Joined-up planning - [Manufacturing lifecycles]

The growing importance of 'lifecycle' IT for manufacturing over the past decade is no accident. Some of the key business challenges facing both multinational and smaller firms have pointed to the need for the development of broad procedures and technologies that have been parcelled under the PLM (product lifecycle management) banner. PLM, which has its roots in computer-aided design (CAD) going back two decades, has now grown into a panoply of manufacturing IT processes.