What is worth reading in PLM.
Books, papers and articles on PLM, new product development, innovation, configuration management and modularization — each with a brief summary and our editorial judgment on who should read it and why.
The ADKAR Advantage
Your New Lens for Successful Change
Karen Ball · 2024 · Prosci
A practical guide to Prosci's ADKAR model, which describes individual change adoption through five outcomes: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement.
Our verdict: Recommended practitioner reading. A Prosci practitioner framework — applicable to role-based PLM adoption planning and to identifying why employees struggle with new practices.
Read the full review →INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook
A Guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities
INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) · 5th edition · 2023 · Wiley
The INCOSE handbook is the reference guide to the system lifecycle processes of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 and 12288, covering agreement, organizational, technical management and technical processes from concept through retirement.
Our verdict: Recommended reading for teams working on complex systems. The authoritative systems engineering reference: it connects PLM with requirements, architecture, verification and configuration management across the full lifecycle.
Read the full review →Practical Guide to Digital Manufacturing
First-Time-Right for Design of Products, Machines, Processes and System Integration
Zhuming Bi · 1st edition (textbook) · 2021 · Springer Cham
A textbook by Zhuming Bi (Purdue University Fort Wayne) that gives a practical guide to digital manufacturing: using computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and other computer-assisted tools to design products, machines, processes and system integrations.
Our verdict: Worth reading for engineering fundamentals. A hands-on, case-based introduction to the CAD/CAE/CAM toolchain that PLM manages — useful for understanding the engineering side of the digital thread, though PDM and PLM are treated as one topic among many rather than in depth.
Read the full review →Digital Twin in Industry: State-of-the-Art
Fei Tao, He Zhang, Ang Liu, A. Y. C. Nee · 2019 · IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, Vol. 15, No. 4
A widely cited review of digital twin research and industrial practice.
Our verdict: Worth reading as a reference. A foundational overview of the digital twin field — best used to understand the landscape and terminology rather than as a practical guide.
Read the full review →Digital Twin in manufacturing: A categorical literature review and classification
Werner Kritzinger, Matthias Karner, Georg Traar, Jan Henjes, Wilfried Sihn · 2018 · IFAC-PapersOnLine, Vol. 51, No. 11 (Elsevier)
A literature review that brings order to the many uses of the term "digital twin" in manufacturing.
Our verdict: Recommended — short and useful. The model / shadow / twin distinction is a simple, practical way to cut through vendor marketing and agree on what a "digital twin" project actually means.
Read the full review →Oslo Manual 2018
Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation
OECD, Eurostat · 4th edition · 2018 · OECD Publishing / Eurostat
The international reference for defining and measuring innovation, jointly published by the OECD and Eurostat as part of the series on the measurement of scientific, technological and innovation activities.
Our verdict: Useful reference — free. The authoritative source for innovation definitions and metrics; consult it when you need consistent terminology or want to measure innovation rigorously.
Read the full review →Designing the Future
How Ford, Toyota, and other World-Class Organizations Use Lean Product Development to Drive Innovation and Transform Their Business
James M. Morgan, Jeffrey K. Liker · 2018 · McGraw-Hill Education
Drawing on the authors' work with Ford's global product development transformation and research on Toyota, this book explains how leading companies redesign their product development systems around lean principles.
Our verdict: Recommended reading for transformation leaders. Particularly relevant when a PLM initiative accompanies a redesign of how engineering and development teams work — it addresses the organizational side that tool projects often underestimate.
Read the full review →Winning at New Products
Creating Value Through Innovation
Robert G. Cooper · 5th edition · 2017 · Basic Books
Robert Cooper's book covers innovation management and decision-making from idea generation through launch, based on his research into what distinguishes successful new products.
Our verdict: Recommended reading for development governance. The standard work on Stage-Gate and portfolio management — useful whenever the question is which projects to fund and how to steer them, rather than how to engineer the product.
Read the full review →Toward a Lifecycle Information Framework and Technology in Manufacturing
Thomas Hedberg Jr., Allison Barnard Feeney, Moneer Helu, Jaime A. Camelio · 2017 · Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering, Vol. 17, No. 2 (ASME)
This NIST-led paper addresses a core digital thread problem: product lifecycle information sits in many separate repositories and is hard to link, put into context and reuse.
Our verdict: Recommended for digital thread work. One of the clearest early descriptions of what connecting lifecycle data across repositories actually requires — and a free NIST manuscript is available.
Read the full review →NASA Systems Engineering Handbook
NASA · Revision 2 · 2016 · NASA (NASA/SP-2016-6105 Rev 2)
NASA's practical handbook on systems engineering, describing the system lifecycle processes used in one of the world's most demanding engineering organizations.
Our verdict: Recommended reading — and free. An unusually practical systems engineering handbook with concrete process descriptions and examples that industrial teams can adapt directly, especially for configuration and technical data management.
Read the full review →Know a resource worth reading?
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Sign in or register to suggest a resource →Summaries and verdicts are PLMadvisors' independent editorial opinions. No paid placement.