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Project management certifications have claimed a place in every top IT certification list for years. That’s because project managers are important to IT operations of all kinds. Whether you are interested in becoming an IT project manager or just want to add project management to your list of soft skills, these five leading certifications will help you add to or boost those skills and, in turn, increase your value.

If there’s a single set of soft skills that’s been fixed on the IT radar for the past decade or so, to the point where it’s become almost as sought after and every bit as valuable as top-level credentials, it must be project management. Thanks in large part to the immensely popular and widely pursued Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI), this area has become an incredibly valuable merit badge for IT professionals of all stripes. That’s because it enhances and expands on the value of just about any other kind of technical credential.

Project management has everything to do with planning, scheduling, budgeting for, and then executing and reporting on projects of all shapes and sizes. In fact, anything and everything that IT does can be understood or handled as a project of some kind. It applies to one-of-a-kind activities that happen only once or very seldom (think hardware or OS upgrades or migrating from older to newer platforms or infrastructures). Ditto for a recurring series of activities that repeat regularly (think security patches, software updates or other regular maintenance tasks). Thus, project management is incredibly important and valuable to IT operations across the board.

According to PMI’s Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey, 10th Edition [pdf], IT professionals who hold a PMP report median base annual salaries in the U.S. of almost $116,000. The top 25 percent of survey respondents report base salaries of at least $139,000. Depending on such factors as complexity and size of projects, location, fields of expertise (e.g., IT, construction or healthcare), and experience, salaries for some PMP credential holders can be much higher still.

Robert Half’s Technology & IT 2019 Salary Guide lists project management as a hot certification, with salaries varying slightly by technology area. It cites a salary range of $93,000 to $157,500 for project managers in application development environments. Project managers engaged in consulting and system integration roles can expect to earn $96,250 to $163,500 nationwide. This explains nicely why PMP appears in nearly every top 10 list of popular, targeted or most desirable certifications since the early 2000s. It’s no surprise that Robert Half also lists the PMP credential, along with Agile and Scrum certifications, as “highly valued technology certifications” trending up in the IT industry.

To give you an idea of which project management credentials employers look for in prospective candidates, we conducted a quick survey on some popular job boards. Clearly, the PMP is the overall favorite and remains our No. 1 pick for must-have project management certifications. PMI’s entry-level project management credential, the CAPM, also made our top five. The CSM from Scrum Alliance, along with ASQ’s Certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt credentials, round out those picks. It’s also worth noting that job postings for project managers increased by 20 percent from 2018 across all project management certifications.

Job board survey results (in alphabetical order, by certification)

CAPM: Certified Associate in Project Management

CAPM: Certified Associate in Project Management

The same organization behind the more senior Project Management Professional (PMP) credential also backs the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). In fact, the CAPM is properly considered a steppingstone credential for those who wish to attain PMP status by stages, rather than in a single giant leap. That’s why PMI describes the CAPM as a “valuable entry-level certification for project practitioners” that is “designed for those with little or no project experience.”

The PMP requires three to five years of documented on-the-job project management experience, depending on the educational background of each applicant. On the other hand, the CAPM requires only a high school diploma and either 1,500 hours of documented on-the-job experience (about nine months of full-time work) or 23 hours of project management classroom training prior to taking the exam. The education prerequisite can be met by completing PMI’s Project Management Basics online course which costs $350 for PMI members and $400 for non-members.

Nor does the CAPM require continuing education (which PMI calls PDUs, or professional development units) as does the PMP (60 PDUs every three years) to maintain this credential. To recertify, CAPM holders must retake the test once every five years.

The CAPM is one of a small set of entry-level project management certifications (including the CompTIA Project+) that IT professionals interested in project management might choose to pursue. Remember, though, that it is just a steppingstone to the PMP.

Unless you work in a large organization where a project management team is in place that includes junior as well as senior positions, the CAPM by itself is unlikely to provide a ticket to a project management job. However, it’s ideal for IT professionals for whom project management is a part-time job role or who want to grow into full-time project management.

CAPM facts and figures

CSM: Certified ScrumMaster

As companies seek to deliver more for less, many adopt Agile methodologies to streamline processes, build quality into products and ensure that final builds meet customer requirements. As Agile methodologies have become more popular, it’s no surprise that we see increased demand for IT practitioners qualified to manage projects in Agile environments.

