Product Data Management System Research Articles

Product data allocation for distributed product data management system

In today’s distributed manufacturing environment, how to manage the product data and distributing it to the right people who need it is critical to the success of a company. A distributed product data management (DPDM) system is thus required to manage product data distribution and product data integrity throughout the product life cycle. In this paper, a product data object is the logical unit of distribution in a DPDM system. Replication and migration techniques are discussed and employed in object distribution. Since the allocation of an object in a distributed manufacturing environment is a critical issue in a DPDM system, an optimal object allocation policy is needed. Therefore, object allocation objectives for DPDM are set to facilitate object replication and migration decision making. A comprehensive mathematical modeling approach is developed for product data object distribution within a DPDM system. Also, a distributed object-oriented database architecture is proposed for the DPDM system’s use. Object-oriented databases were proposed to meet the needs of advanced technical applications, such as CAD/CAM, CAE, etc. where most of these applications are also run in a distributed environment.

New technologies in fabrication of steel bridges in Japan

This paper presents the following four points related to new technologies in the fabrication of steel bridges in Japan: (1) 3D computer aided design (CAD) full-scale drawing system for generating numerical control (NC) data and manufacturing information; (2) computer aided manufacturing system; (3) 3D bridge components measuring system and computer aided virtual shop assembly system; and (4) production information management system using a local area network to provide numerical control data to NC machines and to gather production progress information. Yokogawa Bridge Corporation is the leading steel bridge fabricator in Japan, and its manufacturing technology is at the top level in our country. Consequently, in order to impart consistency to the contents of this paper, the present company’s manufacturing technology and future prospects are described.

Pushing Productivity

This article reviews computer-aided engineering software that is used to boost productivity ranges from computer-aided design (CAD) systems to product data management and visualization systems. MacDon Industries used a Solid Edge product to merge CAD and product data management (PDM) systems to give engineers easy access to already created designs. MacDon tracks its tens of thousands of part designs by use of Solid Edge so engineers do not have to spend considerable time searching for the designs. Bayside Automation of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, which makes automated assembly systems on which fuse boxes, valves, and the like are made, has discovered another area where technology—in this case, simulation software—can cut costs and increase productivity. CAD and PDM software from Alibre of Richardson, Texas, help the supplier and manufacturer pass translated design information back and forth quickly.

Providing support to the product design group for achieving variety control

As new products are designed, parts proliferation can be controlled by providing the design engineer with a list of parts similar to the new part being designed to decide whether one of the existing parts can be used as a substitute. The product data management (PDM) system is a valuable tool for engineers to manage both data and the product development process. The system has broad classification capability. However, it is not geared to retrieving a small set of existing parts with similar or closer design and/or manufacturing attributes for review and evaluation by the design engineer, when initiating design of a new part for a product. An attribute-based classification scheme is developed to retrieve a subset of parts similar to the new proposed design. The input to the proposed approach is group technology codes, which provide important design and manufacturing information for parts. The Principal Components Analysis technique is used to generate principal components, with fewer components explaining the major portion of total variance in values of attributes. Grouping of parts on design similarity criteria is performed hierarchically using these principal components. An outline for the operational usage of these similar classes for variety control is presented. The proposed classification and retrieval module should be a part of the PDM software.

It’s All About Togetherness

This article focuses on various features of product data management system (PDM). A PDM system manages all forms of product data; that is, computer-aided design or text files, or anything else concerning product development. PDM systems also ensure that bills of material are generated on the design side. The bill of material describes exactly what parts will be used in each manufactured product. Using the bill of material (BOM), a manufacturing engineer determines the most efficient set of operations to manufacture a product and may request a design modification to streamline production. BOM development should logically take place in the PDM system at the same time the product is being developed and then should be released to the enterprise resource planning system—and thus to the manufacturing side—when the product design is complete. An enterprise-resource planning system is a company’s operational, planning, and control system used to manage the resources of the manufacturing part of the operation.

Embedding Reliable Numerical Analysis Capabilities into an Enterprise-Wide Information System

A simulation environment to support engineering design embedded in an enterprise-wide information system is presented. The environment consists of a set of structures and managers housing the problem definition, tools for controlling the simulation model construction and execution, and the interaction of simulation processes with the product data management system. The issues associated with the introduction of automated and adaptive geometry-based simulation processes into the engineering design process are emphasised.

Authoring environment for documentation development

This paper presents a concurrent engineering (CE) approach to the authoring of technical documentation. This approach focuses on the development of a virtual environment (VE) for collaborative authoring that enables sharing and reuse of all available information sources during product and documentation development. The paper describes a VE for collaborative authoring using a product data management (PDM) system created to demonstrate the proposed approach.

