A PROJECT REPORT

ON
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
A Report

Submitted to

Sai Nath University, Ranchi

for the partial fulfillment of Master Of Business Management
In

MARKETING MANAGEMENT
In the
Faculty of Managements

Submitted By
Suraj Vishwakarma
Roll No: MB/ /
MBA III Semester
Session: 2021-2023

Under the supervision of

Prof. Prof.
Faculty Associate
HOD,
Department of Management Department of Marketing Management

1
 DECLARATION

I undersigned solemnly declare that the report of the project work entitled “Product
life cycle” is based on my own work carried out during the course of my study under the
supervision of “_____________________” Asst. Professor.
I assert that the statements made and conclusions drawn are an outcome of the project
work. I further declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief that the project report
does not contain any part of any work which has been submitted for the award of any
other degree/diploma/certificate in this University or any other University.

(Signature of the Candidate)

NAME : SURAJ
VISHWAKARMA
ROLL No : MB/018/022
SESSION : 2021-2022
SEMESTER: 3rd

2
 AKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Guide, Prof. in

Department of Management, Sai Nath University, under whose constant and affectionate
guidance and supervision, the present PROJECT work has been completed.
I am extremely thankful to my HOD, Prof. and our Dean
Academic Dr. For their support and guidance.

(Signature of the Candidate)

NAME : SURAJ
VISHWAKARMA
ROLL No : MB/018/022
SESSION : 2021-2022
SEMESTER: 3rd.

3
 ABSTRACT

The product life cycle is a notion which is frequently

discussed in the literature of marketing management.
According to the theory of the cycle, products are said to be
on a market for a limited time, during which they pass
through the phases of introduction, growth, maturity,
saturation and decline. Booz, Allen and Hamilton 1 depict
these phases as in Fig. 4.1. Their view of the sales and
profit performance of products is shared by many writers. 2
If their view is correct, then the concept of the product life
cycle must be of interest for managers in the process of
setting up their product plan. If it is true that every market
has a limited life, then this tells the manager something
about the opportunities that are likely to become open to
him and how long they are likely to last. There are also
associated hypotheses concerning the type of managerial
talent that is likely to be most in need at the different stages
of the cycle. If the life-cycle theory has some validity, then

4
it will obviously be of some use to the product-planning
manager.

A PROJECT ON PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgment

Declaration

1- INTRODUCTION.
2- OVERVIEW OF FMCG SECTOR.
3- LITERATURE REVIEW .
4- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 Objective of the study
4.2 Research design
4.3 Sources of data

5- PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT

5.1 The evolution of PLM
5.2Defining PLM
5.3 Product Life Cycle model description
5.4 Addressing business challenges
5.5 Why PLM?
5.6 The role of PLM
5.7 Strategies

6
 6- ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION:

6.1 ANALYSIS OF THE SELECTED FMCG PRODUCTS

(a). Toilet Soaps

(b). Butter Industry
(c). Shampoo

6.2 SUCCESS STORIES OF PLM

(a) Procter & Gamble (P&G)

(b) Bharat Electronics Limited

7- CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

8- LIMITATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCES

7
 LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES

TABLE NO. TITLE

5.1(a) The Evolution of PLM
5.3(a) Product Life Cycle Stages
5.7(a) Strategies
6.1(a) Price Comparision
6.1(b) classification of shampoo
products
6.1(c) Major players of shampoo
products

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1. INTRODUCTION

In today’s challenging global market, enterprises must

innovate to survive. Business innovation must occur in all
dimensions—product, process, and organization— to
improve competitiveness and business performance. To
differentiate themselves, enterprises must capture, manage,
and leverage their intellectual assets. This can best be
accomplished through proper application of a Product
Lifecycle Management (PLM) approach that addresses the
needs of the extended enterprise. PLM is a strategic
business approach that helps enterprises achieve its
business goals of reducing costs, improving quality, and
shortening time to market, while innovating its products,
services, and business operations. Product lifecycle
management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire
lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design
and manufacture, to service and disposal.[1] PLM is a set of
capabilities that enable an enterprise to effectively and

9
efficiently innovate and manage its products and related
services throughout the entire business lifecycle.
Product lifecycle management, sometimes "product life
cycle management", represents an all-encompassing vision
for managing all data relating to the design, production,
support and ultimate disposal of manufactured goods.

PLM concepts were first introduced where safety and

control have been extremely important, notably the
aerospace, medical device, military and nuclear industries.
These industries originated the discipline of configuration
management (CM), which evolved into electronic data
management systems (EDMS), which then further evolved
to product data management (PDM).[2]

In the last 5 years, manufacturers of instrumentation,

industrial machinery, consumer electronics, packaged
goods and other complex engineered products have
discovered the benefits of PLM.

In modern product development, as the complexity and

variety of products increase to satisfy increasingly
sophisticated customers, so does the need for knowledge
and expertise for developing products. Co-located and

10
monolithic design teams can no longer efficiently manage
the product development effort in its entirety. In order to
avoid lengthy product development cycles, higher
development costs and quality problems, collaboration
across distributed and multidisciplinary design teams has
become a necessity. Today’s knowledge-intensive product
development environment requires a computational
framework which effectively enables capture,
representation, retrieval and reuse of product
knowledge.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is increasingly
important for organizations acting in dynamic and
competitive markets. In practice however, companies
struggle with adopting and implementing PLM. PLM is
rather a concept than a system, as its main premises are to
improve competitive advantage through agility and
innovation. Competitive success of manufacturing firms is
by and large determined by the success of the products they
introduce to the market. This is why companies
continuously try to improve the efficacy of their product
realization process. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
is a business solution which aims to streamline the flow of

11
information about the product and related processes
throughout the product’s lifecycle such that the right
information in the right context at the right time can be
made available. Yet, few organizations are positioned to
reap the true benefits of PLM. One major reason for this is
a lack of clear understanding of what PLM is, its core
features and functions, and its relationship to the myriad of
current software tools. This paper aims to do that and also
elaborates on the role of PLM. For achieving better
environmental performance of products or product systems,
it is essential to manage total product life cycle. For life
cycle evaluation, it is important to seek for the better
product services, at the same time to seek for lower
environmental burden and life cycle management costing.
The same level of customer satisfaction can be achieved by
various different life cycle management options, for
instance, long-life maintenance centered products.

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2. OVERVIEW OF FMCG SECTOR

FMCG industry, alternatively called as CPG (Consumer

packaged goods) industry primarily deals with the
production, distribution and marketing of consumer
packaged goods. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods
(FMCG) is those consumables which are normally
consumed by the consumers at a regular interval. Some of
the prime activities of FMCG industry are selling,
marketing, financing, purchasing, etc. The industry also
engaged in operations, supply chain, production and general
management.[3]

FMCG Products and Categories

- Personal Care, Oral Care, Hair Care, Skin Care, Personal
Wash (soaps);
- Cosmetics and toiletries, deodorants, perfumes, feminine
hygiene, paper products;
- Household care fabric wash including laundry soaps and
synthetic detergents; household-

13
 cleaners, such as dish/utensil cleaners, floor cleaners,
toilet cleaners, air fresheners,
insecticides and mosquito repellents, metal polish and
furniture polish.

