SAP has announced the availability of a new product lifecycle technology called Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) across the board of Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region.

SAP had committed to support Asian manufacturer’s investment in product innovation to ride the economic crisis for future growth.

“Innovative players who differentiate themselves will come out of the crises stronger, as quickly as manufacturers who have been hit hard by the crisis, shutting down operations. What will fuel their growth in the next 2-3 years will be their ability to innovate and accelerate product and service leadership,” claimed Say Kumar, Vice President, Discrete Manufacturing, SAP, APJ region.

A study by Manufacturing Insights, an IDC company found that most manufacturers are keen to improve PLM processes that facilitate new product introduction, process control, and demand planning. PLM is vital for manufacturers looking to improve their entire product lifecycle, from product conception through manufacturing, in service support and finally end of life disposal.

“Leadership companies will drive this initiative for increased efficiency across the entire product lifecycle. If companies get this right, they have a real advantage over their competitors,” says Joe Barkai, Practice Director at Manufacturing Insights.

SAP is confident that its PLM roadmap is comprehensive enough to accelerate product innovation. Part of the SAP Business Suite, SAP PLM enables their manufacturing customers with 360-degree-support for all product-related processes. To achieve this companies have to manage an end-to-end process from design and engineer to deliver product innovation, all the way to supply chain management and collaboration with their global suppliers, customers and business partners. Effective PLM is important to this, if going global entails myriad quality and industry standards from around the world.

And during these bleak times, only the most efficient have any chance of survival.