Current Product Lifecycle Management Research Articles

The Product Service System Lean Design Methodology (PSSLDM)

Purpose Nowadays manufacturers companies are increasingly compelled to navigate towards servitization. Different methods and approaches were proposed in literature to support them to switch from traditional product-based business model to product service systems (PSSs). However, new knowledge, capabilities and skills were needed to consistently develop PSSs, since they need a joint focus on both customer’s perspective and company’s internal performance and at the same time a proper support for the integration of product and service design. The purpose of this paper is to propose the Product Service System Lean Design Methodology (PSSLDM), a structured methodology to develop PSSs along their entire lifecycle. Design/methodology/approach Retrieving concepts from interpretative, interactive and system development research traditions, and strongly reminding the design research methodology framework, the adopted research methodology is composed of three main phases (observation and conceptualization, theory building and tool development, validation) and involved three heterogeneous companies. Findings This paper provides an overview of the PSSLDM, explaining how the different methods supporting its conduction should contribute to properly design an integrated PSS. Moreover, companies highlighted several benefits in the different stages along the PSS lifecycle deriving by the adoption of the PSSLDM. Research limitations/implications The development of a platform based on the PSSLDM methodology raises a discussion on the possible changes needed by current Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) models and systems when they have to do with PSSs. Originality/value The PSSLDM enriches the already proposed SErvice Engineering Methodology, introducing new several components linked by lean rules in each of its phases (starting from customer analysis, going through solution concept and detailed design, until the offering analysis) and better supprting the deatil design of both prodcut and service components.

What is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Maturity? Analysis of Current PLM Maturity Models

Product lifecycle management (PLM) implementation and adoption involves extensive changes in both intra- and inter-organizational practices. Various maturity approaches, for instance based on CMM (Capability maturity modeling) principles, can be used to make the implementation of PLM a better approachable and a more carefully planned and coordinated process. However, there are a number of different types of current approaches which can be thought to fall under the concept of PLM maturity. The aim of this paper is to investigate and analyze the various existing PLM maturity approaches to get an organized picture of the current models and their main background presumptions, goals and restrictions. Thus, we aim to facilitate their proper selection and use to facilitate the implementation of PLM.

ICT supported lifecycle thinking and information integration for sustainable manufacturing

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are keys to manufacturing competence, competitiveness and jobs of modern industrialised countries. The trend is towards more customised, intelligent and networked products and systems, integrating intelligence in miniaturised smart product embedded information devices (PEID), such as RFID tags, embedded systems (including sensors) and standards. The overall goal of sustainable manufacturing is to obtain a holistic view of products’ lifecycle in the manufacturing industry and to optimise the life-cycle of product-service systems. In the coming years, the use of PEIDs will be extended from the current use in identification and logistics applications to a wider pallet of applications for manufacturing including real time visualisation and decision making. These wider applications include the involvement of consumers and users together with producers and service providers, beyond the traditional use of current product life-cycle management (PLM) solutions. This paper also describes the project PLANTCockpit for a production and logistics cockpit in manufacturing and specifically focuses on the proposed architecture and the novel concept of KPIs representation.

Engineering Objective Controls Knowledge Driven Product Definition in Industrial Product Development

High information content of integrated engineering activities stimulated development of product modeling during the past decades in order to support information management for lifecycle of products. Mechatronics is one of the engineering areas those require integrated product development techniques with strong knowledge based modeling and simulation in their background. The authors of this paper analyzed product modeling advancements in industrially applied product lifecycle management (PLM) systems in order to conceptualize new method to enhance knowledge content in product model. As a result of this analysis, they proposed a new method for control of product definition which extends the existing control in current PLM systems. This method is a contribution to solution for problems in current product modeling and is called as coordinated request based product modeling (CRPM). CRPM applies actual requested product definition (ARPD) as extension to currently applied product model. In this paper, the new method and entities as well as engineering objective definition and product behavior handling are explained as main contributions by the proposed modeling.

Improving product lifecycle management implementations by applying 'lean' principles

Manufacturers are facing increased pressure from external forces. This has led to companies competing for shorter development cycles in order to gain market share. Product lifecycle management (PLM), particularly within complex industries such as the aeronautical industry, is a business activity which may leverage stakeholders to achieve business objectives. PLM implementations however are not meeting timescales and budget expectations, therefore the need to improve efficiency and effectiveness in PLM implementations is required and the use of lean principles to do so is a potential way forward. This paper explores the use of lean principles to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. A lean PLM deployment methodology has been developed as part of this research, based on surveys of current lean PLM practice and the potential for further gains by holistic use of lean principles is outlined. From the research featured in this paper it has been found that the application of lean principles and subsequently its methods and tools, support the improvement of efficiency and effectiveness within PLM implementations.

Product Lifecycle Management Requirements Gathering: Industrial Pilot Cases

Product Lifecycle management (PLM) is a concept that aims to integrate the various processes and phases involved during a typical product lifecycle. This paper reports on the capture of requirements for PLM from five Industrial Partners in a FP7 project “advanced Platform for manufacturing engineering and Product Lifecycle Management” (amePLM). The objective of amePLM is to develop a software platform which will provide a collaborative extensible engineering platform that will leverage state-of-the art research on semantics, heuristics and visualization. The five Industrial Partners in amePLM vary in size (micro, SME to large) and by sector, from electronics, healthcare, advanced technology to engineering services. Independent of the company size and the sector it operates in the PLM requirements gathering reported in this paper shows that there are deficiencies in the support for collaboration, project management and visualization in the current PLM tools used by these companies. To capture requirements from the companies a new PLM requirements gathering methodology was developed which is reported on in the paper.