Scope of FMCG Sector

The Indian FMCG sector with a market size of US$13.1
billion is the fourth largest sector in the economy. A well-
established distribution network, intense competition
between the organized and unorganized segments
characterize the sector. FMCG Sector is expected to grow
by over 60% by 2010. That will translate into an annual
growth of 10% over a 5-year period. It has been estimated
that FMCG sector will rise from around Rs 56,500 crores in
2005 to Rs. 92,100 crores in 2010. Hair care, household
care, male grooming, female hygiene, and the chocolates
and confectionery categories are estimated to be the fastest
growing segments, says an HSBC report. Though the sector
witnessed a slower growth in 2002-2004, it has been able to
make a fine recovery since then.
For example, Hindustan Levers Limited (HLL) has shown a
healthy growth in the last quarter. An estimated double-

14
digit growth over the next few years shows that the good
times are likely to continue.[4]

Growth prospects
With the presence of 12.2% of the world population in the
villages of India, the Indian rural FMCG market is
something no one can overlook. Increased focus on farm
sector will boost rural incomes, hence providing better
growth prospects to the FMCG companies. Better
infrastructure facilities will improve their supply chain.
FMCG sector is also likely to benefit from growing demand
in the market. Because of the low per capita consumption
for almost all the products in the country, FMCG
companies have immense possibilities for growth. And if
the companies are able to change the mindset of the
consumers, i.e. if they are able to take the consumers to
branded products and offer new generation products, they
would be able to generate higher growth in the near future.
It is expected that the rural income will rise in 2007,
boosting purchasing power in the countryside. However,
the demand in urban areas would be the key growth driver
over the long term. Also, increase in the urban population,
along with increase in income levels and the availability of

15
new categories, would help the urban areas maintain their
position in terms of consumption. At present, urban India
accounts for 66% of total FMCG consumption, with rural
India accounting for the remaining 34%. However, rural
India accounts for more than 40% consumption in major
FMCG categories such as personal care, fabric care, and hot
beverages. In urban areas, home and personal care category,
including skin care, household care and feminine hygiene,
will keep growing at relatively attractive rates. Within the
foods segment, it is estimated that processed foods, bakery,
and dairy are long-term growth categories in both rural and
urban areas.

16
SWOT analysis of FMCG sector[5]

Strength:
1. Low operational costs
2. Presence of established distribution networks in both
urban and rural areas
3. Presence of well-known brands in FMCG sector

Weaknesses:
1. Lower scope of investing in technology and achieving
economies of scale, especially in
small sector.
2. Low exports levels

Opportunities:
1. Untapped rural market
2. Rising income levels, i.e. increase in purchasing power
of consumers
3. Large domestic market- a population of over one billion.
4. Export potential

17
Threats:
1. Slowdown in rural demand
2. Globalization

3. LITERATURE REVIEW

All products and services have certain life cycles. The life
cycle refers to the period from the product’s first launch
into the market until its final withdrawal and it is split up in
phases. During this period significant changes are made in
the way that the product is behaving into the market i.e. its
reflection in respect of sales to the company that introduced
it into the market. Since an increase in profits is the major
goal of a company that introduces a product into a market,
the product’s life cycle management is very important.
Some companies use strategic planning and others follow
the basic rules of the different life cycle phase that are
analyzed later.
The understanding of a product’s life cycle, can help a
company to understand and realize when it is time to
introduce and withdraw a product from a market, its

18
position in the market compared to competitors, and the
product’s success or failure. For a company to fully
understand the above and successfully manage a product’s
life cycle, needs to develop strategies and methodologies6.

Business is often associated with the dryer side of dullness,

and many of us frequently refer with some distaste to
"getting round to the business side of things". But over the
years some very useful methods and techniques have
emerged from the "other-side", many of which can be
beneficial to all of us. After all, while we may consider
much of what we do as a labor of love, we are nonetheless
trying to make some money out of the whole thing as well!
A good place to start is with the concept of the product life
cycle.

Like most things, the sales (and demand) for your software
conform to some sort of pattern. The advantages of the
product life cycle concept are that it provides a basic
structure that allows you to see where you are, and what
lies ahead. There are four components to the cycle;
introduction, growth, maturity and decline.7 by: - Dave
Collins, SharewarePromotions Ltd.

19
The product life-cycle theory is an economic theory that
was developed by Raymond Vernon in response to the
failure of the Heckscher-Ohlin model to explain the
observed pattern of international trade. The theory suggests
that early in a product's life-cycle all the parts and labor
associated with that product come from the area in which it
was invented. After the product becomes adopted and used
in the world markets, production gradually moves away
from the point of origin. In some situations, the product
becomes an item that is imported by its original country of
invention.[8]

The PLC is a dependent variable which is determined by

market actions; it is not an independent variable to which
companies should adapt their marketing programs.
Marketing management itself can alter the shape and
duration of a brand's life cycle.[9]
The life cycle concept may apply to a brand or to a category
of product. Its duration may be as short as a few months for
a fad item or a century or more for product categories such
as the gasoline-powered automobile.[10]
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is increasingly
important for organizations acting in dynamic and

20
competitive markets. In practice however, companies
struggle with adopting and implementing PLM. PLM is
rather a concept than a system, as its main premises are to
improve competitive advantage through agility and
innovation. The concept implies structural, crossfunctional
and long-term cooperation between actors in- and outside
the firm. This complexity hampers the achievement of a
solid PLM approach that truly integrates all organizational
aspects and levels. The framework and benchmark data
provide a basis for a PLM roadmap towards competitive
advantage. Competitive success of manufacturing firms is
by and large determined by the success of the products they
introduce to the market. This is why companies
continuously try to improve the efficacy of their product
realization process. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
is a business solution which aims to streamline the flow of
information about the product and related processes
throughout the product’s lifecycle such that the right
information in the right context at the right time can be
made available. Yet, few organizations are positioned to
reap the true benefits of PLM. One major reason for this is
a lack of clear understanding of what PLM is, its core

21
features and functions, and its relationship to the myriad of
current software tools. This paper aims to do that and also
elaborates on the role of PLM.

4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1 OBJECTIVES

 To understand product life cycle

 To understand what exactly is product lifecycle
management ( PLM)
 Understanding how Product Life Cycle help in
improving business performance

4.2 RESEARCH PLAN

 Research design: Exploratory & descriptive

4.3 SOURCES OF DATA

Secondary Data

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 Collection has been undertaken through various
journals, Business Magazines and
other Magazines, Websites and resources.

5. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT

5.1 THE EVOLUTION OF PLM

The term “product lifecycle management” emerged after

nearly twenty years of market and technological evolution.
In the mid 1980’s to early 1990’s, there was confusion as to
what to call product-related information, particularly
engineering information. As the data came to be referred to
generically as product data, the term product data
management (PDM) emerged. Heavily promotion of both
the term and the nascent industry through publications and
educational events were done. Both users and solution
providers embraced PDM and used the term for many
years. In fact, PDM remains a foundation component of
PLM. PLM has emerged as the term used to describe a
business approach for the creation, management, and use of
product-associated intellectual capital and information

23
throughout the lifecycle. PLM has evolved in much more
than terminology. There has been a continuous evolution of
what PLM represents, as illustrated in the figure below.
Fifteen years ago, custom implementations focused on
precise applications wrapped around primarily engineering
design data. In the late 1980’s, the major emphasis was on
how to manage engineering drawings, with limited
solutions primarily sold to managers in engineering
departments.
Custom implementations evolved to tool kits and generic
applications that automated some typical functions. As the
solution providers gained experience implementing their
tools in different industries, their offerings evolved into
delivering focused business applications. These
applications provided standard data models, predefined
workflow templates, and other functions necessary to solve
some business problems. Today, the focus is on complete
business solutions that address top and bottom line issues.
These solutions incorporate best practices to allow
organizations to migrate their business processes toward de
facto industry standards. This evolution has changed not
only the level of managers that buy these solutions; it has

24
changed the issues that are driving these investments and,
more importantly, it has changed the manner in which these
solutions are acquired and implemented. As part of this
evolution, the view or definition of the “product lifecycle”
has also changed. Fifteen years ago, the “lifecycle” focused
on the design engineering activity, as the tools concentrated
on CAD data management. In the late 1980’s, that
perspective began to expand to include workflow and
processes across the product lifecycle, i.e., to share
information and processes between different design
activities

Fig 5.1(a)

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5.2 DEFINING PLM
PLM can be defined as:
• A strategic business approach that applies a consistent set
of business solutions that support the collaborative creation,
management, dissemination, and use of product definition
information
• Supporting the extended enterprise (customers, design and
supply partners, etc.)

26
• Spanning from concept to end of life of a product
• Integrating people, processes, business systems, and
information
It is important to note that PLM is not a definition of a
piece, or pieces, of technology. It is a definition of a
business approach to solving the problem of managing the
complete set of product definition information— creating
that information, managing it through its life, and
disseminating and using it throughout the lifecycle of the
product.

5.3 PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MODEL DESCRIPTION

The product’s life cycle-period usually consists of five

major steps or phases: Product development, Product
introduction, Product growth, product maturity and finally
Product decline.[11] These phases exist and are applicable to
all products or services. These phases can be split into
smaller ones depending on the product and must be

27
considered when a new product is to be introduced into a
market since they dictate the product’s sales performance.

Fig 5.3(a)

1. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PHASE

Product development phase begins when a company finds
and develops a new product idea. This involves translating
various pieces of information and incorporating them into a
new product. A product is usually undergoing several
changes involving a lot of money and time during
development, before it is exposed to target customers via
test markets. Those products that survive the test market are
then introduced into a real marketplace and the introduction
phase of the product begins.

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2. INTRODUCTION PHASE
The introduction phase of a product includes the product
launch with its requirements to getting it launch in such a
way so that it will have maximum impact at the moment of
sale. A good example of such a launch is the launch of
“Windows XP” by Microsoft Corporation.
Large expenditure on promotion and advertising is
common, and quick but costly service requirements are
introduced. A company must be prepared to spent a lot of
money and get only a small proportion of that back. In this
phase distribution arrangements are introduced. Having the
product in every counter is very important and is regarded
as an impossible challenge. Some companies avoid this
stress by hiring external contractors or outsourcing the
entire distribution arrangement. This has the benefit of
testing an important marketing tool such as outsourcing.
Pricing is something else for a company to consider during
this phase. Product pricing usually follows one or two well
structured strategies. Early customers will pay a lot for
something new and this will help a bit to minimize that
sinkhole that was mentioned earlier. Later the pricing

29
policy should be more aggressive so that the product can
become competitive. Another strategy is that of a pre-set
price believed to be the right one to maximize sales. This
however demands a very good knowledge of the market
and of what a customer is willing to pay for a newly
introduced product.
A successful product introduction phase may also result
from actions taken by the company prior to the introduction
of the product to the market. These actions are included in
the formulation of the marketing strategy. This is
accomplished during product development by the use of
market research. Customer requirements on design, pricing,
servicing and packaging are invaluable to the formation of a
product design. A customer can tell a company what
features of the product are appealing and what are the
characteristics that should not appear on the product. He
will describe the ways of how the product will become
handy and useful. So in this way a company will know
before its product is introduced to a market what to expect
from the customers and competitors. A marketing mix may
also help in terms of defining the targeted audience during

30
promotion and advertising of the product in the introduction
phase.

3. GROWTH PHASE
This is the appropriate timing to focus on increasing the
market share. If the product has been introduced first into
the market, (introduction into an existing market) then it is
in a position to gain market share relatively easily. A new
growing market alerts the competitior’s attention. The
company must show all the products offerings and try to
differentiate them from the competitor’s ones. A frequent
modification process of the product is an effective policy to
discourage competitors from gaining market share by
copying or offering similar products. Other barriers are
licenses and copyrights, product complexity and low
availability of product components. Promotion and
advertising continues, but not in the extent that was in the
introductory phase and it is oriented to the task of market
leadership and not in raising product awareness. A good
practice is the use of external promotional contractors.
This period is the time to develop efficiencies and improve
product availability and service. Cost efficiency and time-

31
to-market and pricing and discount policy are major factors
in gaining customer confidence. Good coverage in all
marketplaces is worthwhile goal throughout the growth
phase. Managing the growth stage is essential. Companies
sometimes are consuming much more effort into the
production process, overestimating their market position.
Accurate estimations in forecasting customer needs will
provide essential input into production planning process. It
is pointless to increase customer expectations and product
demand without having arranged for relative production
capacity. A company must not make the mistake of over
committing. This will result into losing customers not
finding the product “on the self”.

4. MATURITY PHASE
When the market becomes saturated with variations of the
basic product, and all competitors are represented in terms
of an alternative product, the maturity phase arrives. In this
phase market share growth is at the expense of someone
else’s business, rather than the growth of the market itself.
This period is the period of the highest returns from the

32
product. A company that has achieved its market share goal
enjoys the most profitable period, while a company that
falls behind its market share goal, must reconsider its
marketing positioning into the market place. During this
period new brands are introduced even when they compete
with the company’s existing product and model changes are
more frequent (product, brand, model). This is the time to
extend the product’s life. Pricing and discount policies are
often changed in relation to the competition policies i.e.
pricing moves up and down accordingly with the
competitors’ one and sales and coupons are introduced in
the case of consumer products. Promotion and advertising
relocates from the scope of getting new customers, to the
scope of product differentiation in terms of quality and
reliability. The battle of distribution continues using multi
distribution channels. A successful product maturity phase
is extended beyond anyone’s timely expectations. A good
example of this is “Tide” washing powder, which has
grown old, and it is still growing.

