Product lifecycle management as a sustainable approach within the Moroccan social and solidarity economy sector

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a crucial strategy that presents a range of benefits at both technical and organizational levels. It involves the integration of collaborative methods that facilitate the sharing, centralization, and harmonization of product information, while also streamlining the processes of information exchange. This study serves as an initial endeavor to introduce PLM within the cottage industry by examining the integration of PLM and the resulting organizational transformations. The research follows a structured three-step methodology. Initially, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore the concept under investigation. Subsequently, a survey is carried out within the Moroccan social economy sector to identify prevalent challenges. The survey sample comprises 500 workshops from diverse regions and sectors. An analysis of the results using SPSS and Excel software reveals that organizational and management issues constitute the primary obstacles faced by the sector, representing 40% of the total challenges. Notably, production-related challenges emerge as the most significant, accounting for 68.89% of the total challenges in the sector. In the final step, the ceramics sector is chosen as the focal industry, and a VBA Excel-based tool is developed to address the identified issues. This tool incorporates four essential functionalities -user management, order management, complaints management, and cost management- that are currently lacking in the sector, facilitating organizational change management. The proposed functionalities are subsequently implemented by two pilot ceramics companies. The outcomes of this implementation reveal various barriers that could hinder collaborative efforts post-implementation.