Transforming Product Lifecycle Management: Insights from Tom Shoemaker of Propel Software

In a recent episode of the Product Led Growth Leaders podcast, host Thomas Watkins sat down with Tom Shoemaker, VP of Product Marketing at Propel Software, to discuss how modern manufacturers can streamline product development, ensure compliance, and enhance cross-functional collaboration. Tom shared actionable strategies for leveraging Propel’s cloud-based platform to manage product lifecycle management (PLM), product information management (PIM), and quality management systems (QMS), helping organizations accelerate time to market and drive operational efficiency.

Modernizing Product Lifecycle Management for Complex Manufacturing

Manufacturers today face growing complexity: from engineering and supply chain coordination to marketing, sales, and service delivery. Legacy systems, spreadsheets, and siloed tools often lead to inefficiencies, compliance risks, and poor visibility across teams. Tom emphasized that a unified, digital platform is critical to orchestrate collaboration and maintain end-to-end control over product data and processes.

Propel Software’s cloud-based solution integrates PLM, PIM, and QMS into a single platform, enabling real-time collaboration across departments and with external partners. Role-based dashboards ensure each function—engineering, supply chain, sales, marketing, and service—has the right information at the right time, while audit-ready compliance features simplify regulatory inspections and mitigate operational risk.

Tom also highlighted the importance of process improvement during implementation. By starting with discovery sessions to understand unique pain points, organizations can digitize workflows, eliminate bottlenecks, and adopt best practices. The platform’s Salesforce foundation ensures security, performance, and scalability, allowing teams to focus on innovation and value creation rather than managing complex systems.

About Tom Shoemaker

Tom Shoemaker is VP of Product Marketing at Propel Software, where he drives adoption of cloud-based solutions for product lifecycle, information, and quality management. He works closely with manufacturers to optimize workflows, enhance compliance, and implement best practices across complex product development operations. Connect with Tom on LinkedIn.

About Propel Software

Propel Software is a cloud-based platform that unifies PLM, PIM, and QMS, helping manufacturers manage the complete product lifecycle. The platform enables collaboration across teams, improves compliance, and supports process optimization while preparing organizations for future innovations, including AI-driven product insights.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Propel Software Website

• Tom Shoemaker LinkedIn

Key Episode Highlights

• Unified PLM, PIM, and QMS enables cross-functional collaboration and reduces inefficiencies.

• Audit-ready compliance features streamline regulatory inspections and reduce risk.

• Discovery and tailored workflow implementation ensure technology adoption fits business context.

• Role-based dashboards enhance visibility for engineering, supply chain, sales, and service teams.

• Salesforce-based platform ensures security, scalability, and high performance for complex manufacturing operations.

Conclusion

Digital transformation in product lifecycle management requires more than technology—it demands process optimization, visibility, and collaboration. Tom Shoemaker’s insights on Propel Software show how manufacturers can modernize PLM, PIM, and QMS to drive efficiency, compliance, and innovation across the enterprise.

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