5. DECLINE PHASE

33
The decision for withdrawing a product seems to be a
complex task and there a lot of issues to be resolved before
with decide to move it out of the market. Dilemmas such as
maintenance, service competitions reaction in filling the
market gap are some issues that increase the complexity of
the decision process to withdraw a product from the market.
Often companies retain a high price policy for the declining
products that increase the profit margin and gradually
discourage the “few” loyal remaining customers from
buying it. Such an example is telegraph submission over
facsimile or email. Sometimes it is difficult for a company
to conceptualize the decline signals of a product. Usually a
product decline is accompanied with a decline of market
sales. Its recognition is sometimes hard to be realized, since
marketing departments are usually too optimistic due to big
product success coming from the maturity phase. This is the
time to start withdrawing variations of the product from the
market that are weak in their market position. This must be
done carefully since it is not often apparent which product
variation brings in the revenues.
The prices must be kept competitive and promotion should
be pulled back at a level that will make the product

34
presence visible and at the same time retain the “loyal”
customer. Distribution is narrowed. The basic channel is
should be kept efficient but alternative channels should be
abandoned.

5.4 ADDRESSING BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Businesses today face three on-going challenges: improving
customer intimacy, achieving operational excellence, and
providing product leadership. Improving customer intimacy
requires understanding and responding quickly to current
and potential customers, their needs, establishing effective
relationships with them, and providing consist, long-term
customer value. Achieving operational excellence requires
enterprises to focus on operating efficiently, effectively,
and flexibly, working with their partners to reduce the cost
and time necessary to deliver high-quality products that
meet their customer’s requirements in a timely manner.
Providing product leadership means delivering leading edge
products and solutions tailored to customer needs. All of
these challenges require getting the right products to the
right market, at the right time, for the right cost.[12]

35
To meet these challenges, businesses must become more
innovative. However, being an innovative business doesn’t
simply mean creating innovative products. It also means
improving the processes a company uses to produce its
products and how it supports its products using innovative
approaches to the complete product lifecycle. Today,
innovation is recognized as critical for a business to
maintain its competitiveness in the market place. However,
innovation must be achieved while reducing overall
product-related costs across development, production, and
service. A primary business driver is increasing product
complexity and customization. Not only are mechanical
configurations getting more intricate, products increasingly
include complex electronics and software.
In addition, customers want to have “their” product or plant
configured to their individual specifications. The increase
in product complexity, coupled with the desire for
personalized configurations, requires an enhanced ability to
quickly define new product variations and options, and to
be able to manage the configurations being offered.
Additionally, companies must manage the “entire” product
or product family, integrating elements such as product

36
recipes and packaging to meet regional requirements and
regulations. Today, enterprises must bring innovative
products to market more effectively and more quickly to
maximize customer interest and sales. The pressures to
reduce time, improve product quality, and lower costs
haven’t gone away; they are being reaffirmed and folded
into programs that focus on delivering the “right” product.
To continue to expand, product leadership companies must
continue to enter new markets with innovative products.
This requires leveraging and reusing the product-related
intellectual capital created by business partners working
together across the extended enterprise value chain.
Globalization is an overarching reality that spans each of
these business drivers. To be successful in global markets,
organizations must develop and apply a diverse set of skills
and business processes. Global enterprises must:
 Make effective use of a widely-distributed worldwide
organization, creating a virtual value chain with no
time, distance, or organizational boundaries
 Create and enable virtual product teams composed of
people that are spread around the world

37
These drivers are putting increasing pressure on
organizations to invest in solutions that include
technologies, methodologies, best practices that can help
them improve their ability to focus on product innovation,
leverage business partners, and compete more
effectively in the global market place.

5.5 WHY PLM?

5.5.1 INTERNAL FORCES

A decade ago, reducing operational costs through
increasing operational efficiency used to be a powerful
means of achieving competitive advantage. However, that
is no longer the case. Today product innovation and
customer intimacy together with operations excellence have
become the most important areas of focus for a corporation
that wants to gain competitive differentiation. These three
measures of success are mainly influenced by the internal
dynamics of corporations. Hence, we refer to them as the
internal forces for the competitive success of a company. In
this section, the role of knowledge management in

38
promoting innovation, customer intimacy and operations
excellence is discussed in order to shed some light on the
way PLM enables competitiveness.[13]
1. Need for Innovation
Usually the first two companies that create a new
product/service category control 80% of sale of that
category. This is why leading companies are seeking the
ways of introducing innovative products and services.
Chrysler minivan is a good example for demonstrating how
companies benefit from innovative products. Chrysler
invented the minivan in 1983 and it has sold more than 10
million minivans in more than 70 countries since then.
After two decades and despite the emergence of many
competitive models, Chrysler minivans remain the world’s
best-selling minivans. According to the theory of
“economics of ideas” developed by Paul Romer in 1993,
making people knowledgeable brings innovation and
continued ability to create products and services of the
highest quality which will eventually lead to the economic
growth both company-wide and nation-wide. Innovation
relies on creativity and creativity is most likely to happen in
open environments which facilitate inclusion of the best

39
ideas. In a creative environment, the pool of talent is
expanded and collective body of knowledge is accessible
for individuals. A creative environment is highly
collaborative and keeps all players always informed thus,
facilitating communication among different parties. When
the greatest possible numbers of creative minds collaborate,
they will innovate. With a knowledge management system
in place, product-related knowledge can be systematically
shared among knowledge users.

2. Customer Intimacy
Maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty is a top
priority for competitiveness. Customers are beginning to
expect to buy products that can be customized to suit their
personal needs and desires. Moving from make-to-stock
and make to-order to mass customization and
personalization is becoming a common practice. Many
vendors in different consumer industries like computers,
automobiles, watches and shoes now provide their
customers the ability to customize their products based on
their desires. Mass customization pulls the customers up in

40
the design process. Learning more about customer’s needs
and behaviors would help in developing the intelligence
that leads to design of products which properly meet their
expectations. Poor communication will result in an
incomplete picture of customer requirements. To ensure a
rich and effective communication, the upstream and
downstream flow of information between customers and
manufacturer should be as seamless and direct as possible.
Customers are valuable sources of knowledge since they
are in close contact with the product and their ideas about
possible improvements in the product can considerably help
the design teams in modifying product features. However,
in the absence of a disciplined methodology for capturing
customer’s knowledge of products, it is almost impossible
to incorporate such knowledge in the product development
process.

5.5.2 EXTERNAL FORCES

Over the last few years, universal trends like globalization,
environmental awareness, shrinkage in product lifecycle,
increase in product complexity and the push into supply
chain have posed new challenges for corporations.

