Product Lifecycle Management Implementation Research Articles

Process of innovation in product lifecycle management business strategy

This article proposes a scenario of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), as a innovative business strategy based on the analysis of business drivers, industry requirements, limit of current solution, and recent state-of-the-art review in the domain related to PLM. Potential industrial impact of the developed PLM technology solutions is analyzed. It is hoped that the proposed PLM technology solutions will form the frontier basis for further research, development, and application of PLM systems to quickly adapt to the dynamic changing market for industry companies to pursue the most advanced competitiveness. This article presents a process oriented framework to support effective PLM implementation with a set of lifecycle oriented business process reference models which links the necessary fundamental concepts, enterprise knowledge and software solutions to effectively deploy PLM

An Analysis of Product Life Cycle Orientation in PLM Software Tool Vendors

A challenge in implementation of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools is the selection of the right vendor and the solution. Implementing PLM entails huge financial investment on the part of the user and hence precise knowledge as to where each tool can be applied is a must. In this paper, seven PLM tool vendors are compared on their definitions of PLM and also their product offerings in different Product Life Cycle (PLC) phases, including the extreme ends of PLC viz. R&D and end-of-life phase, which are usually ignored. An integrated PLC model is developed and the tools are then mapped onto different phases of PLC. Vendors are compared based on number of tools offered in different PLC phases. The results reveal an uneven distribution in the applicability of various tools, with majority of them focusing on the product development phase and an astonishingly low number on the R&D and end-of-life phases.

Integration of evolutional BOMs for design of ship outfitting equipment

PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) as well as enterprise information systems commonly use the BOM (Bill of Material) as a means of communication during product development. BOM has been used for product design, production scheduling, procurement, manufacturing and maintenance as it contains the part list of a subassembly or assembly product. BOM currently plays a key role in the PLM environment because it is an essential product information platform in the industry. In practice, product data should be arranged based on the BOM and product structure. Many shipyards or PLM vendors have attempted to develop a PLM adequate for shipbuilding. However, it is always the premise of the successful PLM implementation to prepare the efficient product structure and BOM. This paper suggests an enterprise BOM which addresses the hierarchy of parts and assembly, product structure and product information of outfitting equipment in marine vessel design. In order to express the evolution of product structures and outfitting information during the ship design, the enterprise BOM is modeled by the structure BOM and the display BOM. Concepts are developed for modeling all levels of product relations with a uniform set of relationships supported by the enterprise BOM. It is shown that the architecture of the structure BOM can be used to define the relationships between assemblies, parts, and a multi-view of an evolutional BOM in ship design. The architecture of the outfitting BOM is also presented using an example of a piping system.

Process of innovation in product lifecycle management business strategy

This article proposes a scenario of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), as a innovative business strategy based on the analysis of business drivers, industry requirements, limit of current solution, and recent state-of-the-art review in the domain related to PLM. Potential industrial impact of the developed PLM technology solutions is analyzed. It is hoped that the proposed PLM technology solutions will form the frontier basis for further research, development, and application of PLM systems to quickly adapt to the dynamic changing market for industry companies to pursue the most advanced competitiveness. This article presents a process oriented framework to support effective PLM implementation with a set of lifecycle oriented business process reference models which links the necessary fundamental concepts, enterprise knowledge and software solutions to effectively deploy PLM

Implementation of product lifecycle management tools using enterprise integration engineering and action-research

This paper describes how enterprise integration engineering (EIE) and action-research (A-R) can be used to support the implementation of product lifecycle management (PLM) tools. The EIE concept is used to align the corporate strategies with the use of PLM technologies in order to impact the key performance indicators (KPIs) in the enterprise. An EIE reference framework is proposed to define strategies, evaluate performance measures, design/re-design processes and establish the enabling tools and technologies to support the enterprise strategies, while A-R is proposed to guide the PLM tools implementation at various stages of the product development process. An industrial application is described to demonstrate the benefits of applying EIE, A-R and PLM in an enterprise.

