PLM Maturity Model: A Multi-Criteria Assessment in Southern Italy Companies

In the new worldwide global market, innovation and mass products customization are one of the strategic key factors for Companies. In this context IT support for product management becomes an important issue and many companies are in the process of adopting Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) as one of their key strategies. Therefore, few organizations evaluate the true benefits of PLM systems. The reason is mainly due to the lack of clear understanding of what PLM is and how it could fit with the needs and requirements of the companies in terms of product management. In this context, one of the main problems is to assess how far is a company from a full PLM implementation. This paper aims to assess this issue proposing a PLM Maturity Model, based on an AHP multi-criteria method, to analyse the companies requirements and to identify the right PLM system for them. The approach has been validated with survey of about 250 SME’s of electromechanical sectors based in southern Italy.