June 17, 2014

Accenture Product Lifecycle Services Launched to Help Manufacturers Unlock Engineering Productivity and Drive Value from Digital Technologies

APLS helps organizations in the airline, automotive, industrial equipment, and public transportation industries deliver innovation and new products more quickly and at lower cost

NEW YORK; June 17, 2014 – Accenture today announced the launch of Accenture Product Lifecycle Services (APLS), a new business service aimed at helping manufacturing clients better organize, develop and manage products and services, from idea to retirement.

APLS combines capabilities from Accenture’s strategy, digital, technology and operations growth platforms, with industry-specific services across manufacturing and engineering, all supported by established alliances with leading product lifecycle management (PLM) vendors. This unique combination can help manufacturers increase revenues and reduce costs and time to market for new products as breakthroughs in digital technology continue to transform the value chain for industries, including airline, automotive, industrial equipment, and public transportation.

Digital Industry 4.0, where highly intelligent cyber physical systems are connected to create the Internet of Things, is generating the need for better integration of engineering and product development; production and technology; and supply chain with marketing and sales. By connecting these, APLS provides the ability to unlock engineering productivity and drive value across production, the supply chain and after sales service.

APLS provides a comprehensive portfolio of business and technology services drawn from a range of engineering and product development services, such as innovation and product design excellence, PLM transformation; implementation and application services and support; PLM-as-a-service and embedded software development for connected products. In addition, APLS includes full program and change management services.

To support clients’ manufacturing and digital operations, APLS also can provide maintenance, repair and operations optimization services (MRO); enterprise asset maintenance services and manufacturing technology services.

“We are helping our clients realize the true value of Digital Industry 4.0 and connected products as they tackle the challenges created by the digitization of their products and services, and the new business models these require,” said Eric Schaeffer, Senior Managing Director, Accenture. “APLS can help companies sense and adapt to changing customer needs by enabling an infrastructure for connected products and nimble product development; an ecosystem for customers, partners and suppliers to continually influence product strategy; and automated systems that provide new levels of flexibility and efficiency to address specific markets on a global scale.”

The newly-launched business service can draw on a range of experienced specialists with deep knowledge of delivering PLM solutions from leading software providers. APLS draws on the breadth and scale of Accenture’s cloud, systems integration and enterprise application capabilities, and its global delivery network. The business service has also been strengthened by the recent acquisitions of PRION, PCO Innovation and businesses from evopro Group.

Stan Przybylinski, Vice President of Research at CIMdata, commented: “Accenture’s recent acquisitions represent a key step in Accenture‘s strategy to create strong end-to-end services for engineering and manufacturing clients. The launch of APLS comes at a time when digital technologies are creating a huge potential to change the way products are developed, manufactured and delivered to the market. CIMdata estimates the global market for PLM consulting and implementation services will see a five year CAGR rate of 4.2%.”

Accenture has already utilized a number of PLM-related solutions to solve a range of clients’ business challenges. For a global construction and mining equipment manufacturer Accenture helped improve the standardizing of processes and delivery to reduce time to market with an estimated savings of $20M due to streamlined processes and reduced complexity. For a global tyre manufacturer, Accenture is collaborating on an ambitious PLM program aimed to provide the client with an end-to-end worldwide solution supporting various processes including R&D, manufacturing and supply chain. The contract includes activities such as general design, building in Agile mode, deployment, maintenance and support.

In addition to the airline, automotive, industrial equipment, and public transportation industries, Accenture provides a range of PLM services to improve innovation and product development performance, from idea to retirement, for the consumer goods and services, life sciences, energy and utilities industries.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 289,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture Product Lifecycle Services helps our clients organize, develop and manage products and service, from idea to retirement. The end-to-end services provide greater engineering efficiency and predictability to reduce operational costs and increase return on R&D investments. In 2013, Accenture expanded its product lifecycle capabilities with the acquisitions of PRION Group, PCO Innovation and businesses from evopro.

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Contacts:

Anthony Hatter
Accenture
+ 44 7810 756 138
anthony.hatter@accenture.com