XML-based neutral file and PLM integrator for PPR information exchange between heterogeneous PLM systems

PLM (product lifecycle management) is an innovative manufacturing paradigm which allows company's engineering contents to be developed and integrated with all business processes in the extended enterprise throughout the product lifecycle. This allows engineering decisions to be made with a full understanding of the product and its portfolio, including processes, resources, and plants. For today's manufacturing industries, support from software systems is essential for the creation, management, and coordination of all manufacturing-related information. Generally, PDM (product data management) systems are extended to PLM systems to manage all PPR (product, process, resource) information throughout the product lifecycle. To implement PLM in an environment where many different information management systems are being used, an application to exchange data, files, and information between heterogeneous PLM systems is essential, and a standard file format for the exchanges is extremely desirable. In this paper, PPRX is defined as a standard data format using XML for a neutral file containing PPR information, and PLM integrator, which supports PPR information exchanges between commercial heterogeneous PLM systems and other systems is developed. With the proposed implementation and a case study for an automotive company, exchanges of PPR information can be made without loss, which reduces unnecessary effort and helps successful implementation of PLM by supporting effective integration and information sharing.

Introducing Collaborative Practices in Small Medium Enterprises

In an enterprise, collaborative working schemes are obtained only by adopting a suitable organization of the enterprise functions. At the informative level collaboration can be enabled by using suitable project management tools for the exchange of information that is the basis of collaboration. One of these tools is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). On the basis of an exhaustive analysis of the PLM impact on the different aspects of the enterprise, the paper proposes an original methodology to evaluate the possibility of using PLM as framework in which exploit collaboration links within the enterprise. The methodology is not founded on the formal declared organization but on the actual data flows that are induced by the relations among the documents used to develop a project. Data are collected on the field using questionnaires. The links are made explicit by applying the hierarchical clustering with single linkage agglomerative technique. The attitude to the implementation of PLM is then analysed with respect to the organization and to the informative system. Such methodology is general and can be profitably applied to assist the PLM implementation in the enterprises.

The impact of Product Lifecycle Management on virtual team creation: a concept change model for heightened productivity

This paper addresses issues related to the implementation of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) in support of Cross-Cultural Virtual Teams (CCVTs). The CCVT Model presented in this paper will educate those currently involved in PLM operations as to: • How successful CCVT can be created • How PLM and CCVTs serve to strengthen and support each other. The methodology for creating the CCVTM was based on the Hofstede model and Project GLOBE research, and analysis of the current research on the virtual teams. Finally, these findings were combined so that cross-cultural factors are directly considered in the construction of virtual teams.

Multi-level contextual product development knowledge management in PLM

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) manages product data and processes and generally forms a huge product knowledge base, but how to leverage it for later product development is not well emphasised and discussed. Based on the practices of PLM implementation, a model of multi-level contextual knowledge management, called C-A-B, was proposed which contains three elements (knowledge context, knowledge aspects and knowledge base) and two engines (aspects mapping engine and knowledge acquisition engine). The context was constructed by leveraging the nature of WBS and workflow in PLM which provides a scenario for product knowledge capture and sharing. Knowledge retrieval was triggered by context and complete by passing contextual attributes to knowledge base through knowledge aspect. A system based on C-A-B model was developed for a vehicle OEM which demonstrates the add-on value to PLM adoption, making the knowledge access and sharing more efficient and productive in context.

Using General System Approach For Product Lifecycle Management Software Selection And Evaluation

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. One of the toughest aspects of PLM implementations is choosing the appropriate software. In order to choose the right software that meets the business requirements, it is necessary to have a systematic view to serve as an evaluation guideline for advice from an independent third-party and that can guide decision makers through a structured process and understands the entire PLM market. This is an important aspect of the PLM assessment and planning process. This study built a systems model to fulfill the PLM software selection and evaluation needs.

Implementation of collaborative design processes into PLM systems

Design coordination means project structuring in relation with local objectives identification, resources assignment, task scheduling and performance criteria definition. In small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the design process is generally described at a macro-level which does not fully correspond to the complexity of the real process. A business approach for coordinating design process through the implementation of product life-cycle management (PLM) systems is proposed for improving design coordination in SMEs. Firstly, this business approach is based on a method for analysing informal collaborative practices and modelling detailed design processes. Secondly, these processes are implemented by using PLM technologies. Multi-level workflows are implemented to control progress of design schedule from project management level to document life-cycle management level. Subprocess generation and synchronisation tasks are used to synchronise them from one level to another and 'flexibility nodes' identify choices between different task sequences. An experiment validates the feasibility of this business approach.

