According to the latest report by independent market analyst Datamonitor (DTM.L), manufacturing companies are looking to enhance both internal and external collaboration, manage product data better and streamline workflows, as time to market becomes ever more important.

Whilst by no means a new phenomenon, the report “Supporting product development with cutting edge IT” says this indicates it is now taking a higher priority. In turn, these strategies are leading to additional investment in technology such as product lifecycle management (PLM), creating one of the fastest growing enterprise application segments.

“As competition increases within various manufacturing industries, the time taken to develop a product and bring it to market has become a key metric for progressive manufacturers. Minimizing this time, while maintaining quality and fostering innovation is the latest challenge in today’s manufacturing industry”, says Adam Jura, Manufacturing Technology Analyst and author of the study. “In 2007, we can expect a lot of product-driven investment in IT – this is making an interesting balance act for manufacturing businesses.”