While different Scrum master certifications are available, our pick is the Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) from the Scrum Alliance. This nonprofit encourages adoption of Scrum and Agile practices, promotes user groups and learning events, and provides resources for professional development. The organization boasts more than 500,000 certified practitioners worldwide.

The Scrum Alliance provides a support system for Scrum practitioners, including Scrum Gatherings, user groups, virtual communications, coaching, online training and much more. In addition to community and advocacy activities, the Scrum Alliance offers numerous Scrum-related certifications at the foundation, advanced, professional, elevated (guide) and leadership levels. Scrum Alliance certifications are designed for team members engaged in Scrum master, product owners and developer roles. The Scrum master and product owner tracks offer credentials at the foundation, advanced and professional levels which the developer track only offers a foundation and professional level cert.

• Scrum Master Track: Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM), and Certified Scrum Professional – Scrum Master (CSP-SM)
• Product Owner Track: Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO) and Certified Scrum Professional – Product Owner (CSP-PO)
• Developer Track: Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) and Certified Scrum Professional (CSP)
• Elevated or guide credentials: Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), Certified Team Coach (CTC) and Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC)
• Agile Leadership: The Scrum Alliance also offers the Certified Agile Leadership (CAL) program, a credential based on a combination of education and validated practice. There are two credentials – the Certified Agile Leadership I and Certified Agile Leadership II.

For project managers getting started as Scrum practitioners, the CSM makes an excellent entry-level credential. Not only must candidates demonstrate an understanding of Scrum principles and values, but they’ll learn how to implement and apply Scrum in practice. The Scrum Alliance provides CSMs with multiple resources, plus checklists and information about the servant-leader role of the Scrum master.

Certified ScrumMaster facts and figures

CSSBB: Certified Six Sigma Black Belt

Globally recognized, ASQ certifications attest to candidate expertise, mastery of industry and regulation standards, and mastery of the ASQ Body of Knowledge. Currently, ASQ offers 18 credentials, three of which specifically target project management: the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) (expert level), the Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) (professional level) and the Six Sigma Yellow Belt (CSSYB) (entry level).

The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt is ASQ’s highest Six Sigma credential. The CSSBB aims at experienced practitioners who understand Six Sigma methodologies (including the DMAIC model), tools, systems and philosophies. CSSBBs can lead teams or manage team dynamics, roles and responsibilities.

The path to CSSBB certification is rigorous. In addition to passing a comprehensive exam, candidates must complete two projects that employ Six Sigma tools and processes, resulting in project improvement and a positive financial project impact. An affidavit is also required to attest to the veracity of the project. Alternatively, candidates with at least three years of experience in one or more of the Six Sigma Body of Knowledge areas need only complete one Black Belt project.

CSSBB candidates are expected to demonstrate mastery of the ASQ Black Belt Body of Knowledge, called standards:

• Organization-wide Planning and Deployment (organization-wide considerations, leadership)
• Organization Process Management and Measures (impact on stakeholders, benchmarking, business measures)
• Team Management (team formation, facilitation, dynamics, training)
• Define (voice of the customer, business case and project charter, project management tools, analytical tools)
• Measure (process characteristics, data collection, measurement systems, basic statistics, probability, process capability)
• Analyze (measuring and modeling relationships between variables, hypothesis testing, failure mode and effects analysis, other analysis methods)
• Improve (design of experiments, lean methods, implementation)
• Control (statistical process control and other controls, maintain controls, sustain improvements)
• Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) Framework and Methodologies (common DFSS methodologies, design for DVX, robust designs)

The CSSBB is valid for three years. To recertify, candidates must earn 18 recertification units or retake the exam.

CSSBB facts and figures

CSSGB: Certified Six Sigma Green Belt

The Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) by ASQ is a professional-level credential targeting experienced Six Sigma practitioners. Often, a CSSGB works under the direction of the more senior CSSBB or as an assistant. CSSGBs identify issues and drive quality and process improvements in projects.