41
1. Globalization
In 1995, U.S government helped organize and fund the
Next-Generation Manufacturing (NGM) Project, an
elaborate effort to forecast manufacturing business
conditions for the next 10 to 15 years. The NGM project
identified several drivers for the change among which
Globalization of markets and business competition” was the
most prominent one. Globalization today is the most visible
mega-trend and has considerably changed the rules of
business in the manufacturing world. With the increase in
the cost of resources, manufacturers no longer rely on
domestic recourses and on a world-wide basis they seek for
partners who can economically provide them with
necessary materials, components and services. Today,
collaboration of globally dispersed product development
teams has become a common practice in most firms. In
dispersed environments, knowledge management becomes
more difficult because sources of knowledge are not co-
located. Furthermore, virtual design teams are usually
short-lived and are dissolved once the design phase ends.

42
The transient presence of knowledge owners poses more
challenges into the knowledge management initiatives.

2. Product Complexity
The need to address a wide range of customer needs in a
more efficient and reliable fashion is giving rise to
increasingly complex products. Such products often have
complex designs which in turn results in formation of a
complex development environment that is characterized by
complex information structure and flow. Consider the
Xerox copy center is an example. Having more than 2000
significant parts, its development involved solving 12,000
engineering problems through 1,000,000 decision making
steps. The efficacy of decision making process in complex
design environment depends highly on the availability of
decision support system which enables reuse of existing
knowledge. A complex product is more susceptible to
engineering changes and to manage the changes efficiently,
an intelligent change management system is required.
Furthermore, in a complex product, there is likely to be
more discrepancy between the as-designed, as-built, as-
installed and as-maintained versions of the product.

43
Therefore a systematic approach for preserving data
integrity is a major challenge posed by complex products.
[14]

3. Shrinkage in Product Lifecycle

Given the high rate of introduction of new products to the
market as well as the speed of change in customer needs,
products with lengthy development process are likely to be
outdated sooner than the expected. With shrinkage in the
length of product life, the product development process also
has to become shorter. However, there exist trade-offs
between time-to-market and developments costs, product
quality and product performance. For example, Xerox
developed its 1045 model on an accelerated schedule in
early 1980’s but shortly after launching the mass
production of this new product, a major design problem
was discovered which eventually cost Xerox more than
$1million. To speed up product development process and at
the same time improve its performance in terms of cost and
quality, new product realization process needs a
collaborative environment with open sources of knowledge.
Such an environment promotes rapid decision making and

44
facilitates the concurrent performance of operations, thus
reducing time-to-market.

5.6 THE ROLE OF PLM

PLM manages each individual product across its lifecycle -

from "cradle to grave"; from the very first idea for the
product all the way through until it is retired and archived.
Managing a product all the way across its lifecycle allows a
company to take control of what happens to it. But PLM
doesn't just manage one of a company's products; it also
manages all of its products. Even better, it enables the
company's complete portfolio of products to be managed in
an integrated way.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is more to do with
managing descriptions and properties of a product through
its development and useful life, mainly from a
business/engineering point of view; whereas Product life
cycle management (PLC) is to do with the life of a product
in the market with respect to business/commercial costs and
sales measures.

45
5.7 Strategies that must be applied as soon as the phase
of product life cycle is recognized are given in the table
bellow.
Strategies of each product life cycle phase

Fig 5.7(a)

For an enterprise to succeed, there must be close

coordination and communication among all stage of the the

46
lifecycle. A close and collaborative effort is required to
create the seamless product lifecycle needed to bring
innovative products to market effectively.
The enterprise faces several challenges:
• Developing an improved focus on product development
and definition, learning to best
capitalize on its intellectual assets
• Enabling integration among its people and organizations
and create collaboration across the
• Effectively sharing product definition information
throughout the extended enterprise the
lifecycles throughout the life of the product
• Seamlessly integrating with its suppliers to make them a
logical extension of the enterprise
for maximum collaboration and innovation
Management of the product definition lifecycle and its
close integration with other major lifecycles is not a new
concept. In fact, it has been around for many years. Over
the last several years, industry’s ability to achieve this
concept has improved dramatically with the availability of a
wide range of new technologies and approaches that

47
facilitate collaborative work efforts across extended
enterprises.

6. ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

6.1. Analysis of the Selected FMCG products

(a) Toilet Soaps

Introduction
The toilet soaps market is estimated at 530,000 tpa
including small imports. The market is littered over with
several, leading national and global brands and a large
number of small brands, which have limited markets. The
popular and premium brands include Lifebuoy, Lux,
Cinthol, Liril, Rexona, and Nirma.
Toilet soaps, despite their divergent brands, are not well
differentiated by the consumers. It is, therefore, not clear if
it is the brand loyalty or experimentation lured by high
volume media campaign, which sustain them. A
consequence is that the market is fragmented. It is obvious
that this must lead to a highly competitive market. Toilet

48
soap, once only an urban phenomenon, has now penetrated
practically all areas including remote rural areas.

The Toilet soap can be segregated into:

 Premium- Lux, Dove
 Economy- Nirma Bath, Lifebuoy
 Popular- Nirma, Cinthol
The price of the premium segment products is twice that of
economy segment products. The economy and popular
segments are 4/5ths of the entire soaps market. The
penetration level of toilet soaps is 88.6%.
In India, soaps are available in five million retail stores, out
of which, 3.75 million retail stores are in the rural areas.
Therefore, availability of these products is not an issue.
70% of India's population resides in the rural areas; hence
around 50% of the soaps are sold in the rural markets.[15]
Growth
With increase in disposable incomes, growth in rural
demand is expected to increase because consumers are
moving up towards premium products. However, in the
recent past there has not been much change in the volume
of premium soaps in proportion to economy soaps, because

49
increase in prices has led some consumers to look for
cheaper substitutes.

Analysis of LUX Soap

History
Lux soap first produced in United Kingdom in 1899. It was
produced by British company name Lever Brothers. Lever
Brothers was founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever
and his brother James. They using glycerin and vegetable
oil such as palm oil to manufacture soap called “Sunlight
Soap.” The flaked version of soap called Lux soap.
Glycerin was a lucrative byproduct of the soap making
process, and by the end of 1886, Lever brothers also had a
glycerin factory.

Lever opened their small office in New York in 1895. The

company started selling Sunlight and Lifebuoy but did not
doing well until 1916. Lux soap was first launched in
United States in 1916. The Lux trademark was registered in
United States in 1900.
Lux soap was launched in India in 1929. The soap's very

50
first advertisement featured actress Leela Chitnis as its
brand ambassador. It was popularly known as 'the beauty
soap of film stars.'
From 1930s right through 1970s, Lux soap colors and
packaging were altered several times to reflect fashion
trends. In 1958 five colors were made up the range: pink,
white, blue, green and yellow. In 1990s, Lux launching its
own range of shower gels, liquid soaps and moisturising
bars. Today, Lux soap is sold in 100 countries.[16]

Lux Products
Lux had modified their product into:
Orchid touch, Almond delight, Energizing fruit, Aqua
sparkle
Introduction Stage : Lux had been launched in India in
1929.Leela chitnis was the first brand ambassador.