A review of web-based product data management systems

Product data management (PDM) integrates and manages all the information that defines a product, from design to manufacture, and to end-user support. PDM can be seen as an integration tool connecting many different areas, which ensures that the right information in the right form is available to the right person at the right time. When properly implemented, PDM systems will result in faster work, fewer errors, less redundancy, and smoother workflow for an organization. A recent advance in PDM technology concerns with the use of web-based technologies. The objective of this paper is to review PDM technology in general, and discuss the web-based PDM systems in particular. The emphasis is given toward the integration of PDM methodology with web architecture, and how this new infrastructure enhances a traditional PDM system. To reinforce the argument, a number of currently available PDM systems that have embraced web-technologies are reviewed, and some industrial implementations are presented.

A QFD based methodology for evaluating a company’s PDM requirements for collaborative product development

CAD, CAM, CAE and CIM systems with their ability to quickly generate and change product data have strained the conventional systems used to manage data. As a result, the time spent by an engineer in looking for the right information far exceeds the time spent on the actual design work. A product data management system is a tool that helps engineers and others manage both data and the product development process, and hence support a concurrent engineering framework in a company. Although PDM systems provide numerous benefits to a company, there are problems associated with firstly identifying an appropriate system for a company and then in its implementation. For a successful implementation of a PDM system it is important for a company to first evaluate its requirements. This paper proposes a QFD (quality function deployment) based methodology for evaluating a company’s current status vis‐à‐vis PDM implementation.

Information Interface

This article discusses that developments in communication software promise a robust future for engineering technology. Collaborative technology, the next new thing, links all aspects of a business, including ways to easily marry a company’s engineering technologies to suppliers’ and vendors’ product data management (PDM) systems. The companies selling engineering technology can expect to operate in a rich, fertile market for the next 20 years, according to one technology analyst, especially with the introduction of product process management systems. Some engineers advise caution in heeding the clarion call of collaborative product development technology. The PDM market, valued at $5.8 billion last year, could double and perhaps even quadruple within five years if pursued aggressively and supplemented with collaborative technology, according to one expert. The article also discusses that for a technology as difficult to understand, to assess the need for, and to finance as collaborative systems may prove to be, suppliers should assume some of implementation’s financial risks.

Beyond PDM

This article discusses recent changes in the definition and capabilities of product data management (PDM). The term “collaborative engineering” generally is applied to the newfound ability of engineers to design together across the miles using computer-aided design software that is linked by a PDM system and Internet technology. The system uses software and servers that take advantage of the Internet and an intranet, and include a common Web-browser interface that lets employees at a company and their suppliers interact, even if they are in separate locations. PDM systems are quickly becoming more than ways to archive past product designs and link engineers via their CAD systems. But the many uses of such systems can easily be confusing or overwhelming to the everyday user. Advocates, including Turk, Strom, and Bourke, argue that the movement to expand PDM systems beyond their initial use can make for a tighter design cycle and a bigger profit for engineering companies that take advantage of the possibilities.

Analysis of assembly through product configuration

Configuration management in a product data management system (PDMS) can provide designers with related components through a product’s configuration. The selected components are connected and used for checking for assemblability before they are physically assembled. The assembly rules and constraints are used to help accomplish this task. In this research, we discuss issues in collecting assembly rules and constraints through the product’s assembly relations, then integrate them in an assembly model. This model can be used to represent the general design of a product. We also propose a set of modeling procedures to build up the assembly model so that a user can use it to analyze assembly relationships and to check the product’s assemblability. Finally, the configuration of a personal computer is used as an example to show how this procedure works and how the assembly rules and constraints for computer assembly are derived.

Going Global

Brooks has implemented a collaborative product data management system in which information is accessed through Web interfaces. The system lets engineers at Brooks’ worldwide facilities collaborate on design projects and exchange information in seconds, providing product information to manufacturing and customer service departments and other areas of the company. Brooks expects eventually to give limited access to customers and suppliers. Using UGS software in product development, Brooks’ global development team can collaborate effectively and expects to increase business by reducing time to market for its flow meters. Role-based access gives several types of users different interfaces-different views of the data-depending on the sorts of information they need to see. With its new system, Brooks can issue engineering changes in seconds. This helps the firm meet customer needs for the technology built into its Quantim flow measurement and control device.

Implementing requirements management: A task for specialized software tools or PDM systems?