To earn the credential, candidates should have at least three years of experience working with Six Sigma processes, systems and tools. The work experience must have been full time and compensated; an unpaid internship, for example, doesn’t count. In addition, work performed must have been in at least one of the Six Sigma Green Belt Body of Knowledge competency areas.

In addition to work experience, candidates must pass an test that tests their knowledge of the Six Sigma Green Belt Body of Knowledge. Currently, the Green Belt Body of Knowledge includes six competency areas:

• Overview: Six Sigma and the Organization (organizational goals, lean principles, design methodologies)
• Define Phase (project identification, customer voice, project management basics, management and planning tools, project business results, team dynamics and performance)
• Measurement Phase (process analysis and documentation, probability and statistics, statistical distributions, data collection, measurement system analysis, process and performance capability)
• Analyze Phase (exploratory data analysis, hypothesis testing)
• Improve Phase (design of experiments, root cause analysis, lean tools)
• Control Phase (statistical process control, control plan, lean tools for process control)

Overall, this is an excellent credential for those who have some experience but are not quite ready to take on the roles and responsibilities of a Black Belt.

CSSGB facts and figures

PMP: Project Management Professional

The Project Management Institute (PMI) not only stands behind its Project Management Professional certification, it works with academia and training companies to ensure proper coverage and currency in the various curricula that support this and other PMI credentials. Boasting more than 500,000 global members and 750,000 PMP certified professionals around the world, PMI’s PMP remains one of the most prestigious project management credentials available. (Note: The PMP’s precursor, the CAPM, is covered in an earlier section of this article.)

That’s why you can obtain college- and university-based PMP training from so many institutions. It’s also why you may sometimes find PMP coverage integrated into certain degree programs (often at the master’s degree level).

The PMP credential is coveted by employers seeking the most highly skilled project management professionals. Developed by project managers, the PMP certification is the highest level offered in PMI certifications. It is designed to ensure that credential-holders possess the skills and qualifications necessary to successfully manage all phases of a project, including initiating, planning, scheduling, controlling and monitoring, and closing out the project.

PMP certified projects managers are also well versed and skilled in managing all aspects of the triple constraints – time, cost and scope. Employers depend on the skills of PMP professionals to manage budgets, track costs, manage scope creep, identify how changes to the triple constraints may introduce risk into the project, and minimize such risk to protect the project investment.

The standards for PMP certification are rigorous. Beyond passing a comprehensive exam, credential holders must first demonstrate and certify that they have the skills and education necessary to succeed in the project management field. Credential seekers should be ready to provide documentation for items such as education, projects worked on and hours spent in each of the five project management stages – initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing out the project.

While it’s difficult to achieve, the rewards for PMP credential holders can be significant. According to PMI’s Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey, 10th Edition, PMPs in the U.S. earn an average of 23 percent more than their non-credentialed counterparts. The survey reports median salaries of PMPs in the United States at $115,000, as opposed to $92,000 for non-PMP certified project managers.

For those interested in program management or wishing to specialize in a project management area, PMI offers several interesting additional credentials:

The PMP remains a nonpareil certification for IT and other professionals whose responsibilities encompass project management. It is the standard against which all other project management credentials are judged.

It should be noted that, after meeting the prerequisites, candidates are also required to pass a rigorous exam. Candidates must obtain an eligibility ID from PMI before they can register for the exam.

PMP facts and figures

Beyond the top 5: More project management certifications

Project management is truly a white-hot area for both certification seekers and employers. Several other project management certifications are available, for general IT project management as well as software development project management.

Honorable mention goes to the Global Association for Quality Management (GAQM) project management certifications, such as the Professional in Project Management, Associate in Project Management and Certified Project Director. The Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner qualifications (featured in the 2017 top-five list) are also excellent credentials and worth honorable mention.

The CompTIA Project+ credential (featured in the 2017 top-five list and honorable mention in 2018) remains a well-known entry-level project management certification for those starting their project management careers. ASQ’s Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt (CSSYB) is another entry-level credential worth exploring, particularly if you’re interested in eventually moving up to the more senior Green and Black Belt credentials.

Most graduate business, management and management information systems (MIS) programs offer project management training to students, and some offer certificate programs outside the project management organizations as well.

