Introduces the next level of lean thinking that focuses on the life of a product, from inception to the customer's door

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the newest wave in productivity. This revolutionary approach is an outcome of lean thinking; however, PLM eliminates waste and efficiency across all aspects of a product's life--from design to deployment--not just in its manufacture. By using people, product information, processes, and technology to reduce wasted time, energy, and material across an organization and into the supply chain, PLM drives the next generation of lean thinking. Now PLM pioneer Michael Grieves offers everyone from Six Sigma and lean practitioners to supply chain managers, product developers, and consultants a proven framework for adopting this information-driven approach. Product Lifecycle Management shows you how to greatly enhance your firm's productivity by integrating the efforts of your entire organization. Most companies are seeing the returns of their efforts in lean methods diminishing, as the most fruitful applications have already been addressed. Here, Grieves reveals how PLM gives you an opportunity to make improvements both within and across functional areas in order to increase agility, optimize efficiency, and reduce costs across the board. He gives you the most comprehensive view of PLM available, fully outlining its characteristics, method, and tools and helping you assess your organizational readiness. There's also proven examples from the field, where PLM is being widely adopted by leading companies, including General Motors, General Electric, and Dell, that are widely adopting the approach. You'll see how PLM has saved these companies billions in unnecessary costs and shaved as much as 60% off cycle times. With this book you'll learn how to: Develop and implement your PLM strategy to support your corporate objectives Engage all your employees in using information to eliminate waste Enable improved information flow Better organize and utilize your intellectual capital Foster an environment that drives PLM Lean manufacturing can only take your organization so far. To bring your productivity to the next level and save remarkable amounts of time, money, and resources, Product Lifecycle Management is your one-stop, hands-on guide to implementing this powerful methodology.

The Lean Product Lifecycle is a playbook that provides frameworks, methods and tools to develop innovative new products and business models, while managing your core portfolio. Follow the 6 key phases of a product’s life - idea, explore, validate, grow, sustain and retire – and discover how to develop products according to their life stage and ensure the right investment for each.. For each stage there is a step-by-step guide of product development best practices using examples and case studies from several companies and start-ups. Using the tools and templates in this book, you’ll be able to: Take a new product from idea to scale within a market. Understand the difference between executing on products that are already successful in the market and searching for profitable business models for new products. Use the right tools and methods for validating new products ideas and business models. Understand how to manage mature products and retire old products using lean innovation principles. Discover how lessons from lean start-ups can transform your business. The full text downloaded to your computer With eBooks you can: search for key concepts, words and phrases make highlights and notes as you study share your notes with friends eBooks are downloaded to your computer and accessible either offline through the Bookshelf (available as a free download), available online and also via the iPad and Android apps. Upon purchase, you'll gain instant access to this eBook. Time limit The eBooks products do not have an expiry date. You will continue to access your digital ebook products whilst you have your Bookshelf installed.

It is the job of the Product Manager to drive the product lifecycle for maximum short- and long-term profitability. Unfortunately, the job doesn't come with an owner's manual. Until now. "Trees Don't Grow to the Sky" guides the reader through the stages of the product lifecycle, including examples most people are familiar with and everyone can understand. Each step of the way, the reader will come to appreciate the nature of the four unique lifecycle stages, the market forces that put the product there, as well as what to do - and what not to do - now. This is the perfect book for anyone working in Product Management, or considering it as a potential career option. "Trees don't grow to the sky" is a business adage taken from a German proverb, warning against straight-line thinking. The product, the customer, the market will not continue to grow simply because they have always grown in the past. Growth becomes Maturity; Maturity becomes Decline. The lifecycle moves forward. In business, the results we get depend on the decisions we make, and the decisions we make depend on where we are and where we want to go. Understanding product lifecycle fundamentals is essential to making good business decisions.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the newest wave in productivity. This revolutionary approach is an outcome of lean thinking; however, PLM eliminates waste and efficiency across all aspects of a product's life--from design to deployment--not just in its manufacture. By using people, product information, processes, and technology to reduce wasted time, energy, and material across an organization and into the supply chain, PLM drives the next generation of lean thinking. Now PLM pioneer Michael Grieves offers everyone from Six Sigma and lean practitioners to supply chain managers, product developers, and consultants a proven framework for adopting this information-driven approach. Product Lifecycle Management shows you how to greatly enhance your firm's productivity by integrating the efforts of your entire organization. Most companies are seeing the returns of their efforts in lean methods diminishing, as the most fruitful applications have already been addressed. Here, Grieves reveals how PLM gives you an opportunity to make improvements both within and across functional areas in order to increase agility, optimize efficiency, and reduce costs across the board. He gives you the most comprehensive view of PLM available, fully outlining its characteristics, method, and tools and helping you assess your organizational readiness. There's also proven examples from the field, where PLM is being widely adopted by leading companies, including General Motors, General Electric, and Dell, that are widely adopting the approach. You'll see how PLM has saved these companies billions in unnecessary costs and shaved as much as 60% off cycle times. With this book you'll learn how to: Develop and implement your PLM strategy to support your corporate objectives Engage all your employees in using information to eliminate waste Enable improved information flow Better organize and utilize your intellectual capital Foster an environment that drives PLM Lean manufacturing can only take your organization so far. To bring your productivity to the next level and save remarkable amounts of time, money, and resources, Product Lifecycle Management is your one-stop, hands-on guide to implementing this powerful methodology.

“The book you are holding contains the keys to writing great Silverlight 3 applications. Use them well!” –From the Foreword by Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, Microsoft Developer Division Microsoft Silverlight is a leading cross-platform, Rich Internet Application (RIA) technology that allows you to create more compelling and interactive Web experiences than are possible with simple HTML browser pages. Silverlight 3 includes significant improvements over previous versions, including “out-of-browser” operation, H.264 video, 3D graphics, and real-time effects. Essential Silverlight 3 is the definitive reference and insider’s guide. It not only covers all the key features of the Silverlight 3 runtime and how to use them but, in Under the Hood sections, explains why each feature was developed and how each one works. These “insider” explanations often lead to concise, practical performance tips that can help you speed up your own Silverlight applications. Author Ashraf Michail is uniquely qualified to explain Silverlight 3. He is a Microsoft Silverlight architect who has guided Silverlight from its beginnings through the current version. In this book, he shows how to Integrate the principles and components of a Silverlight application, including XAP, XAML, and .NET code Use Silverlight vector graphics, bitmap images, and animation Display predictable and readable text across platforms and animate text elements Obtain mouse and keyboard input, including mouse wheel events Implement smooth animations to improve your user interface and make your application more pleasing to the user Use the Canvas, StackPanel, Grid, and Border elements to lay out your application and define custom layout elements Play high-quality, live, and on-demand video and audio Customize the built-in and toolkit controls and develop new custom Silverlight controls Connect to and synchronize with data using Silverlight Data Binding Use built-in real-time effects and define custom HLSL pixel shaders Enable GPU-accelerated rendering If you are a developer who is getting started with Silverlight or an expert Silverlight developer who is interested in understanding the inner workings of the Silverlight runtime, this book is for you.