Regarding Product Lifecycle Management as a ‘Do-or-Die’ competitive necessity, company executives at a record number of companies are investing heavily in the approach.

According to recent statistics compiled by consulting and research firm CIMdata, Inc., the worldwide Comprehensive Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market experienced a stronger-than-expected 13.5% growth rate to reach an estimated $24.3 billion in 2007.

The increase exceeds earlier forecasts, with the boost attributed to recognition of the enterprise-wide value of PLM for companies of all sizes in a growing number of industries—most particularly in light of continuing predictions of possible global economic downturn. According to CIMdata Director of Research Ken Amann, PLM investments are forecasted to continue their steady climb over the next five years, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 9.8% and expanding the market size to nearly $40 billion by 2012.

Supported by a wide range of technologies, PLM is a strategic business approach for the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information. Using the approach, companies can increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve quality and launch innovative products faster than ever. CIMdata research of companies that have implemented PLM indicates that typical ROIs range from 100% to 300%.

“Executive-level recognition of the significant business value of PLM is driving increased implementation of the approach. Increasingly, many of these far-reaching systems extend beyond engineering design to a broad range of activities—from early-stage product strategy development and planning, to product engineering and manufacturing engineering, and through to product maintenance and support,” says CIMdata President Ed Miller. He explains that the impact of this broad PLM footprint is that many diverse, previously-isolated disciplines and pockets of automation are now being tightly integrated, with processes optimized for the entire enterprise and across the full product lifecycle.

“Considering the far-reaching business impact of PLM, the approach has become a critical enterprise investment,” notes Miller. “PLM is now widely regarded as a ‘do-or-die’ competitive necessity in a turbulent global economy where companies leveraging these solutions will likely be among the top performers in the coming years.”