You’ll also find training and occasional certification around various project management tool sets. For example, some Microsoft Learning Partners offer courses on Microsoft Project, and you can find a dizzying array of project management packages on Wikipedia’s comparison of project management software page.

The CAPM and Project+ remain the best-known entry-level project management certifications, with the PMP as the primary professional target and capstone for would-be professional IT project managers. Don’t forget to consider PMI’s related certifications as well. For project managers seeking entry into the realm of Scrum, the CSM is the best entry-level cert for Scrum practitioners.

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

Professionals across the board, in IT and other departments, are managing more projects than ever before, and having project management skills helps them to streamline processes and ensure they’re crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's. But for someone whose primary role is not project management, some of the better-known project management certifications may go above and beyond what is needed to do the job.

If you work in IT and manage small- to medium-sized projects, CompTIA Project+ may be a good way for you to prove to employers that you have the project management skills needed for your job.

It can be hard to decide which project management certification is right for you. The good news is, project management certifications seem to fall into two categories: those designed for full-time project managers and those designed for people in other jobs who are also responsible for some project management.

PMP, and other project management certifications like Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) or PRINCE2 Practitioner, are methodology/framework-specific certifications intended for more advanced project management professionals who oversee large projects. If you are a full-time project manager, PMP might be right for you.

However, if your primary role is in IT but you also manage projects, CompTIA Project+ can help you understand project management concepts without investing the time and money that major project management certifications require. It is ideal for professionals who manage smaller, less complex projects as part of their other job duties but still need foundational project management skills.

CompTIA Project+ is more versatile than other certifications because it covers essential project management concepts beyond the scope of just one methodology or framework. However, it does provide a high-level introduction to agile as part of one of the objectives. Still, if you would like to focus on, say, Scrum specifically, you would want to take Scrum Alliance’s Certified Scrum Master certification.

Let’s take a closer look at the fundamental differences of PMP and CompTIA Project+.

Getting a project management certification validates your project management skills and adds value to your resume. You will be able to prove to employers that you bring in-demand and valuable skills to the table, opening yourself up to more job opportunities.

According to Lightcast, there were more than 600 000 job postings by US employers for project managers in 2022, and 3.9 million postings seeking candidates with project management skills. Getting certified can also help you advance your career and earn more money. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual salary for IT project managers in the United States is $94 500 – 107% higher than the median national wage for all occupations.

Earning CompTIA Project+ means that you will have the knowledge and skills required to do the following:

• Manage the project life cycle;
• Ensure appropriate communication;
• Manage resources and stakeholders; and
• Maintain project documentation.

Both CompTIA Project+ and PMP require extensive preparation, and rightly so. Employees who invest in career development and learning are valued by their organisation. A project management certification validates your desire and tenacity towards developing and honing your personal and professional skills.

But if you aren’t a full-time project manager – or aren’t one yet – CompTIA Project+ might be the right project management certification for you. It can even be a steppingstone for moving into a full-time project manager role or getting PMP or a more advanced certification in the future.

When you’re ready to begin studying, check out CompTIA’s line of learning products, developed exclusively for the CompTIA certification candidate. No other content library covers all of the test objectives for all certifications. The Official CompTIA Project+ Study Guide can help you prepare for your CompTIA certification test with confidence. And CompTIA CertMaster Practice for Project+ will give you the confidence you need to pass your exam.

When you purchase a CompTIA Project+ bundle that includes both the CompTIA CertMaster Practice and the Official CompTIA Project+ Study Guide, you’ll get a seamless integrated experience to help give you confidence as you go into your exam.

You now have everything you need to learn the material and ensure you are prepared for your test and your career.

Learn the skills you need with CompTIA CertMaster Learn. Sign up today for a free trial today!

Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is an insurance policy that protects lenders from the risk of default and foreclosure. Generally, if you need financing to buy a home and make a down payment of less than 20% of its cost, your lender will probably require you to buy insurance from a PMI company prior to signing off on the loan. Although it costs extra, PMI allows buyers who cannot make a significant down payment (or those who choose not to) to obtain financing at affordable rates.

The need for efficient software development has taken on greater importance as enterprises introduce more and more digital services and add automation capabilities to enhance business processes. Managing software projects might not be at the top of CIOs’ priority lists, but it is something that IT leaders will have to master.

