Microsoft and PLM vendors team up on collaborative blueprints.(COLLABORATIVE COALITION)

Manufacturing Business Technology, June, 2005

Microsoft Corp. and a group of product life-cycle management (PLM) software and services vendors are hoping a new joint program will pave the way for improved PLM processes. The program, called Collaborative Product Development (CPD), will target "front-end" PLM processes saddled with often ill-defined collaboration, says Don Richardson, director of the Manufacturing Industry Unit at Microsoft.

"Things are ad hoc and very loose at the beginning of the design cycle," says Richardson. "There is an opportunity to tighten up those processes and do more to shorten the life cycle." Initial program members include Hewlett-Packard, Immedient Corp., Pcubed, Sopheon, and UGS. Richardson says Microsoft will work closely with these vendors to develop...

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