This article argues that product models that include the requirements posed on the product have many potential benefits. For example, they facilitate managing the design process so that its goals are met by enabling a continuous follow-up of the requirements satisfaction status and by supporting the analysis of the consequences of design changes. The paper first introduces a concept for a requirements-driven integrated product and process model. The conditions for support for requirements management are discussed based on this model. Finally, two different ways of implementing the concept: by using specialized Systems Engineering/Requirements Management tools or by using PDM (Product Data Management) systems are analyzed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Syst Eng 4:49-57, 2001

A distributed, open, intelligent product data management system

Efficient management of product information is critical to the enhancement of corporate competitiveness. This paper explains the design and development of a distributed, open, and intelligent product data management system. First, the requirements for Product Data Management (PDM) systems are summarized and then explained using a design scenario. Since product data are often managed in distributed computing environments, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) is employed to ensure interoperability among distributed objects. Standard formats of data and knowledge, such as STandard for Exchange of Product model data (STEP) and Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML), are used to achieve the openness. A workflow management system has been developed that provides integrated management of task processes and information flows. While designing the system, the main emphasis is placed on dynamic process adaptation which is demanded by product development processes. Use of intelligent agents is proposed to achieve the adaptation at run time. A method of agent cooperation and communication is described. The agents are also used to implement content search for enhanced product data services.

Fostering innovation and knowledge transfer in product development through information technology

In a growing number of industries, firms' survival and competitiveness depend on how well they can leverage on past experience, reusing and recombining knowledge to innovate their products and processes. This entails managing the sharing and transfer of a huge amount of knowledge from one project to another over time, fostering synergy and learning. Many firms are thus investing in new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications like three-dimensional Computer Aided Design (3-D CAD), internal and external computer communication networks and Product Data Management (PDM) systems. On the basis of the results of three exploratory case studies and a survey of 79 companies, this paper investigates relations between different approaches to knowledge transfer and patterns of adoption of ICT applications, also exploring effects on firms' innovation capabilities in the long term. The results of this study and their managerial implications are not trivial: different choices in terms of ICT applications can have long term effects on a firm's innovation performance.

ECA rule-based support for workflows

The use of event–condition–action (ECA) rules has transformed database systems from passive query-based data repositories to active sources of information delivery. In a similar fashion, ECA rules can be used to benefit workflow systems. In this paper, a software framework known as STEP workflow management facility is proposed in order to manage collaborative and distributed workflows and to provide interfaces to object management group-compliant product data management systems. Issues related to implementation using open standards such as CORBA are discussed. A key point underlying the framework is the flexibility it affords to users to re-configure the system according to evolving needs in collaborative product development.

Defining specialized design similarity measures

Similar product designs resemble each other and have similar attributes and characteristics. When examining a product design to create its process plan, design its fixture, or estimate its manufacturing cost, manufacturing engineers often identify one or more similar products that the factory has manufactured in the past. They may do this from memory, from a file cabinet, or from a database (in a product data management system). Then, they retrieve the process plan (or fixture or cost estimate) for the similar product and modify it for the new product. Manufacturing and process planning experts use a complex set of rules, guidelines, and other knowledge to determine how similar two products are. Computer-aided process planning tools, however, generally use simpler, less sophisticated procedures for determining similarity. These traditional procedures may be inappropriate for specific settings. This paper presents an approach for developing function-specific design similarity measures. Such a measure explicitly exploits the specific need for similar products and thus improves variant approaches for process planning, fixture planning, and manufacturability evaluation. The approach is applied to a specific fixture planning domain.

Establishment of person and enterprise process model in product data management system

Before the implementation of product data management (PDM) system, person model and enterprise process model (EPM) must be firstly established. For the convenience of project management, all the related users must be allocated to the “Person-User-Role-Group“ net. Based on the person model and the direction of information flow, the EPM is established subsequently. The EPM consists of several release levels, in which the access controls are defined. The EPM procedure shows the blueprint of the workflow process structure. The establishment of person model and EPM in an enterprise has been instanced at the end of this paper.

Designing Across Borders

This article discusses that many companies are installing a companywide product data management (PDM) system, also known as an engineering data management system. These systems do several things, besides acting as a central data repository. Much of the data that overwhelms companies comes from engineers using a variety of software applications, such as computer-aided design, manufacturing, or engineering programs. The PDM systems manage engineering data that may come from a myriad of sources and applications but pertain to the development of one product. The chosen PDM system would have to track the design and manufacture of each part that would be assembled to form the finished printer. It would have to tell users what stage in the process each part had reached. But it would also have to serve as a virtual warehouse for all digital versions of a part and product, including older versions that could not be lost because they might be needed for reference at any time.