Autor: Michael Bitzer

Product innovation and development are key capabilities especially for manufacturing industries. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) as a management concept provides processes and methodologies to establish these capabilities based on the dimensions: Organization, processes and technology. This article discusses the development of the PLM concept from an IT system purely supporting the operational level within a company - moving to a concept supporting top-management decisions regarding product strategy and portfolio. Moreover, a framework is introduced to determine an R&D and PLM Strategy based on the Corporate Business Strategy.

Technical innovations and increasing international stress of competition have lead wordwide operating companies as well as small and medium-sized companies to bring very complex products in a huge number of variants into the market. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is an approach to handle this complexity. In this paper a generic process model for a pragmatic evaluation of PLM solutions in a PLM implementation project is presented. Over the past years large companies, especially in aircraft and automotive industries, have made experiences with PLM and especially PLM implementation which can be adapted directly or indirectly by companies of small and medium sizes.