Product Lifecycle Management: Driving the Next Generation of Lean Thinking

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the newest wave in productivity. This revolutionary approach is an outcome of lean thinking; however, PLM eliminates waste and efficiency across all aspects of a product's life--from design to deployment--not just in its manufacture. By using people, product information, processes, and technology to reduce wasted time, energy, and material across an organization and into the supply chain, PLM drives the next generation of lean thinking.

Now PLM pioneer Michael Grieves offers everyone from Six Sigma and lean practitioners to supply chain managers, product developers, and consultants a proven framework for adopting this information-driven approach. Product Lifecycle Management shows you how to greatly enhance your firm's productivity by integrating the efforts of your entire organization.

Most companies are seeing the returns of their efforts in lean methods diminishing, as the most fruitful applications have already been addressed. Here, Grieves reveals how PLM gives you an opportunity to make improvements both within and across functional areas in order to increase agility, optimize efficiency, and reduce costs across the board. He gives you the most comprehensive view of PLM available, fully outlining its characteristics, method, and tools and helping you assess your organizational readiness.

There's also proven examples from the field, where PLM is being widely adopted by leading companies, including General Motors, General Electric, and Dell, that are widely adopting the approach. You'll see how PLM has saved these companies billions in unnecessary costs and shaved as much as 60% off cycle times. With this book you'll learn how to:

• Develop and implement your PLM strategy to support your corporate objectives
• Engage all your employees in using information to eliminate waste
• Enable improved information flow
• Better organize and utilize your intellectual capital
• Foster an environment that drives PLM

Lean manufacturing can only take your organization so far. To bring your productivity to the next level and save remarkable amounts of time, money, and resources, Product Lifecycle Management is your one-stop, hands-on guide to implementing this powerful methodology.

Dr. Michael Grieves founded the Product Lifecycle Management Development Consortium, University of Michigan's College of Engineering and served as its Co-Director. He developed the first on-line Product Lifecycle Management Overview course for College's Center for Professional Development and organizes and chairs the annual University of Michigan AUTO^e IT Conference. Grieves also is affiliated with the University of Arizona's internationally ranked MIS Department. Grieves works with PLM users and suppliers to companies such as General Electric, IBM, and Toyota on PLM strategies and implementations. With 35 years industry experience, Grieves is a principal in the international management and IT consulting firm Core Strategies Inc., and serves on the boards of a number of technology companies.