Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 18, 2012 — CIMdata, Inc., the leading global Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) strategic management consulting and research firm is partnering with Hiller Associates, the leading consulting firm in Product Cost Management, to conduct a survey to better understand how companies manage their product costs.
A successful product delivers on many attributes (e.g., time-to-market, performance, quality, fuel and efficiency). One of the most difficult attributes upon which to consistently deliver at product launch is product cost. Product cost is tricky, because unlike many other product attributes, it is not controlled exclusively by the actions of engineering. Product cost is the result of choices by engineering, sourcing, supply chain, manufacturing, and suppliers. With between 70% and 90% of every dollar of revenue in most product and manufacturing firms being consumed by product cost, it is understandable that the topic always ranks high when you ask product development executives what they are most concerned about.
Product Cost Management (PCM) has been used in a generic sense on the Internet since 2000, but was defined and made popular by Eric Arno Hiller, the Founding CEO and Chief Product Officer for many years at aPriori. Eric defines PCM as “An agreed, coherent, and publicized system of culture/goals, processes, people, and tools following the product lifecycle, that ensures the product meets its profit (or cost) target on the day that it launches to the customer.” PCM also includes tools and processes that can help reduce product cost after launch, as well.
In conducting this survey CIMdata and Hiller Associates would like to understand how firms prioritize product cost versus other product attributes, how successful firms are delivering on product cost targets, and how companies do product cost management. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and respondents will be provided with a copy of the final results. Responses will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be attributed to any person or company.
The survey may be accessed at http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=03984de4-e017-455d-914b-507bb529c308.
