatory, though encouraged. All material will be provided digitally on line (Beep). Supporting books and references will also be suggested throughout the course. In-class exercises and teamwork will be used to facilitate advanced learning of PLM material and concepts. The final exam will be a 1,5 hour written test; oral exams will be allowed only to students that receive a 27 or higher grade on the written test.

The final exam will be a 1,5 hour written test; oral exams will be allowed only to students that receive a 27 or higher grade on the written test. Class attendance is not mandatory, though encouraged. All material will be provided digitally on line (Beep). Supporting books and references will also be suggested throughout the course. In-class exercises and teamwork will be used to facilitate advanced learning of PLM material and concepts.