Report: Manufacturers Need to Work Smarter, Not Harder, on Compliance

 WESTFORD, Mass., USA, Dec. 8, 2006 – Despite stepped-up efforts, many manufacturers are throwing good money after bad in their attempts to comply with government product content regulations, according to a new study co-sponsored by Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, and its ENOVIA MatrixOne product brand . The solution, the study suggests, is working smarter.

The Aberdeen Group report, “The Product Compliance Benchmark Report: Protecting the Environment, Protecting Profits,” found that most companies lack a sustainable, repeatable compliance process that can scale with the complexity of the compliance landscape.

“Despite their best efforts, many companies’ approaches to ensuring compliance have left them at a high risk of noncompliance, potentially resulting in an inability to sell in global markets, unmet customer mandates, blocked shipments, and associated revenue loss,” said report author Jim Brown, vice president of Aberdeen’s product innovation and engineering practice. “The good news is that compliance performance depends less on level of effort and investment than on implementing best practices and an appropriate compliance architecture. Significantly, best-in-class companies are more than twice as likely to have fully automated, enterprise-wide systems as other companies.”

The report went on to document the business benefits obtained by top-performing companies in the compliance arena, including fewer stopped shipments and product recalls. Aberdeen’s research reinforces the on-the-ground experience of ENOVIA MatrixOne, whose customers are saving 33 percent on compliance costs alone^[1] using solutions such as the MatrixOne^® Materials Compliance Central™ business process application – part of the ENOVIA MatrixOne PLM platform.  Manufacturers in the health care industry are obtaining similar benefits from the MatrixOne Medical Device Accelerator for Regulatory Compliance™, a comprehensive PLM solution that manages QSR and ISO-regulated design processes, projects, documents, and data, as well as FDA audit trail/authentication requirements.

“Aberdeen’s report should be a great relief to the many manufacturers who are feeling intensifying pressure to better comply with mounting regulatory demands but have been daunted by the sheer scope of the challenge,” said Joel Lemke, ENOVIA CEO.  “This study shows that working smarter not harder and investing more wisely versus just investing more money, can go far to protect critical business interests.”

For a copy of the report go to www.matrixone.com. 

 

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[1] Based on actual customer experiences, detailed value assessments of prospects’ businesses, and other projection/expectations made by customers and prospects.