So you’re an executive at a manufacturing company. You make things that are useful to your customers and you return profits to ever-demanding shareholders. You have probably heard of PLM before; perhaps your staff have mentioned the acronym. But how badly do you need it?

Here are 10 indicators that you definitely need PLM:

1. Your engineering organization is often late meeting customer deadlines. This results from poorly executed projects, inefficient processes and lack of clear deliverables. All of these problems can be addressed by a PLM system supporting the engineering organization.
2. Warranty costs are creeping up. One of the largest contributors to poor product quality is sloppy design and incomplete engineering definition. Installing appropriate PLM technology to support design activities results in a better specification been communicated to manufacturing.
3. Factory scrap rates are above industry standards. For example, scrap and rework is often traced back to a wrong drawing, an incorrect dimension or a poorly specified component. Complete and accurate product design is supported by a robust PLM system.
4. R&D costs as a percentage of revenue are excessive. Engineering and design activity is bloated with too much headcount and overhead. Yet they are late with deliverables. PLM means efficiency in R&D.
5. The organization struggles with coordination. It appears as if manufacturing and engineering are always at odds with both departments blaming one another for mistakes. PLM can offer objective data to resolve these issues.
6. There is no accountability in the organization. It is difficult to diagnose where mistakes were made and who is responsible. People are always blaming other departments. A PLM system can provide objective data that allows the root cause to be addressed.
7. Expedited freight costs are bleeding away your profits. Excessive expedited freight costs are common in companies that are late with deliveries and have to ship under duress to avoid customer penalties. Better upstream engineering supported by PLM can improve this problem.
8. Your competitors always beat you to market with new products. Is innovation management and new product introduction a problem for your organization? A better PLM system can make dramatic differences in this area.
9. Customers complain that they do not get the information they need. You owe your customers information at various stages during the engagement cycle and they never get it in a timely manner. A suitably configured PLM system can improve this dramatically.
10. Your suppliers provide the wrong information. This can be a common problem diagnosed by your engineering staff. But do your suppliers have the right request to begin with? PLM technology can bridge this gap

Do you have three or more of these issues keeping you up at night? Time to take a serious look at a PLM system.