There are plenty of challenges involved in managing software projects, and IT executives who learn how to address these hurdles can help their organizations build better applications to drive business growth and enhance customer experience.

Here are some of the more likely challenges IT leaders and teams face with software projects, and how they can address them.

Delivering on time and on budget

Completing software projects in a timely manner while staying within

budget is a long-time challenge of software development. Any number of things can happen to cause delays and drive up costs.

One possible solution is to embrace the agile methodology of software development. Agile calls for collaboration among cross-functional teams as well as end users, and promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development, continual improvement, flexibility in responding to changes in requirements and early delivery of products.

“Agile software development projects iterate the cycle of plan, do, check, adjust — and the end user or representative sponsoring [the project] is key in all these stages,” says Ola Chowning, a partner with global technology research and advisory firm ISG.

The waterfall method of gathering all the requirements, designing the entire software capability to meet all the requirements, building all the needed capabilities and reviewing and obtaining buy-in from end users is rarely used today, Chowning says. “This older method, by the way, is where on-time, on-budget challenges were the most onerous, because of the guessing game created when the software team had to estimate large bodies of work and assume some level of acceptance or rework by end users,” she says.

Agile enables the software team and end users to “collectively learn to plan better, work better and adjust more quickly, and outcomes become far more predictable as the way the team works becomes more predictable,” Chowning says. “On time and on budget are much easier to judge with the finger on the pulse of expectations of both the users and the developers.”

Creating and maintaining an agile culture

While adopting agile makes sense for software development at many organizations, it can come with hurdles. And many IT leaders who think their organizations have instituted agile practices fail to understand that what their teams are undertaking isn’t, in fact, agile.

“The intersection of agile software development practices and ‘traditional’ project management remains a challenge for many organizations,” Chowning says. “By now, you would think we would have cracked this nut, but it still seems to stymie many of our clients.”

Whereas software development is approached with a strictly agile way of working — repeated sprints, stories, and multiple releases that build up the end software product in an iterative manner — many organizations continue to struggle as they attempt to manage projects in a waterfall manner, Chowning says.

“This often begins during the project’s business case for funding, where we are typically asked to estimate the total outlay to be reported against in a traditional waterfall-phased framework of requirements, design, build, test and deploy,” Chowning says.

More mature organizations are turning to a project management approach that instead lays out the estimate of overall cost to overall value in a more steady approach across time, Chowning says. “Those who are using this agile project management approach are able to reap some of the real key benefits of agile, [but] it may require some adjustment of investment decisions or even financial practices in terms of project spend.”

A huge challenge for IT organizations is driving the agile model at the enterprise level, says Christian Kelly, managing director at technology consulting and services firm Accenture. “Agile at the team level is now widespread, but exact data suggest that it’s not going as well at the enterprise level, as most organizations struggle to connect strategies to the work their teams are doing,” he says.

This limits organizations’ ability to prioritize portfolios, plan for capacity, manage dependencies and connect goals to outcomes, Kelly says. “To deliver on the promise of agile, organizations need to implement the agile culture, systems, and best-in-class tools needed to better connect strategies to outcomes,” he says.

Aligning projects with overall organizational goals

“IT projects cannot be done in a bubble,” says Chetna Mahajan, chief digital and information officer at analytics platform provider Amplitude. “If your initiative is not aligned with business priorities, you are not set up for success from the outset and you will be swimming against the current at all times.”

To ensure business alignment and buy-in, all software projects should have a business executive sponsor, Mahajan says. When her previous company was implementing configure, price, quote (CPQ) software, the executive sponsors included Mahajan and the chief revenue office.

“This provided us with an escalation channel for both business and technical decisions and deliverables,” Mahajan says. “It was no longer perceived as a technology initiative and it got the visibility and attention it needed across the company. We not only came in under budget and on time, but also were able to increase automation 30% and reduce sales cycle by a couple weeks.”

Most technology projects fail because they lack concrete key performance indicators (KPIs), Mahajan says. “I categorize project metrics mainly into two buckets, one that monitors project execution and the other that measures business outcome,” she says. “What we can’t measure we can’t improve. While it is important to stay the course on budget, scope, and timeline, we must keep a constant eye on the business KPIs.”

