In today's fast-growing, competitive economy, the need to think big, act fast & gain result is more than ever before. Every business aims to gain a competitive advantage by improving its product development - with PLM solutions. Product Lifecycle Management is today's all-encompassing approach for innovation. Besides having matured to become a mission-critical system for successfully driving product development, a PLM system provides the foundation for companies to compete in an innovation environment that constantly demands rapid time to market, multi-company collaboration, high product quality, and a cost- effective product cost. Most of the modern day high-tech manufacturers face top-level business drivers such as short product lifecycles, leading to pressure in meeting the frequently changing consumer tastes. The ability of PLM to optimize the introduction of new product at reduced costs, the ability to eliminate non-value-adding processes, the lowering of queue times through automated workflows and the minimizing of re-work at all stages of the product lifecycle through virtual product development and collaboration has made PLM the most cost effective sought after technology today. Successful product development in today's competitive global market requires a comprehensive engineering and the implementation of a robust PLM (product lifecycle management) system to streamline the product development process. Investing in the right PLM solution helps improve the product development process by integrating people, data, processes and business systems and providing a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise. Implementing an integrated PLM solution establishes transparency to comply with industry regulations, as it ensures the documentation of production performance. An organization needs to understand what the technology should address, able to choose a PLM system that will help develop high-quality products more efficiently. While selecting a new technology is a challenge for any organization, these tips can help: · Perform a business process and technology rationalization exercise as part of the PLM implementation · Develop a long term plan for Product Lifecycle Management by carrying out a requirements gathering exercise · Besides understanding the impact to your organization, it may also be prudent to consider introducing a change management plan · It is best to implement PLM in small and measured steps, primarily as a phased implementation approach greatly reduces the risk Enhancing the product development requires a successful PLM implementation with complete commitment from many levels of an organization. Partner with the right vendor to enable real-time collaboration among research and development, engineering, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, and service on new product development. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9315518