Marketing Objectives: The Lux marketing objectives in

the initial stage was to create the product awareness and to
attract the customers towards the product.

Marketing Strategies : The Lux marketing mix strategies

in the initial stages of the product were based on:

51
Product : They offer only on product in the market. They
did not come up with the differentiated product.

Price : In the initial stages of the product, they offer the

relatively higher price than their competitor (LIFEBUOY).
Because, they want to recover their cost which incurred
initially in making the product. Or another reason was that
they have segmented the niche market.

Advertising : In the initial stages, they allocate more

advertising budget to advertise the product. So that more
and more customers could be attracted towards the product.
In ads they targeted the early adopters, who were readiest to
buy the product.

Distribution: Their distribution was selective and only

covers the major cities of India. Because, they initially want
to get recognition in the major cities of India.

Growth Stage: In the growth stage, their sales rapidly

started rising. In the growth stage, they have expanded their
market to the other cities of India. The marketing managers
also make changes in the marketing objectives and their
marketing strategies.

52
Marketing Objectives: In the growth stage, the marketing
objectives of the Lux were to expand their market to the
other cities of India. Another objective was to maximize
more market share.

Marketing Strategies: In the growth stage, company had

the following marketing mix strategies:

Product: In the growth stage, the company had offered the

same product in the market.

Price: In this stage, the company had changed their price to

some extent because of maximizing the market share.

Advertising: In the growth stage, they had increased their

advertising budget as in the initial stages because of
attracting the new customers or to retain the existing
customers.

Distribution: In this stage, company had expanded their

market to the other cities of India. Their distribution
channel was the same as in the initial stages of the product.

Promotion: In the growth stage, the company had also

used the different promotion strategies to attract the new
and the existing customers.

53
Maturity Stage

Lux is now in the maturity stage, they modified the product

by adding some changes in the product. In this stage, few
competitors enter into the market like (SAFEGUARD,
PEARS etc). So the marketing managers make different
strategies to handle the competition. The company has
expanded their market to almost all the cities of India.

Marketing Objectives : The marketing objective of Lux is

to maximize more profit while defending the market share
and to expand the market to all the cities of India.

Marketing Strategies : In this stage, Lux marketing mix

strategies are based on:

Product : The Lux has made the modification in the

product by introducing:

Orchid touch
Almond delight
Energizing fruit
Aqua sparkle

54
Price : The Lux products are now available at higher prices
in the market, the reason behind is that the company’s
marketing objectives is to maximize more profit.

Distribution : Now Lux products are available in almost all

the cities of India. Their distribution channel is same as in
the initial stage.

Advertising : In this stage Lux advertising has been

reduced to some extent because of the more brand
awareness in the minds of customers. Recently, they show
the ad in which the Indian leading television and film
actress were shown.[17]

(b)BUTTER INDUSTRY
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or
fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread
and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as
baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of
butterfat, water and milk proteins
It generally has a pale yellow color, but varies from deep
yellow to nearly white. Its color is dependent on the
animal's feed and is commonly manipulated with food

55
colorings in the commercial manufacturing process, most
commonly annatto or carotene.
India produces and consumes more butter than any other
nation, and allocates almost half of its annual milk pool to
butter production. In 2008, India produced 2,410,000 metric
tons of butter, most of which was consumed domestically.
Most Indians prefer to eat home made butter (makhan) for
reasons of taste and affordability. Infoquest India's report
on the butter market in India gives the salient features of the
industry in a clear and concise format.[18]
Major players are Amul and Carnation Nutra Analogue
Foods Ltd.

Analysis of NUTRALITE

Introduction to company and product

Carnation Nutra Analogue Foods Ltd. was formed in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 1994 with the objective of
producing analogue food products, to be positioned as
healthy substitutes of diary poduct.
Product

56
Nutralite Table Margarine is the flagship product of the
company and has been developed & positioned as a healthy
substitute of butter.
Nutralite table maragine was launch in year 2002. In its
initial stage, NUTRALITE find it difficult to face
competition with old good AMUL butter and Nutralite has
withdraw his product in year 2005.

Why did NUTRALITE Failed ?[19]

Reasons
1-over estimated market
2-relatively high price
3-poor advertising
4-poor distribution of channel

Relaunch of NUTRALITE
Zydus cadila has 61.5%stake in carnation nutra analogue
foods.zydus cadilla then study the market and conclude that
if he succeed in promoting nutralite as brand he can capture
a butter market in India which was estimated to be around
800 Crore.

57
zydus cadilla relauch nutralite on 20th november 2006 in
Mumbai. It was a unique launch party in form of a food
show-‘the better food’.The food show was an attempt to
introduce healthy food preparation using nutralite.

Introduction Stage
1-Nutralite has adopted aggressive marketing campaign in
which samples of Nutralite was distributed free of cost.
2-A) Nutralite company targeted housewife
B) Nutralite is targeting urban health conscious middle
class segment.
3-The company set the price relatively less.

Price Comparision

Quantity Old Price Revised

Price
100G 22 18
500G 115 86
1KG 200 165
Fig 6.1(a)
Lowering in price resulted in attracting customers

58
4-The company also provide a high margin to retailer and
dealer.
5-The company has set up a strong distribution across India
with about 250 distributors
6-Nutralite is manufactured & packaged using sophisticated
imported European machinery
7-Company has Positioned its Product as upgrade of butter
not substitute of butter hence ITS punch line was
‘’HEALTHIER THAN BUTTER’’

Result of introductory stage

1.This was the first time that anyone has challenged amul’s
domination and nutralite now captured 10% market share of
800 crore means has earned in its introductory stage about
80 crore as profit

2. In the campaign period, nutralite registered sales growth

of 48%

Growth Stage
PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT

59
Nutralite comes in 100g to 500g Carton packs and 200g and
500g Tub packs. The 500g Carton pack comes in 2 units of
250 g. So, while one unit is being consumed, the other 250
g can be stored in the refrigerator.
Nutralite has been introduced in tubs to give convenience to
the consumers in terms of storage. The container is airtight,
tamper-proof and is microwave safe.
Apart from the above, Nutralite offers customized packs for
bulk/institutional buyers like hotels, caterers, bakers, etc.