The KPIs for a project should be specific and linked to company goals. “This not only helps create a culture of accountability, but also allows for companies to validate their business case to inform future investment decisions,” Mahajan says.

Culture is often a key challenge in the ability to manage software projects in an agile fashion, Chowning says, because sponsors and key stakeholders of the project need to be comfortable and willing to work in the manner most suited to agile.

“Many may still want, instead, to try to work in a more traditional manner—build all requirements, design the entire end state, and only then build and deploy the entire end state,” Chowning says. “This can present a dilemma, as the software development practice and the project management practice try to proceed in two completely different and disconnected approaches.”

Educating the sponsors and key stakeholders in an agile project management approach, and helping them adjust behaviors, is key to managing expectations and enabling software development to proceed in the most effective and efficient manner, Chowning says.

It’s important to engage user representation up front and then continually throughout the iterations of the software development, regardless of the methodology being used, Chowning says.

“Gone are the days when it is sufficient to talk to users up front, and then not engage them again until some mystical user acceptance testing towards the end of the project,” Chowning says. “Users, or user representation [should] be engaged in all aspects of the software development and designs. Small feature developments, prototypes, trials and showcases are all useful means of ensuring users are both engaged and feedback is obtained constantly.”

Need for new development — and management — skills

“One of the biggest challenges we face [is] how to ensure we are continuously providing a strong developer experience and managing the ongoing upskilling of our employees as technologies evolve,” says Amit Sharma, CTO at financial technology company Broadridge Financial Solutions and former CIO at financial services provider Western Union.

“This means creating [automated] solutions, providing a secure, stable environment to develop and test, and equipping our developers with a suite of tools that facilitates a simple, manageable experience and alleviates the overhead and burden of heavy administration,” Sharma says.

With the rapid pace of change in software development, companies need to  train software engineers and others to adapt to new technologies, languages, and development processes. IT and product leaders need to acknowledge that there might be interruptions in projects because of the need to develop new skill sets, Sharma says. They also need to value the people involved in software development.

“It is critical that we recognize that our technology teams have built solutions over the course of many years, and as a result have become the subject matter experts not just of the system, but of the product as well,” Sharma says. “It is [vital] to bring them with us into the next generation of our product, no matter the technology it is founded on.”

In addition to the need for new developer skills, many IT leaders need to hone their own skills.

“Many IT leaders suffer from a massive talent gap in the ability to understand user needs, to create software roadmaps that meet business needs, to drive trade-offs against these roadmaps, and to move from process-based thinking to customer value and customer journey thinking,” Accenture’s Kelly says. “This is why concepts like value stream mapping, customer jobs/value propositions, and design thinking have become so important.”

STAMFORD, Conn., February 15, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) will host a live audio webcast of a presentation by Emmanuel Babeau, Chief Financial Officer, at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) Conference on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The webcast will provide live audio of the entire PMI session and will be available in a listen-only mode on www.pmi.com/2023cagny.

The audio webcast may also be accessed on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI’s free Investor Relations Mobile Application.

An archived copy of the webcast will be available until 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 23, 2023, on www.pmi.com/2023cagny.

Presentation slides will also be available at www.pmi.com/2023cagny.

Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future

Philip Morris International (PMI) is a leading international tobacco company working to deliver a smoke-free future and evolving its portfolio for the long term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company’s current product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products. Since 2008, PMI has invested more than USD 10.5 billion to develop, scientifically substantiate and commercialize innovative smoke-free products for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, with the goal of completely ending the sale of cigarettes. This includes the building of world-class scientific assessment capabilities, notably in the areas of pre-clinical systems toxicology, clinical and behavioral research, as well as post-market studies. In November 2022, PMI acquired Swedish Match – a leader in oral nicotine delivery – creating a global smoke-free champion led by the companies’ IQOS and ZYN brands. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized versions of PMI’s IQOS Platform 1 devices and consumables and Swedish Match’s General snus as Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTPs). As of December 31, 2022, PMI's smoke-free products were available for sale in 73 markets, and PMI estimates that approximately 17.8 million adults around the world had already switched to IQOS and stopped smoking. Smoke-free products accounted for approximately 32% of PMI’s total full-year 2022 net revenues. With a strong foundation and significant expertise in life sciences, PMI announced in February 2021 its ambition to expand into wellness and healthcare areas and, through its Vectura Fertin Pharma subsidiary, aims to enhance life through the delivery of seamless health experiences. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005558/en/

