Managing product life

It seems that manufacturers are increasingly accepting that the focus in today’s market is innovation; products that clearly differentiate themselves from others while also being affordable, reliable, and early to market. Moreover, there is a realisation that past initiatives aimed solely at product performance, cost, quality, or time to market are no longer sufficient to gain competitive advantage. Only through total management of the product lifecycle, and truly collaborative work processes involving widely distributed teams of people throughout an extended enterprise, can products be developed to meet customer needs innovately without driving up costs, sacrificing quality or delaying product delivery.