An empirical analysis of the PLM implementation effects in the aerospace industry

The provision of an effective IT support to product development processes still remains an open research question, because of the complexity that is inherent to this area of corporate activity. According to the current state of the art, product lifecycle management (PLM) systems can be considered as important enablers for achieving true coordination and effective management of product development processes. However, few contributions in literature investigate the central issue of understanding how company implementation approaches can mutually interact and can determine the actual effects of PLM introduction.The paper presents a framework for representing PLM implementation effects at three different levels (individual, organizational, and strategic) jointly to an empirical investigation in a major Italian aerospace company.

► The paper proposes a micro-level analysis on the impact of PLM, besides the anecdotal evidence presented at the macro-level in literature.
► The paper theorizes empirically validates the existence of three distinct PLM implementation effects (operational, organizational, and strategic).
► This analysis allowed a deeper knowledge of the individual and organizational phenomena linked to PLM implementations.
► The paper makes evident that PLM implementations must be designed, combining the technology introduction with organizational changes.
► The paper provides managers with a framework to assess the benefits produced by PLM.