The importance of circuits is increasing, not only in electronics, but also in the fields of automobiles, robots, and machineries. However, along with rising technical difficulties in the development of circuits, the frequency of design repetition is increasing, while the time allowed for development prior to advancement into the market is being reduced. In addition, to meet with the wide range of customer requirements, the number of developed models is going up, with many companies attempting to develop several models at the same time.

According to the benchmarking survey performed by Aberdeen Group, 53% of electronic product manufacturers feel that their biggest business pressure is to reduce the time needed for advancement into the market. 45% of them think of the need to improve productivity through time-saving as their second largest business pressure. While manufacturers are making their best efforts to attain these goals, other market pressures related with to product quality, such as product stability (37%) and improvement in product performance (31%), but also the necessity to meet more complex needs (37%) interfere with their efforts to accelerate product development. In these circumstances, manufacturers are in a situation whereby they need to supply more complex, yet better products to the market more promptly.

According to the Aberdeen Group survey, top-ranking companies in the same field attain their goals of product development (including the due date for engineering design, development costs, product costs, sales, product stability, and performance) by over 85%. These leading companies have an ability to attain their goals that is 2 times higher than their competitors who achieve lower results.

Top-ranking companies in the same field re-design a post prototype of each product 23% less than companies achieving average performance. This phenomenon can be seen in all design fields of the electronic industry that have been benchmarked.

In particular, 59% of the companies expand their design function in consideration of manufacturability, and increase the re-use of designs (45%), improve the electronic design process (44%), and also improve the process of developing new products (39%).

By preparing standards for measurement related to the development of electronic products, a company can measure its business outcome. By checking the reasons and the frequency of re-use, it can detect process bottlenecks and make improvements, through which it can reduce the frequency of re-use. In addition, if the electronic development process is integrated, engineering data (WIP data) are always maintained in the best conditions. Automation of the development process reduces the time when development works and design are interrupted, and through this data can be informed and delivered more rapidly.

In order to release innovative products to the market more quickly and at lower development costs, an effective electronic development management system is necessary.