Supply Chain Management – in recent times became a topic, especially because of delivery problems with the Airbus A380, at Boeing’s Dreamliner 787 and a flood of products such as, for example, toys, cosmetics or electrical devices which are dangerous or contain contaminants. A key discipline of modern supply chains is “Product Lifecycle Management“, which supports Management by providing information, processes and decisions about products throughout their entire lifecycle and across the entire global product network.
To an increasing extent, enterprises take advantage of the globalization during the development, design and manufacturing of their products, including the provision of services. Complicated operating procedures and widely-networked delivery chains are the consequence. With Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), companies can overcome this complexity while utilizing all of the opportunities for globalization to the full extent. For an increasing number of producing companies, PLM therefore stands at the focal point of their growth strategy, because it represents the basis for making decisions relating to product innovations and compliance with the regulatory requirements. Furthermore, the selection of the PLM solution has an influence on the entire application landscape of a company.