Blockchain applications in PLM towards smart manufacturing

As the new generation of information technology, blockchain is characterized by a set of unique qualities and features in data storage and computing infrastructure, such as data traceability, data security, decentralized consensus, and decentralized process execution. These characteristics make it to be an important enabling technology for smart manufacturing, especially in product lifecycle management (PLM). In this paper, key features of blockchain are summarized, and its development history is analyzed first. Then, the challenges of PLM in data management and data security among multi-stakeholders are investigated, and a potential way to address these challenges by employing blockchain is discussed. An assessment framework is designed to evaluate the viability of applying blockchain in specific PLM scenarios. The application or potential application of blockchain in each section of PLM is studied in detail. Finally, both technical and non-technical challenges of applying blockchain in PLM are pointed out to achieve more effective applications.