Computer-aided embodiment design through the hybridization of mono objective optimizations for efficient innovation process

Current product lifecycle management (PLM) systems properly support the development of a product from the embodiment design stage to detail design and manufacturing phases; on the contrary, marginal support is provided to the earliest stages of conceptual design. Besides, the front end of product development is supported by an emerging technology, namely computer-aided innovation systems (CAI), which nevertheless are still poorly integrated with the following phases of the design process. The paper presents an original computer-based approach aimed at supporting embodiment design phases, which results very efficient for improving the interoperability of CAI and PLM systems and thus at extending the domain of application of these tools. The potential of the approach proposed by the authors is clarified through three exemplary case studies.

Digital Factory Wizard: an integrated system for concurrent digital engineering in product lifecycle management

Product lifecycle management (PLM) systems provide a useful function with regard to creating and managing product data. But, because current PLM systems are based on individual functions and because of distributed information management, it takes a lot of time and effort to collect data as well as analyse engineering planning data. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve an integrated engineering environment and share information across departments or enterprises in the environment of current PLM systems. Moreover, current PLM systems have concentrated on design and engineering, i.e. design production and the management of design data. Manufacturing engineering, such as layout design, is not a focal point in current PLM systems. Hence, to achieve an integrated and concurrent engineering environment, the authors propose a new concept, the digital factory wizard (DFW), in a PLM environment. The DFW provides interoperability across heterogeneous systems and integrated information management as well as facilitates information utilisation based on the concept proposed in this research. The DFW is composed of four modules: integrated standard schema (ISS), PLM Integrator, layout builder (LB) and simulation builder (SB). The ISS defines a common data type and structure for supporting interoperability. For supporting automatic information exchange through the ISS, the PLM integrator has been developed. The third module is LB. It helps to generate a factory layout using managed information in PLM systems. Finally, the function of SB is the automatic generation of a simulation model. The final part of the article suggests implementations and presents a case study to show that the implementation of an effective, reliable and interoperable engineering environment is possible, and can be performed in a concurrent and integrated manner.

Development of Product Lifecycle Management metrics: measuring the impact of PLM

Companies that have implemented Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) or planning to implement PLM must justify their current and future investments as a function of organisational performance, both at the functional and organisational levels. To be able to assess the performance of PLM, companies need to identify relevant and appropriate measures. The primary focus of this paper is to propose a PLM Assessment Plan and PLM Waste Reduction and Innovations Conceptual Frameworks. Also, results are presented from a web-based survey in which perceptions of current and potential future PLM users indicate the utility of PLM metrics.

Applying collaborative design and modularized assembly for automotive ODM supply chain integration

Traditional product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions focus mostly on the product data management and design house-keeping aspects to maintain complete and consistent product information during product R&D. Thus, PLMs are not necessarily keen on supporting quick-to-market and mass-customization. This research overcomes the current PLM deficiency by enabling the modularized product design for assembly (MDfA) and collaborative design process (CDP). With the concepts of MDfA and CDP in mind, we design and develop a plug-in system for PLM, called advanced production quality planning (APQP) hub, to enhance the efficiency of automotive supply chain (e.g., a tier-1 system manufacturing company, SMC, and its suppliers), which assume both design and production responsibilities for the primary manufacturing company (i.e., PME). Finally, the operations among PME's automotive supply chain are studied to show the benefits of APQP hub in the realization of modularized collaborative design.

Process oriented framework to support PLM implementation

Product lifecycle management (PLM) innovates as it defines both the product as a central element to aggregate enterprise information and the lifecycle as a new time dimension for information integration and analysis. Because of its potential benefits to shorten innovation lead-times and to reduce costs, PLM has attracted a lot of attention at industry and at research. However, the current PLM implementation stage at most organisations still does not apply the lifecycle management concepts thoroughly. In order to close the existing realisation gap, this article presents a process oriented framework to support effective PLM implementation. The framework central point consists of a set of lifecycle oriented business process reference models which links the necessary fundamental concepts, enterprise knowledge and software solutions to effectively deploy PLM.

Challenges for developing intelligent, interactive and cooperative PLM systems: introductory article on applications of artificial intelligence and virtual reality to product lifecycle management

Current Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems are document-oriented, have difficulties with customisation and present drawbacks to the enhancement of inter-enterprise collaboration. To elaborate on a modern concept of PLM, it is necessary to adopt intelligent, cooperative and interactive technologies. To do so, we present a paper that contains useful ideas to be challenged and debated: the notions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and soft-computing and a literature review regarding AI, soft-computing and Virtual Reality (VR) approaches to the PLM systems. To conclude, we present the guest editors' comments on the papers of this Special Issue.

Open standard, open source and peer-to-peer tools and methods for collaborative product development

This paper reports on a collaborative product development and knowledge management platform for small to medium enterprises. It has been recognised that current product lifecycle management (PLM) implementations are document oriented, have a non-customisable data model and inter-enterprise integration difficulties. To overcome these, an ontological knowledge management methodology utilising the semantic web initiative data formats was added to a PLM and an open source alternative. Shortcomings of centralised architectures are highlighted and a solution using a de-centralised architecture proposed. This is implementable at low cost; the scalability increases in line with user numbers. Ontologies, rules and workflows are reusable and extendable.