Contacts

Philip Morris International

Investor Relations:
Stamford, CT: +1 (203) 904 2410
Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666
Email: InvestorRelations@pmi.com

Media: David Fraser
Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500
Email: David.Fraser@pmi.com

This story has been updated to correct the name of one of the founders.

PMI Industries Inc. may be focused on the ocean, but it calls Northeast Ohio home.

PMI — which stands for Precision Marine Inc. — was founded in 1984 by Bob Eucker and Allan Metzler. The company is still owned by the Eucker family, said president Bob Centa, who declined to share annual revenue or employee numbers.

PMI makes underwater cable connections and terminations for a variety of uses. Those products might be connecting a cable to a submarine or a ship, Centa said, so that information can be transmitted from a remote operating vessel searching the ocean floor or from a seismic exploration looking for oil and gas.

"Our products, one thing, they're small. They're not very large. But if they break, it stops the entire operation," said vice president Jim Boone.

PMI had been located on St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland until January, when it moved to a new location at 990 Resource Drive in Brooklyn Heights.

PMI serves everything from the U.S. Navy and defense contractors to the oil and gas and seismic survey market to universities and research institutes. Boone said about 98% of the company's work is ocean-based, with a small amount of work in freshwater settings.

And the renewable energy market — particularly wind and wave energy, though some projects in tidal are in early stages — is another critical segment for PMI. It's a future-looking, "skating to where the puck's going" kind of focus, Centa said. Renewable energy sources like these use cables just like PMI's other customers, so the company is applying its knowledge to that growing market.

PMI doesn't do heavy manufacturing, but focuses on engineering, testing and assembly.

"We're an engineering company at our core," Centa said. He added, "If people have a problem, we can come up with a solution."

Centa joined PMI in January 2022, with Boone having come on board about a year earlier. And PMI began looking for a new facility last spring, Centa said. The previous building didn't meet the company's current needs, let alone account for future growth, he noted.

The new site in Brooklyn Heights was close enough that it wasn't a disruption for employees, but it offered more space and a more open layout. The new building is 37,000 square feet, mostly in the factory, and offers 67% more square footage in terms of shop floor space.

And it's not just about having more space. Efficiency is the theme of PMI's new location. Product moves from station to station in a large U-shape, moving from unloading to quality to the machine shop to assembly. The old facility was more piecemeal, spread across multiple buildings, and PMI had to move product back and forth frequently. The old location didn't even have a dock, a feature the new site boasts.

PMI has special equipment to simulate what the company's cable attachments will experience in the ocean, from a large-scale machine that pulls cable to check how the attachments behave under tension to the submarine-shaped autoclave that fills with water for testing.

And the site will be more efficient in other ways, too. The lights are all LED, and the air conditioning and heating are new.

"It really checked a lot of the boxes that we wanted and needed," Centa said.

Centa thinks the additional space and new capabilities will help PMI grow. Already, PMI has won some new business in the naval/defense market that Centa said wouldn't have been possible without the new building. And he sees growth opportunities in renewable energy and oil and gas, as well as geographically in the Asia Pacific and Australia markets, where PMI doesn't have as strong of a foothold.

TORONTO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Canadian economic activity expanded in January at the sharpest pace in eight months as employment climbed and provider deliveries speeded up, Ivey Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data showed on Monday.

The seasonally adjusted index rose to 60.1, its highest since May. The historical data was revised to show that the index was at 49.3 in December, not 33.4.

The Ivey PMI measures the month to month variation in economic activity as indicated by a panel of purchasing managers from across Canada. A reading above 50 indicates an increase in activity.

The gauge of employment rose to an adjusted 60.5 from 59.5 in December, while the provider deliveries index was 52.3, up from 49.1.

The unadjusted PMI rose to 54.7 from 40.6.

Reporting by Fergal Smith

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