ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

T h e r e a r e c e r t a i n u n d e r l y i n g c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s t h a t a r e a n integral part of PLM. These characteristics need to be articulated for a robust understanding of the forces moving organizations to adopt PLM. These characteristics include

Singularity Correspondence Cohesion Traceability Reflectivity Cued availability

We obtain these characteristics by examining an ideal model of PLM, the Information Mirroring Model, which captures the relationship between physical products and the data and information about those physical products. Before we do that, we need first to understand how that product information is organized today. W ha t d o w e m ea n by th es e ch ar ac te r is t ic s ? W ha t w e m ea n by these characteristics is that Product Lifecycle Management sys tems will need to have these aspects in order to fully represent the information that they contain and present it to the end user

Singularity:
There are invaluable uses for duplicate information such as back ups that insure that information will not be lost a major issue with destroyable paper based information. Duplicate information is also useful for experimenting with alternative designs on local temporary basis. It does not know which data is the controlling and which data

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

that is duplicate that is the issue.

We do not expect to get singularity in the relatively near future , but every time we can reduce an instance of the same information being duplicated in various systems, we will get closer to our goal of singularity version data. Doing so will increase productivity because there will be less waste of time, energy, and material from working with wrong product data.

Correspondence:
Another key characteristic of PLM is correspondence refer to the tight linkage between a physical object (e.g., a component, part, or product) and the data and information about that physical object. The data regarding geometrical shape and dimensions and characteristics such as material, weight, color, tensile strength, etc.is embodied in physical objects through the type and arrangement of the atoms that make up that object. The task of getting these physical objects to give up that data is developing the methodology and technology required to extract the data from the physical object. Measuring devices such as micrometers and laser measuring system, coordinate measuring systems, scales ,spectrometers, and x rays, among other technologies, were all invented and developed to allow us to extract data and information from the physical object in which they are intrinsically intertwined.

Cohesion
Cohesiveness has not only been a problem between views of different perspective, but cohesiveness has been a problem between views of the same perspective. A common problem in most organizations is a lack of cohesiveness in the bill of materials in different functions. Engineering has one BOM. Manufacturing has different BOM.finance has a BOM that matches neither engineering nor

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

manufacturings. As a result, inconsistence and costly decisions are made by all three parties. The issue of cohesiveness is becoming more complicated. In this day and age, we more often than not have a programmatic or software view. This is the view of the component. Because functionality is often enabled by programming rather than discrete circuitry in todays products, the same basic circuitry may have desired functionality. Small, easily made changes in software may have major implications for how the product functions or does not function. The maintenance of this programmatic view has become such a major issue that it has spawned it own discipline; configuration management (CIM), in an attempt to institute discipline and control, however, configuration management is also a part of cohesiveness.

Traceability:
The new issue that a move into the virtual world raises are around the lack of physical documentation. We no longer have or want separate pieces of paper that provide the time honored paper trail. Since information can readily be changed in virtual space, we will need reliable mechanisms for knowing when and where the information was captured and that it has been unchanged since that point in time. The move into virtual space should greatly improved traceability. The ability to capture to capture information at its source and the ability to find that information when needed will enhance the traceability of products, both in development and in use. PLM must have traceability as a core element.

Reflective ness:
Reflective ness is directly related to the arrow in the information mirroring model that connects the real space to virtual space and captures data and information from real space into virtual space. in real space, when we change the state of everything, trim a little material off a part, assemble two parts together, ease one line and draw another on a piece of paper, the information changes

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

because it is intrinsically part of the atoms that are impacted by those changes. If we are going to separate that information and crate an image of it in virtual space, then we need a mechanism to change.

Cued availability:
An example of this is that we spend a great deal of resource on design for environment initiatives, where we expend resources in the design phase to develop the processes to recycle the product at the end of its life. The issue today is that without PLM it is hard to understand how the recycling centre years, if not decades, from now will know those processes exist, let alone search for them. Cued availability implies that when the recycler accesses the product information in virtual space, he or she will be presented with the appropriate information and processes. Product information is organized in silos by functional area, and sharing information across functional areas is an inefficient and duplicative processif it occurs at all. We proposed a new way of thinking about product information, the Information Mirroring Model, which creates and mirrors a virtual representation of physical products. From that model we derived the characteristics that PLM will need to have. Those characteristics are singularit y , cohesiveness, correspondence, traceability, reflective ness, and cued availability

Elements of PLM:
External elements: 1. Scale 2. Complexity 3. Cycle time 4. Globalisation 5. Regualation

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

Complexity;
The result of this complexity is the dramatic increase in the amount of data and information that needs to be created, cataloged, and monitored. We not only have to deal with a sheer increase in the number of different models of products, but with an increase in the complexity' of the products themselves. When we add the additional requirement of tracking this data and information throughout the product's life, the size of the task becomes clear.

