Configuration lifecycle management maturity model

Configuration lifecycle management (CLM) encompasses all configuration models across a product's life cycle. CLM covers manufacturers’ needs for complex configurable products, which tend to require more seamless integration of all their business units and external stakeholders in terms of process continuity and data exchange. CLM differs from existing life cycle management tools because it focuses on sharing the configuration knowledge and data of a configurable product throughout its entire life cycle across all the involved business units of an organization. Therefore, assessing the maturity level of the organization is important for more effective and efficient implementation of CLM. Based on this, the contribution of this research is the development of a CLM maturity model that serves as a guide for the transition to complete horizontal and vertical integration of CLM knowledge and tools across and beyond an organization. The proposed maturity model is validated against the literature and existing maturity models, in addition to being examined through a workshop with industry representatives and empirical cases.