Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a key lever of profitable growth for organizations that introduce highly engineered, function-rich products. Such products, exemplified by the iPhone, are characterized by complex design engineering and extended supply chains.

Why the pessimism about the economy? Last Monday, we learned that U.S. factories are expanding at their fastest pace in more than two years, capping the manufacturing industry's best six-month period since the recession ended in June 2009.