A recent Makersite study, conducted by Forrester Consulting, underscores the critical role of Product Lifecycle Intelligence (PLI) in driving sustainable product design, revealing that regulatory pressures largely motivate sustainability efforts.
Regulatory Drivers of Sustainability Efforts
Despite the clear advantages of integrating Product Lifecycle Intelligence (PLI) into product design, over half of the organizations are primarily propelled by regulatory requirements. This insight emerges from Makersite’s research, “Transform Product Sustainability into Performance Initiatives with Product Lifecycle Intelligence,” highlighting a significant reliance on regulations to spur sustainability initiatives.
Challenges in Sustainable Product Design
Manufacturers face hurdles in leveraging compliance initiatives to inform product design decisions, often hindered by outdated data systems and isolated data silos. The study, commissioned by Makersite, indicates that PLI implementation can empower product engineers to design more sustainable products, accelerate market readiness, and enhance profitability.
Operational Improvements and Persistent Challenges
The research, reflecting the perspectives of 493 product design and sourcing decision-makers, identifies operational enhancements such as improved data quality for lifecycle decisions, better visibility of material and component supply chains, and streamlined sustainability reporting. However, securing executive backing for sustainability in PLI, quantifying environmental impacts, and acquiring budgets for comprehensive material and supplier intelligence remain significant challenges.
Makersite’s Vision for the Future
Neil D’Souza, CEO and founder of Makersite, envisions a transformative revolution in manufacturing, with companies adept at rapid change emerging as industry leaders. He emphasizes the necessity of combining internal data with external insights—such as supply chain dynamics, costs, and regulatory impacts—to make informed decisions, avoid costly errors, and develop successful sustainable products.
Key Takeaways:
- Mature manufacturers anticipate a 25% improvement in key metrics by adopting PLI, affecting win rates, market speed, price premiums, employee retention, and capital costs.
- Sustainability metrics in product design and sourcing are often tracked inconsistently, with many manufacturers admitting to irregular monitoring of crucial sustainability indicators.
- While advanced analytics could revolutionize product development, its application remains limited, with only a fraction of manufacturers utilizing predictive modeling to adhere to standards or regulations.
- Strengthening regulatory compliance is a primary focus for over a third of manufacturers, especially in Europe, contrasting with its lower priority in the U.S.
- Improving data quality is identified as essential for efficient product design and sourcing, with harmonization of product and supply chain data to foster stakeholder collaboration also highlighted.