Scale;
If companies were simply increasing in size by scaling a limited number of products, the increase in information would be a man ageable problem. However, that is not the case. Not only are com panies getting bigger by offering their products on an increasing scale, but they're offering significantly magnitudes. more products, which increases the informational characteristics of that organization by a substantial amount, possibly

Cycle Times;
The next element of fundamental change that is driving PLIM is cycle times. Not only is the scale of the organizations getting larger and the number of different products or the complexity that they have to deal with increasing, but the then frames in which they have to be completed are also shrinking dramatically. Long devel opment cycle times for products are a thing of the past. Organiza tions are being forced by their

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

competitors and their customers to create products on a much faster cycle time than they have in the past.

Internal elements :
1. Productivity 2. Quality 3. Innovation 4. Collaboration Organizations are acutely aware of this. A number of industry studies show that innovation is a top, if not the top, priority initia tive. Companies with a reputation for innovation like 3M Corporation have a stated goal that in a few years half of their revenue will come from products that do not exist today Innovation is due to the creativity of human endeavor and is not produced in a formulaic fashion. Innovation is also enhanced by the availability of the right information when it is needed. While inno vation requires more than collecting, organizing, and coordinating product information from all phases of the product's lifecycle, PLM is an important enabler for successful product innovation. Innovation also requires resources. Given that resources are con strained in any organization, one way that PLM contributes to inno vation is by freeing up resources that might otherwise be wasted. If designers are wasting their time and the organization's resources by duplicating something that already exists, these are resources that, at least theoretically, could be spent on innovating new products. Process innovation is closely related to productive the goal of process innovation is to find better technologies and methods in order to reduce the

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

time, energy, and material that are required to produce the product. We will distinguish process innovation from productivity initiatives by focusing on the issue that process innovation initiatives develop alternate methods that use fewer resources. Productivity initiatives, on the other hand, simply iden tify and eliminate the wasted time, energy, and material in an already-known process. point in time, there was a belief that old proven products and the time-worn traditions of producing them were what made companies successful, we would be hard pressed to find an organization that either professed or practiced that philosophy. Companies understand that they need to innovate, but must innovate within the constraints of their resources.

Drivers of PLM;
Boardroom DriverIT Value Map While all these drivers of PLM are interesting, they must be trans lated into economic terms in order for organizations to evaluate and act upon them. Because of its impact on many different functions, the decision to invest in PLM logically is made at the upper levels of the organization on the basis of the quantified value it brings the organization. It is interesting to understand the drivers that are moving organizations, but, in the end analysis, if the value PLM brings cannot be quantified and explained to the executives and board mem bers who approve capital expenditures, it will not be adopted. Although there are qualitative measurements of value, such as

the

reputation of an organization, the quality of work life for its workers, and its standing in the community, the decision to invest in PLM or any major information technology initiative of this sort is made on the basis of a financial analysis. The most common measurement of this is Return

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

on Investment (ROI), which is simply the increase in income of an organization as a result of the initiative, divided b y the amount of resources that the organization needs to invest in that initiative.
The issue with ROT is that it often includes the allocation of resources, such as personnel, space, overhead, etc., that already exist within the organization. The effect is that there is really no new investment being made. The costs incurred by the organiza tion remain the same in the short run whether or not the project is undertaken, although in the long run those resources may be

eliminated if initiatives and/or projects are

not undertaken to use them. For that reason, we will use Return on Assets (ROA), which is the change in income divided by the cost of the asset, as our comparison benchmark. Adding an asset usually requires expending cash, which is a carefully watched resource in even the biggest, most successful organizations. A major expenditure of cash requires the approval of the senior executives and/or board of directors, whereas reallocating existing resources usually does not. This approval group will be looking for an impact in income in order to justify adding an asset to the balance sheet. We will use ROA, the increase in income result ing from the deployment of the asset, divided by the

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

investment in that asset, as a more stringent measurement than ROI.'

Support PLM:
Finally, the support that an individual is provided with will also enhance or detract from his or her capabilities. Support is an extension of education and training, but takes place during the execution of the task, not in preparation of the task. Support is also a substitution of information for wasted time, energy, and material. Unlike computers, which once programmed can retrieve the nec essary information at any time, people tend to have diminished recall of information the longer they have not used it. The proper support can reduce the inefficiency of the search ing and relearning process by providing people with the information they need when they need it. If processes are only used periodically (such as year end), or infrequently (such as a request for a manufacturing process variance), we should provide support

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90

Department of Mechanical Engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90

Department of Mechanical Engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90

Department of Mechanical Engineering

ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANGALORE - 90 Department of mechanical engineering