This paper is one of the first tasks that the members of the International Working Group on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM-IWG) assigned themselves in November 2007 for establishing a comprehensive point of view on PLM. In particular, the present paper aims to capture the state of the art of PLM from the PLM worldwide community. The generic models presented here can be translated and put into practice in each company considering the structure of the company and the characteristic of its products. The paper is still under development in view of reaching consensus on the meaning and the scope of the PLM area, therefore every contribution is welcome
