Creating a Profession for PLM Practitioners

The Home of Professional PLM

The PLM industry needs a recognised, worldwide professional structure for the people who work within it. The Professional PLM Initiative has been set up to fulfil this need.

The Initiative covers the whole spectrum of what it means to be 'professional' in PLM.  This will be a significant step forward, and will change the way that PLM practitioners work.

The Initiative is inclusive and interactive.  This web site shows the latest developments, and how you can get involved.

Developed over 9 weeks of industry feedback and four iterations, the White Paper stands as a 24-page definition of the potential for a recognised PLM profession.

			The White Paper leads with a Position Statement that sets out where the industry should go next, and why. It the explains the rationale: how the definition and structuring of the skill sets required for accreditation will generate a neutral, open PLM Body of Knowledge.

The White Paper is easy to read and makes perfect sense, and is deliberately comprehensive.  It is designed to be used as a reference document for future progress, and after more than a year since publication it is still accurate.

Discussion of these issues is long overdue.  The PLM industry has grown enormously over the past two or three decades without any collective thought about where it is going.

Professionalism is an obvious way forward, but what form should it take?  Who should be involved in running it, and what should be the scope and remit of any Professional Body?

The White Paper covers the whole picture.  It sets out the thinking behind professionalism in terms of a Vision, structure, benefits to industry, benefits to practitioners, benefits to education and academia, the body of knowledge and the deliverables.

It is designed for people who are used to thinking before acting - i.e. for practitioners of PLM.

Download a copy of the White Paper, see what you think, and follow the Initiative as it moves on to the next stage.

Feedback on the document and further information can be found via whitepaper@professionalplm.org.

The International Panel of experienced PLM practitioners has been meeting throughout 2025, combining their ideas on the the White Paper and generating a range of productive themes for development.

The next meeting is planned for 17 June.  Focusing on a PLM Profession has highlighted many areas in which PLM has failed to advance over the past decade, and the June session will act as a 'Progress Meeting' for the PLM industry as a whole.

To find out the latest information and how to enrol, follow the link or contact internationalpanel@plmig.com.

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