Forrester x Makersite 2024 PLM Research Study
In April 2024, Forrester released a thought leadership paper, Transform Product Sustainability Into Performance Initiatives With Product Lifecycle Intelligence, commissioned by Makersite
Key findings from the Forrester x Makersite research
Product design and sourcing leaders respond to external demands by prioritizing sustainability in product development.
Changing customer expectations, an emphasis on the circular economy, and supply chain transparency drive their organization’s product initiatives. Product design and sourcing leaders are addressing the intersection of sustainability, resilience, and business performance; they’re prioritizing initiatives like enhancing sustainability reporting for compliance and to support sales or optimizing reliability and efficiency when sourcing materials.
Stakeholders advocating for sustainability face internal challenges.
Securing executive support proves challenging for most product design and sourcing leaders. Data issues, such as maintaining data in existing systems/libraries and measuring environmental impact, hinder leadership alignment.
Maturity impacts manufacturers’ ability to incorporate sustainability into PLM.
Novices struggle with manual processes, data silos, and limited collaboration, while Advanced firms embrace sustainability as a differentiator. Automated data reporting remains nascent even for Advanced manufacturers.
Cross-functional collaboration and a single source of truth is critical in enhancing product design and sourcing as well as gaining a competitive edge.
Respondents agree that adopting product lifecycle intelligence drives sustainability improvements by enhancing data quality and supporting collaboration among stakeholders. They expect the solution’s business value to be reflected in a faster time to market, higher profits, and operational enhancements.
Download the Forrester report
- Discover the challenges faced by product design and sourcing leaders in implementing sustainable practices
- Learn how adopting a product lifecycle intelligence solution can enhance data quality, support collaboration among stakeholders, and lead to benefits such as faster time to market, higher profits, and improved operational enhancements.
- Understand the the maturity levels of manufacturers in incorporating sustainability into PLM, by different sectors and geographies
- Discover how you can make sustainability, cost and risk trade-offs in one platform
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Turn the research into action
How to meet increasing sustainability regulations
Why it’s imperative for organizations keep pace with the increasing number of sustainability regulations.
How increasing your carbon footprint reporting can drive sales – and profits
Increasing your carbon footprint reporting isn’t just a regulatory obligation. It can also make a significant impact on your bottom line.
How to source materials more reliably, more efficiently – and more cost effectively
A lack of detailed, reliable data on materials, components and suppliers remains a critical hurdle that many businesses must still overcome.
How to build and grow supplier engagement programs in order to meet your sustainability goals
Organizations are prioritizing supplier engagement programs as a response to external impacts to their product development process – but challenges still remain.
How to create a dedicated sustainability function in your organization
Stakeholders across product development, procurement, compliance, and sustainability need to collaborate closely to shorten product development cycles, reduce cost and risks in production, and lower environmental impact throughout the supply chain.