This has necessitatedplacing the implementation of PLM within specific contextual frameworks and applying structured, methodologically supported approaches. Unlike high-risk, one-time PLM implementation projects that rely on radical reengineering and abrupt reorganizations, this article promotes an iterative implementation approach that gradually integrates specific PLM functional aspects into a coherent, software-supported PLM environment. To effectively operationalize this approach, it is critical to set an optimal implementation strategy. Despite the tendency to place PLM implementation within a specific conceptual framework, the implementation strategy should not be considered a generic category; rather, it must be customized to align with the specific needs of the company. Additionally, it is important to note that, currently, PLM is being mostly established as part of broader initiatives for business transformation, with a primary emphasis on enhancing the innovation potential of enterprises. This stems from the fact that under the rapid technological development and global networking that are in force, innovations are becoming a crucial factor for company sustainable competitiveness and long-term growth, making the establishment of strategic initiatives to strengthen innovation potential a priority for today's enterprises. This requires companies to establish a PLM competence development model that will effectively support the continuous development of their New Product Development (NPD) capabilities. Given the relevance of this issue, we formulate the following research question: How can companies effectively establish their PLM strategy with an emphasis on enhancing innovation potential? Despite extensive scientific and applied research focused on improving the PLM implementation, recent results reveal that these attempts have failed to establish a methodology that would effectively support the PLM implementation process, with regard to the foregoing requirements. Several issues remain open to academia. This refers, among other things, to the following:  
* Existing implementation methodologies do not provide explicit guidelines for PLM strategy setting. This introduces subjectivity in selecting PLM functional aspects to implement and how to prioritize them, increasing the risk of failure. * There is an absence of a specific indicator, consistent methodology, or approach that will assist companies in understanding implementation priorities, making it difficult to align the PLM implementation process with their specific needs. * A rigorous scientific methodology that would allow companies to understand how different PLM functional domains influence NPD capabilities is a missing aspect of current scientific contributions. These open issues drive the rationale of this research. The research is predicated on the assumption that evaluating an organization's NPD capabilities could provide a basis for identifying the company's latent needs, in alignment with the PLM strategy's orientation toward enhancing innovation potential, and thus introducing a new perspective in setting the PLM implementation strategy compared to previously established methodologies. Specifically, this paper endeavors to contribute to overcoming the above-mentioned gaps by first providing a methodology capable of capturing the company's latent needs related to NPD process optimization. Second, it introduces a systematic approach to setting a PLM strategy from the perspective of enhancing innovation potential. Hence, a novel methodological approach has been conceived and proposed to systematically analyze the NPD process, identify priority areas for focusing improvement efforts, and map them with specific PLM functional aspects. Then, at the second stage, the tool development was carried out. The methodological approach adopted is composed of the integration of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) models under the Interval Type-2 Fuzzy (IT2F) environment.