The Product Compliance Benchmark Report: Protecting the ...

The Product Compliance
Benchmark Report

Protecting the Environment, Protecting Profits








September 2006





The Product Compliance Benchmark Report

Executive Summary
Issue at Hand
Compliance needs vary by industry and geography, but the one consistent factor for all
manufacturers is an ever-increasing number of regulations. Companies across manufac-
turing sectors are faced with complex legislation that places constraints on the design of
their products. In addition, customers often add their own requirements. In 2004, Aber-
deen Group published The Design for Compliance Benchmark Report, which disclosed
that the vast majority of companies lacked insight into the regulatory, environmental, and
operational rules that impact their products and that nearly 80% of them lacked a cohe-
sive systems infrastructure to track, audit, or manage product compliance. Since that
time, some progress has been made. Most manufacturers, however, still have not devel-
oped systematic, repeatable product compliance processes that efficiently address to-
day’s complex and challenging business environment.
Manufacturers today spend considerable time and effort ensuring that their products
comply with a multitude of regulatory mandates. Yet 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 ...