What is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

One of the most debated areas regarding the introduction of new technologies into companies of all sizes is ERP systems implementation. These integrated software packages normally encompass the main transaction processing and information reporting requirements of a company, spanning sales order processing, financial management, human resource management, stock movement, and inventory control. It has led to a widespread debate in the literature regarding the respective merits of procuring and implementing an ERP system or deploying individual standalone software packages. The increased take-up of packaged software also coincided with the spread of business process re-engineering (BPR) to improve efficiencies and reduce overheads. The two became closely linked as BPR projects were frequently combined with the introduction of new software solutions. In this chapter, three such cases are reviewed, all involving major new packaged software implementations in manufacturing companies and all associated with varying degrees of process change.