(c) SHAMPOO
History of shampoo
The word shampoo in english is derived from Hindi
champo in 1762. The Hindi word referred to head massage,
usually with some form of hair oil. Shampoo is a hair care
product primarily used to remove the oils, dirt, skin
particles and grime that gradually build-up in the hair.
In the 1860s, the meaning of the word shifted from the
sense of massage to that of applying soap to the hair.
Earlier, ordinary soap had been used for washing hair.
However, the dull film soap left on the hair made it
uncomfortable, irritating, and unhealthy looking.[20]

60
Commonly used ingredients
 Ammonium chloride
 Ammonium lauryl sulfate
 Glycol
 Sodium laureth sulfate

Other ingredients are generally included in shampoo

formulations to maximize the following qualities:

 Pleasing foam
 Easy combing
 No damage to hair
 Feels thick and/or creamy
 Pleasant fragrance

Classification of Shampoo products:[21]

61
 Shampoo Types

Herbal Cosmetic Medical

Fruitamine Hair
e.g Sunsilk Conditioning Anti-lice
e.g Ultra e.g
doux Mediker

Shikakai
Based
e.g Ayur

Anti-
Neem based
Shiny hair dandruff Fig
e.g Pantene e.g Clinic
e.g Nile
plus

6.1(b)

Major players of shampoo products

Brand Products
Name
HUL Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Clinic All
Clear
Proctor & Rejoice, Pantene, Head &
Gamble Shoulders
Dabur Vatika Anti-Dandruff
Shampoo, Anmol Natural
Shampoo, Anmol Silky
Shampoo
CalvinKare Nyle, Chik

62
 Fig 6.1(c)

Hindrance to growth[22]
Major barriers to shampoo use in India were
 Common belief that shampoos contain chemicals and
so it could damage hair,
 Shampoo is viewed more as a glamour value and lack
of conviction about the functional usefulness of
shampoo.
 Initial price was quite high.

Strategies adopted to increase penetration :

 Heavy advertising to create awareness and dispel some
of the myths about shampoo.
 Introduction of different kind of shampoo products for
different nature of hair.
 Introduction of small size packs e.g. sachets or pouch.
 Lowering price strategy

Growth strategy

63
 One of the key barriers to shampoo usage is the
reluctance to apply a synthetic product on hair. In India
herbal shampoos have become a fast moving category.
Shehnaz’s beauty parlours, Ayur from RDM Traders
Private Limited are some of the early herbal base
shampoos in Indian market. All these herbal
compositions claim to use traditional Indian herbs such
as shikakai, soap nuts and ambla as ingredients and have
received good response from the market. Herbal
shampoos today account for 10 percent of the market
size. However, high price is still a key barrier when it
comes to wide acceptance of herbal shampoos. This is
why, 90 per cent of the herbal shampoos is still the
choice of urban elites. Already a number of companies
have launched many specialized nature of shampoo
brands.
It was the packaging innovation, especially sachets in
post 1987 which expanded the market. Of late with
increasing advertising, the shampoo usage in India has
gone up in the urban areas.

Chik Shampoo

64
Company Name: CavinKare

Introduction
CavinKare began with a young mind choosing the road less
taken. In 1983 with a single product, CavinKare started out
as a small partnership firm. The Company that began its
journey as Chik India Ltd was renamed as CavinKare Pvt.
Ltd (CKPL) in 1998.
With innovative Entrepreneur C.K. Ranganathan at the
helm, CavinKare emerged into a successful business
enterprise. Smart marketing and clear product positioning
not only ensured CavinKare's growth but also helped the
company broaden its product portfolio extensively.
The company now markets ten major brands. Over the
years, CavinKare has achieved a competitive edge with
sound understanding of mass marketing dynamics. The
company offers quality Personal care (hair care, skin care,
home care) and Food products borne out of a keen
understanding of consumer needs and keeping up
company's the values of innovation and customer
satisfaction.

65
A dedicated Research & Development centre, equipped
with latest equipment and technologies, constantly supports
the various divisions in their endeavour. The Company,
which primarily relied on contract manufacturing for many
years has now set up its own world class plant at Haridwar
to cater to the demand of both domestic and international
market.
CavinKare has touched a turnover of over 5090 million
INR in 2008-2009. The Company has employee strength of
976, an all India network of 1300 Stockists catering to
about 25 lakh outlets nationally. CavinKare's astute
professionalism, innovative products and consistent quality
are results of its significant corporate practice.

Key Marketing Strategies of CavinKare[23]

 CavinKare’s strategy of outsourcing manufacturing
activities was a major reason for its success.
 It targeted the local market and and within a few years
emerged as a leading regional player in the shampoo
market in South India.
 Innovative pricing strategy.

66
Analysis of Chik Shampoo

Introduction
Chik shampoo was the first shampoo to be launched in
sachets and was majorly targeted at rural India for the
people falling in low income groups. It was launched in
1980s. Chik Shampoo identified a greater opportunity in
rural and semi urban India and created waves with its entry
into these markets. Combining innovative sachet packing,
strategic pricing (At Re.1 and 50p) and a strong and
motivated distribution network, Chik Shampoo transformed
the nature of shampoo packaging and usage.

Concept of Sachets
The sachets were introduced with the thought of making the
shampoo affordable and available even to the coolies and
rickshaw pullers. The idea was if salt and talcum powder be
sold in the sachets then why not shampoo?

Target Audience
 Lower Middle Class
 Semi Rural Area

67
  Female in age group of 16+

Promotional Strategy
 Trail and free samples
 Innovative radio ads based on popular cinema
dialogues
 Popular cine stars endorsed chik – Manorma, Khusboo
The Chik Promise
With a tropical climate round the year, it is indeed a
difficult task to maintain hair softness and shine. Added to
this, tangled hair has come to be the most common
complaint to girls and women. The Research and
Development team at CavinKare recognized softness and
manageability to be the key issues in the maintenance and
nourishment of hair. This paved the way for a unique
formula – Active Double Conditioners that cut across age,
sex and loyalists of other shampoos to adopt Chik
Shampoo.
Extensive communication targeted at the rural and semi
urban masses showcased the possibility of soft and
manageable hair. The iconic Chik Girl in every Chik
Shampoo commercial treated her hair with the shampoo

68
and demonstrated with atmost ease and confidence her
ability to untangle her hair with just a single motion of
running her fingers through her hair. Her testimonial
signature Yun Kiya Ho Gaya has come to be a popular
phrase amongst both girls and women today.

The Chik user

Chik Shampoo has always targeted both, girls and women
in rural and semi urban India. The brand has gained their
confidence and become a household name by catering to
their continuously evolving requirements and preferences.
The brand has gained their confidence and become a
household name by catering to their continuously evolving
requirements and preferences.

6.2. SUCCESS STORIES OF PLM

(a) PROCTER & GAMBLE (P&G)

One of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer
packaged goods, retail giant Procter & Gamble (P&G)
serves customers in more than 160 countries. Meeting

69
customer demands for a wide variety of new products
marketed in far-flung locations was becoming increasingly
complex. P&G employs a widely distributed product
development strategy that allows geographically dispersed
divisions to address local needs. The challenge is to cost
effectively create innovative products and to introduce them
to market ahead of the competition. Meeting this challenge
requires leveraging resources globally while maintaining
centralized control of operations at P&G’s Cincinnati
headquarters. Key to making a distributed development
strategy successful is a collaboration environment that
includes over 10,000 internal users and partners. P&G
achieved its goal by implementing a collaborative PLM
solution.[24]
Benefits to the business
P&G expects clear bottom-line benefits to follow the
implementation of its product lifecycle collaboration
solution. Enhanced collaboration will drive innovation. The
ability to innovate more effectively, particularly in the early
design phase, will speed time-to-market and cut costs.

