INTRODUCTION The current competitive environment is influenced by the dynamics of the innovative or technological environment, as well as personalized demands by customers. This puts increasing emphasis on improving the quality in process management and optimization. Strategic management creates the necessary background for successful implementation of process management. Strategic management creates conditions for achieving the target behavior of the company as a whole, thus supporting a holistic approach within the management of the company. Through strategic management tools used in business practice, such as the Balanced Scorecard, it is possible to implement a particular strategy via the structure of balanced performance indicators used for managing and evaluating process performance. The very implementation of goals, objectives and projects brought to a successful end and, last but not least, the achievement of desired results are among the basic factors helping a company stand out from competitors nowadays. It is therefore essential that businesses constantly improve their processes. Many companies are currently choosing the path of gradual process improvement, the so-called Kaizen. Such choice is conditioned by regular analysis of the existing processes as well as measurement and optimization of their performance. Industry 4.0 is a clear trend towards a new kind of business processes and e-commerce: • Decentralized processes with greater decision-making autonomy. • Electronic trading at every point being an activator of transactions. • Real-time control of timeless organizational processes. • Improving the performance and quality of logistics organizational processes integrated into the environment. Business Process Management (BPM) is a systematic approach to identifying, mapping, documenting, designing, implementing, measuring and controlling business processes. It includes growing IT support aiming to improve, innovate and manage processes thoroughly, determine business results and create value for the customer, thus achieving business goals with greater flexibility. The moment this new industrial revolution digitizes all logistics, purchasing and sales processes, e-commerce will account for more than 90% of global business transactions. In other words, business processes and e-commerce can no longer be managed in isolation, and each service will include digitized processes integrated into the entire network of stakeholders (participants) in the business. The aim of the monograph is to introduce readers to the issues of strategic and process management, to clarify the concepts related to the topic, as well as procedures in the analysis, modeling, optimization, implementation and performance measurement of production and non-production process environments.

Preface Digital modeling and simulation of processes and systems are now increasingly important in all fields of economic activity. This fact results from the needs of industrial practice, for which the issue of verification and validation of production process and system designs is necessary primarily from the aspect of cost savings. This monograph focuses on the research of state-of-the-art software products and systems into real business practice, using the examples of the Tecnomatix Process Simulate software module from Siemens. Product lifecycle management can be defined as a set of product-oriented software tools. It covers product design, product construction, production design, production technology design, warehouse management and, last but not least, the disposal of production-related waste. The information generated in these processes is used by the designer, technologist, industrial engineer, product manager, manufacturer, customer, waste disposer and many others. The basic gist is that they are all working with the same information at any given point in time. Modeling and simulation of production are not dealt with in a one-off manner. Because they are made up of multiple components, they are built incrementally, and it is the integration of these components that ultimately creates an enterprise-wide solution. Modeling and simulation using these systems should be primarily intended for industrial production.