PLM/ALM Integration With The Asset Administration Shell

Abstract

Modern product development utilizes both Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). PLM addresses the hardware lifecycle of a product, whereas ALM addresses the software lifecycle. In recent years, industry and academia have developed several PLM/ALM integration concepts to realize efficient management of the product lifecycle across all domains. However, the solutions available in practice are typically vendor-driven. Therefore, they are not generally applicable even if standards such as OSLC (Open Services for Lifecycle Cooperation) are applied.The consortium “Plattform Industrie 4.0” has recently introduced a standardized digital representation of an asset (e.g., a smart product): the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). The AAS has the potential to integrate PLM/ALM data sets in a single product model and hence to provide a generally applicable interface for PLM/ALM integration. However, until now there has not been a concept to prove this potential. The aim of this work is to develop such new strategies (named Plm4AAS) using AAS submodels. This article explains the semi-automatic generation of PLM/ALM submodels and how to link elements between these submodels. The AASX Package Explorer, an AAS management software tool, is used to demonstrate the results. The article finishes with a discussion about the potential of the AAS as a standardized concept for PLM/ALM integration.