Benchmarking manufacturing practice using the product life cycle

The dynamic nature of today’s global marketplace places a premium on a firm’s ability to anticipate and to respond to customer needs as well as changing competitive pressures. Within this environment, developing a successful manufacturing strategy can be critical to the firm’s long‐term competitive success. This paper looks at the potential for using the product life cycle (PLC) as a strategic anchor in the manufacturing strategy planning process. Results of an empirical study that investigated the fit of 44 manufacturing techniques across the PLC stage are presented. The implementation status and impact of the various manufacturing techniques is also considered.