Every year, Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) helps thousands of users compare and select PLM solutions. One of the 17 questions asked is about users' business objectives when adopting PLM. To answer this question, users can choose from a multiple selection list of over 50 options that covers majority of business objectives related to PLM adoption.
Based on answers provided in 485 selection projects from 2007 to 2009, TEC identified the top 10 business objectives in 2009 and in the previous two years. Most of the objectives in the top 10 list are steady from year to year and fall into three general categories: drawing and product documentation management, product collaboration, and engineering change.
The business objectives related to product collaboration are:
• decrease cost of new product development and introduction projects • improve design review and approval processes • communicate manufacturing processes or work instructions to manufacturing • increase speed of new product introductions.
"For product-oriented companies, new product development and introduction (NPDI) has become a critical business process that companies want to build their core competences on," TEC says. "The two major goals that many companies have regarding NPDI are to make it more cost-efficient and faster. In addition, organizations also want to build tighter connections between product design and manufacturing."
