Functionalities of the PLM system

Understanding the basic functionalities of the PLM system

will allow users to adapt the application effectively.

1. Management of files

status/states

6. Change Management
PLM System

2. Items Creation
3. Distribution management 4. Information search

7. Files transfer & conversions 8. Communication and management of tasks 9. Archiving & distribution of documentation

5. Product structures management & maintenance

1. Management of files status/states

... is able to automatically control the state of files

or file attachments and their lifecycle status. Creation and updating files. ~ a user requests
Check out/Check in: file.

for a

~ the system verifies user privileges for approval. ~ the user checks out a file. ~ changes are made . ~ the file is then returned (checked in)

2. Items Creation
Items are created based

on a certain workflow:

When changes are made in documents, they becomes a new version or revision:
PLM system keeps a history log to serve the following functions:

.Viewing
Copying Changes Commenting ECR ECO Printing

3. Distribution management
Approved documents are distributed in a process

utilizing the relevant workflows.

This

automatic distributions are done based on the processes/principles defined to the software. The product structure allows other related documentation to be enclosed with a document when a reference is needed.

4. Information search
Planning engineers spend 1540% of their working hours

doing routine searches of the information and retrieving routine information. Facilitation of information search is through:
~classification of the information.

~ attributes.
~finding/analysis of
information depends on:

exactness of the metadata. definition/configuration of the system.

4. Information search...(2)
Classification, lifecycle phase, and attribute information

allow the following searches for information to be carried out in standard PLM systems:
(a) What is the status of each drawing in a certain project? (b) What has changed in a certain document? Who made the change and when? (c) What changes have been made in documents related to a given project within the last two months? (d) List all the resistors used in production, of which the resistance is greater than 5 but less than 10 . (e) List all allowed suppliers for 20- resistor RES123456.

5. Product structures management & maintenance

... one of the most important functions of the whole

PLM system,

it provides the basis of many other basic system functions.

structural presentation change management configuration management

version management

Product structures management

5. Product structures management & maintenance...(2)

The product structure itself makes the presentation of the relationships between the separate parts of product and assemblies possible. The product structure can be based on: a generic product data model, a part list, a B.O.M. (Bill of Materials)..

5. Product structures management & maintenance...(3)

The product structures can be viewed according to specific perspectivese.g., engineering, manufacturing, etc.
~designers

~ derived from a single product structure to give several disciplinedependent views.

~planners

5. Product structures management & maintenance...(4)

Filtration/Filtering feature is used to facilitate the examination of large, complex product structures.

5. Product structures management & maintenance...(5)

Maintaining information at too exact a level for complex products (with tens of thousands of parts) is not practical,
use a suitable level of precision. Using attribute information will help to clarify the information in the normal data fields and product structure. They are:

(a) Individual product based information such as the serial

number of a sourced component in a certain product (b) Generic regarding generic products, product, assemblage, parts. (c) User-specific remarks and notes.

5. Product structures management & maintenance...(6)

Attribute information for the product structure

6. Change Management
... It provides 3 important capabilities:
Controllability
~ the change process takes place in a controlled manner.

Visibility

~ info. on completed/ forthcoming changes is emailed/notified.

Traceability

~ specific stages of changed items & documents can be tracked.

Ver1.0

Ver1.1

Ver1.2

6. Change Management: ECR/ECO/ECN

~publication of items to production. ~updated documents are recorded in the file vault and assigned automatically with new version numbers (via versioning)

6. Change Management: ECR/ECO/ECN(2)

Product structure and version history of the bicycle

7. Files transfer & conversions

When a user seeks an item or a document, the following is executed: a) for documents:

Fetch

Open
~the system opens it in a suitable application.

~the system gives access to a document after user verification.

b) for CAD files:

Fetch

Convert

Open

~the system converts a CAD file into a format readable to the users system.
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8. Communication & management of tasks

This feature of the PLM system provides the context for collaboration in CE. o system provides a communication forum for daily
working.

All relevant team members are constantly and automatically notified of the events related to their tasks (as dictated by the workflow).

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9. Archiving & Distribution of documentation

Legacy of paper drawings and documents could be electronically archived.
Scanning
~paper dwgs/docs are scanned using large scanner into suitable formats.

Archiving
~scanned and saved dwgs and docs are stored in electronic form in the vault.

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Example of an Advanced Search

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Example of Multi-Level B.O.M.

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Example of a Workflow.

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Example of a Classification scheme

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Example of a document change

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Example of Meta Data

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