Maturity models are commonly used to assess a company’s position on a roadmap towards a defined mature PLM environment. The models focus mainly on an internal point of view, comparing a current state to a possible future state. The high level of adjustments in these models to the individual companies needed, make it difficult to compare companies across industries using existing maturity models.The aim of this paper is to introduce a generic, cross-industrial maturity model suitable for the benchmarking of companies. The model uses an ability-based approach, similar to a case form report.Using the model, a first benchmarking study has been conducted among ten Swiss companies. This initial study allowed to verify and discuss the suitability of the developed model. Furthermore, the actual results of benchmarking lead to interesting insights into potential success factors to achieve higher PLM maturity. This paper discusses both the maturity model and the actual results.