70
 (b) BHARAT ELECTRONICS business challenge was
the typical one faced by a discrete manufacturing unit. The
company deals with large volumes (approximately five lakh
drawings) of engineering designs. In the absence of a
document management solution, the request for a printout
of an engineering drawing (being a manual process) used to
take four days to fulfill. The second problem facing the
company was control of documents. Designs evolve by
iteration. Getting approval for design changes had to go
through three to four levels, back and forth, and freezing a
particular design used to take 45 to 60 days. The bigger
issue was tracking Work In Progress (WIP) [change
management] because of which BEL’s production plan
used to get affected. The third problem was at the
production level where the company has to maintain ISO
standards. Because of non-transparency in the system and
the workflow being not automated, tracking the changed
designs was difficult and at times old drawings used to
reach the production floor, which resulted in errors and
defective production.

M.S. Sreedhara, additional general manager for Product

Design Group/D&E Military Radars at BEL, says, “At

71
every stage of product development, the cost to implement
changes increases manifold.”

Benefits

 Post-implementation, BEL has been able to reduce the

average time for approval of engineering designs from
40 days to just six. The approval time for a change
request or proposal for drawing shrank from 60 days to
20. The other value of the PLM solution is that
requests for printing documents and drawings are
made online. Sreedhara adds that savings derived from
PLM include reduction in time-consuming tasks such
as sending information back and forth, being able to
access shared data and restructuring the workflow to
change what gets done and when. As a key component
of PLM, digital manufacturing processes are being
tightly integrated with product development
applications, letting BEL effectively optimise product
design together with production process plans early in
the development cycle. Benefits include shortened
development cycles, reduced manufacturing costs,

72
 improved product quality and greater manufacturing
agility.

7. CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

PLM is much more than a technology and concept. PLM is
a strategic business approach to empower the business, to
enable product and process innovation, and enhance both
top and bottom line business performance. It includes
technology, processes, best practices, and other elements
that provide a complete solution to business problems.
PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) is a business
approach for deriving maximum benefit from the product
data during the entire life of the product. PLM initiatives
are increasingly being adopted in many industries.
In today’s global manufacturing environment, proper
utilization of corporate intellectual asset is the foremost
determinants of success. PLM is a strategic business
solution for integrating people, information and processes
across the extended enterprise through a common body of
knowledge. The body of knowledge within an enterprise is
comparable to a living organism which its health directly
affects enterprise’s ability to operate and compete

73
effectively. Dynamic creation, expansion, renewal and
exchange of knowledge are the symptoms of livelihood in
the knowledge body which are enabled through systematic
knowledge management. PLM closes different knowledge
loops throughout product lifecycle by enabling reuse of
lifecycle knowledge in the development phase. While the
need for product innovation, customer intimacy and
operations excellence constitute the internal push towards
PLM, globalization, mass customization, product
complexity, shrinkage in product life cycle, push into the
supply chain and environmental issues are some of the
external forces which drive PLM initiatives. In order to
completely utilize the capabilities of PLM, both users and
vendors need to gain a clear understanding of PLM in terms
of scope, components and functionalities.
Various improvements from adopting PLM are:
 Customer satisfaction: Lower lead times helps
businesses satisfy changing customer needs with
quality products.
 Design reuse: Integrated management of product
related design data enables its efficient reuse.

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  Revenue generation: All the above improvements
result in efficient processes, which correspondingly
improve revenue generation.

A road map to implement PLM is customised to align PLM

with the company’s specific business goals and
requirements. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a
business strategy that is steadily gaining wide acceptance.
Companies that took an early adopter approach to PLM are
beginning to show significant reductions in new product
introduction lead times, benefit from meaningful cost
savings and enjoy more profitable products. These
companies have adopted best business practices and
implemented enabling software tools to make tangible
changes in their business. The results from the early
pioneers confirm the business value of the PLM concept in
helping companies achieve and profit from product
innovation.

8. LIMITATIONS
 The major problem which i faced in doing this project
was limitation of time. Within this short span of time it

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 was not possible to cover all aspects of Product Life
Cycle Management.
 Another limitation was lack of resources.
 It was not possible to have direct interaction with end
user of the products which i have taken as an example
to analyse. End user simply uses products based upon
their economical ability and desired benefits. They are
even not aware that products undergoes through life
cycle. Generally they are not aware with the
terminologies of product life cycle management. It is
another limitation of the project.
 The PLC model is of some degree of usefulness to
marketing managers, in that it is based on factual
assumptions. Nevertheless, it is difficult for marketing
management to gauge accurately where a product is on
its PLC graph. A rise in sales is not necessarily
evidence of growth. A fall in sales does not typify
decline. Furthermore, some products do not (and to
date, at the least, have not) experienced a decline.
Coca Cola and Pepsi are examples of two products that
have existed for many decades, but are still popular

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 products all over the world. Both modes of cola have
been in maturity for some years.

RECOMMENDATIONS

 Develop a PLM strategy based on your business

strategy
 Develop a program that prioritizes and sequences
potential PLM projects
 Include valuable, tangible projects that have relatively
short payback in your program

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  Sequence the programs to allow later phases to
leverage earlier ones

REFERENCES

Books:-
[8]
International Business Competing in the Global Marketplace 6th ed.. McGraw-
Hill, pg.168.
[9]
Product Management by Dhalla & Yuspeh 1976 Pg. 102
Product Management in India by Ramanuj Majmudar 3rd ed. Prentice Hall of India Pvt.
Ltd., pg. 280, 279, 285

Websites:-
[1]
http://www.learn.co.uk
[2]
www.pdma.org
[3]
http://www.naukrihub.com/india/fmcg

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[4]
http://www.naukrihub.com/india/fmcg/scope
[5]
www.scribd.com
[6]
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/pdffiles/8/740.pdf
[7]
http://www.sharewarepromotion.com
[10]
http://www.netmba.com
[11]
http://www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com/product-life-cycle
[12]
http://www.jnd.org
[13]
www.urenio.org/tools/en/Product_Life_Cycle_Management.pdf
[14]
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20040419/technology01.shtml
[15]
http://www.naukrihub.com
[16]
http://historyofbusiness.blogspot.com/2008/07/history-of-lux-soup.html
[17]
www.Scribd.com/lux
[18]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter
[19]
www.Scribd.com/lux
[20]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shampoo
[24]
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20031110/focus01.shtml
[25]
http://www.ugs.com/innovate/docs/wp_global_innovation_networks.pdf

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