Big Data in product lifecycle management

Recently, “Big Data” has attracted not only researchers’ but also manufacturers’ attention along with the development of information technology. In this paper, the concept, characteristics, and applications of “Big Data” are briefly introduced first. Then, the various data involved in the three main phases of product lifecycle management (PLM) (i.e., beginning of life, middle of life, and end of life) are concluded and analyzed. But what is the relationship between these PLM data and the term “Big Data”? Whether the “Big Data” concept and techniques can be employed in manufacturing to enhance the intelligence and efficiency of design, production, and service process, and what are the potential applications? Therefore, in order to answer these questions, the existing applications of “Big Data” in PLM are summarized, and the potential applications of “Big Data” techniques in PLM are investigated and pointed out.