Punching Above their Weight

Smaller Companies are discovering that product management tools can help their small staffs get a global reach. The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software has become an important tool for managing people and resources at enterprises of any size. At Sonnax, the adoption of a PLM solution has led to some clear changes in information management. Instead of relying on a single point-person to do the project management for the whole company, each product line sales manager has become more deeply involved in the designs of specific lines. Indeed, many startups are incorporating PLM solutions before they even have products to manage. One factor that may be pushing small- and medium-size enterprises to adopt PLM solutions is the new globalized business model. Experts see PLM as way to help the far-flung pieces of the production chain mesh together. The system can be set up to enable suppliers of components anywhere in the world to look at the documentation they need, and to determine the most relevant information: what the history was, the nature of the changes, who approved it, and so forth.