Product lifecycle management for automotive development focusing on supplier integration

The past years have seen growing investments in the area of product lifecycle management (PLM) by the automotive sector. Due to its complex development cycle, the automotive OEM has begun to adopt the supplier integration into its product development process. To respond to this new trend, the PLM system needs to evolve to support the collaboration and partnership management between the automotive OEM and associated suppliers. Regarding the depth of collaboration, the integration of supplier into OEM process chain has been defined in two ways, quasi-supplier integration and full supplier integration. To enable the success of supplier integration, one of the PLM tasks is to control the collaboration between the automotive OEM and its suppliers, through deciding on an appropriate supplier integration way. Meanwhile, aiming at reduction of the expenditure for partnership management and coordination, the automotive OEM tends to have direct connections with limited number of capable and effective suppliers, called system suppliers. Other suppliers, called sub-suppliers no longer directly communicate with the automotive OEM, but instead with a system supplier who works closer with the automotive OEM and deals with the task of sub-supplier management and coordination. To keep up with these tasks above, a PLM framework is established in a broader perspective in this paper, enabling supplier integration and partnership management in the automotive development process all along the life cycle. Finally, an automotive case study is presented to illustrate the PLM implementation procedure focusing on supplier integration.

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.

PLM roadmap: stepwise PLM implementation based on the concepts of maturity and alignment

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is increasingly important for organisations acting in dynamic and competitive markets. In practice however, companies struggle with implementing PLM. Because PLM is rather a concept than a system, as its main premises are to improve sustainable advantage through agility and innovation. The concept implies structural, cross-functional and long-term cooperation between actors in- and outside the firm. This complexity hampers the achievement of successfully implementing PLM that truly integrates all organisational aspects and levels. The central aim of this paper is to develop a PLM framework to assess and guide PLM implementations. This framework builds upon insights from capability maturity and business/IT-alignment. The results of a first empirical assessment of 23 Dutch organisations are presented, which were used to empirically validate the framework and to provide benchmark data. Based on the framework and benchmark organisations can develop their own PLM Roadmap to increase the success of their PLM implementation.

Streamlining Product Lifecycle Processes: A Survey of Product Lifecycle Management Implementations, Directions, and Challenges

The past three decades have seen phenomenal growth in investments in the area of product lifecycle management (PLM) as companies exploit opportunities in streamlining product lifecycle processes, and fully harnessing their data assets. These processes span all product lifecycle phases from requirements definition, systems design/ analysis, and simulation, detailed design, manufacturing planning, production planning, quality management, customer support, in-service management, and end-of-life recycling. Initiatives ranging from process re-engineering, enterprise-level change management, standardization, globalization and the like have moved PLM processes to mission-critical enterprise systems. Product data representations that encapsulate semantics to support product data exchange and PLM collaboration processes have driven several standards organizations, vendor product development efforts, real-world PLM implementations, and research initiatives. However, the process and deployment dimensions have attracted little attention: The need to optimize organization processes rather than individual benefits poses challenging “culture change management” issues and have derailed many enterprise-scale PLM efforts. Drawn from the authors’ field experiences as PLM system integrators, business process consultants, corporate executives, vendors, and academicians, this paper explores the broad scope of PLM, with an added focus on the implementation and deployment of PLM beyond the development of technology. We review the historical evolution of engineering information management/PLM systems and processes, characterize PLM implementations and solution contexts, and discuss case studies from multiple industries. We conclude with a discussion of research issues motivated by improving PLM adoption in industry.

Framework of a Product Lifecycle Costing System

Today’s competitive business environment imposes new challenges to manufacturing companies. For these companies to survive in this environment, implementing product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies with an emphasis on cost control is one valid approach. PLM is a strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions to help manufacturing companies manage all the activities related to a product in an integrated way across the lifecycle from customer need to product recycling and disposal. Product lifecycle cost is an important measure for PLM implementation. It can help track and analyze the financial information of activities associated with each phase of a product’s lifecycle. The paper presents a framework of the product lifecycle costing system for supporting decision making, especially the decision making at very early stages of a product lifecycle. It can be used as a design support tool to help new product development. A number of methodologies and tools are developed in the system. The case based reasoning method is used to quickly build a new product model. The costs of product development processes related to the new product are calculated using activity based costing methods. Dynamic programming is then used to obtain an optimal set of product development processes with the objective of optimizing the overall product development cost. This system is built using object oriented modeling methods.