Recently I have written about Siemens Answers for PLM and the various ways we are helping businesses of varying sizes in multiple industries turn more ideas into successful products. Last month I took a look at what that means for small to medium sized businesses (SMBs), and now I would like to turn my attention to another segment of PLM users with their own set of challenges - medium to large enterprises (MLEs).

Through organic growth, or acquisitions, MLEs are increasingly dealing with both the difficulties and the opportunities of doing business globally. They may be competing in new markets around the world or trying to build teams and systems that contribute to profitability in globally distributed product development and production environments.

What we have seen, and what industry analysts are pointing out as well, is that the ever-growing complexity of globalization has put PLM high on the agenda of MLEs today. That is one of the reasons we created a new Global Business Resource Center dedicated to helping MLEs develop profitable PLM strategies.