2. An overview of PLM
2.1. The evolution of PLM
Product lifecycle management (PLM) originated from two roots. One is enterprise management, which can be further subdivided into material resource planning (MRP), enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM). Because of the visibility across the complete lifecycle of a product, the attendant risks can be estimated. In this sense, PLM serves as a decision support tool.