Life Cycle Management (LCM) draws together main concepts in the theory behind the many new management tools of the last decades – TQM, Benchmarking, Just-in-Time, Activity-Based Costing, Supply-Chain Management, Business Process Re-engineering, QFD, Core Competence, Learning Organisation, Empowerment. The presentation highlights the similarities and common focus point of these concepts and tools, and how this is linked to the concept of the “Functional Unit” in the life cycle approach. This also provides insight in the prerequisites for a productive application of the LCM concept.