Product Lifecycle Management Tools Research Articles

Representing Product Tolerances using Metr-Ontology

t is important to know the dimensions, material composition, manufacturing processes, product performance history, and inspection methodology while designing products and selecting manufacturing processes. This information could be encapsulated into product lifecycle management tools. Use of ontologies as knowledge base for product information have been on a rise to overcome the drawbacks inherent to many knowledge-based approaches. The current ontologies that exist lack sufficient information regarding product inspection and tolerance, that is important from the perspective of the field of product and process metrology. This paper discusses the concepts for development of an engineering ontology for product metrology and is termed as “metrontology” herein. The focus of this developed metrontology is to aid in the understanding of product tolerances for future products being designed. The methodology is demonstrated through a simple example of single-cylinder engine. This research could lead to the creation of a metrology information enclave that will host the knowledge base of metrology information of several products.

Review of Product Lifecycle Management Tools Used in Manufacturing Industry

Nowadays, the growing complex business environment and complexity of the roduct,large number of product typescompanies are beginning to focus more and more on the three individual productivity application, productivity and IT productivity these three factors must be balanced and optimized at moderate cost.This is particularly challenging for small medium and large size companies. This study provides an overview of the most important PLM technology concepts and demonstrates concepts by explaining the design and implementation of industry-developed PLM tools and dynamic PLM service is the solution to that demand manufacturing companies. The purpose of this study is to improve the industrial production process through the PLM tools

Disassembly system design and analysis with environmental and economic parts selection using life cycle inventory database by input-output tables

To prevent material starvation and global warming caused by manufacturing, disassembly systems for end-of-life (EOL) products should be environmentally and economically designed to promote a closed-loop supply chain for assembly products. With parts selection in the disassembly systems, parts/materials with higher CO2 volumes should be recycled for environmental reasons. On the other hand, parts/materials with higher profit, which is the difference between the revenue of recovered materials and disassembly costs, should be disassembled for economic reasons. A disassembly system design considering not only the environmental loads but also the recovered parts/materials is proposed by using a product lifecycle management (PLM) tool. However, from a technical and financial standpoint, it is not easy for the disassembly factory sites to create the 3D-CAD models and obtain the environmental information using the PLM tool. This paper proposes a disassembly system design with the environmental and economic parts selection using a life cycle inventory database by input-output tables.

Mobile apps for providing product-service systems and retrieving feedback throughout their lifecycle: a robotics use case

In an era when the usage of mobile devices is expanding, it is important for product services to also follow this path. The connectivity and the fast and seamless data exchange supported by modern networks allows companies to come closer to their customers and provide a set of product services that improve product experience and provide meaningful feedback throughout product's lifecycle. Towards that direction, this research work presents the combined use of an augmented reality maintenance support service and a product service feedback gathering mobile application connected through a cloud database. A product lifecycle management tool is also used to store and analyse the data from the feedback tool. The developed apps aim to support manufacturing companies to provide added value solutions and evaluate them also during their lifecycle. The developed system is validated in a case study from the robotics industry.

Requirement Management for the 3D Pavement Model Over the Lifecycle

This article addresses the structuring of data relating to the pavement that form a part of road infrastructure, and its development throughout a project lifecycle. Modelling of the information necessary for pavement design, construction, operation, servicing and maintenance is proposed. The defined data model is accompanied by a representation of exchanges between actors and of the key processes for management of requirements with product lifecycle management tools. In this use case, the use of a digital model in infrastructure life-cycle management is addressed via the pavement component, with the aims of defining a complete information model associated with pavement, by identifying and structuring the data exchanged between the different actors and in the different project phases. These are represented by the processes within which these exchanges, bringing out the different viewpoints of the actors involved: owners, designers, builders, operators, etc.

Project-based collaborative engineering learning to develop Industry 4.0 skills within a PLM framework

Training and learning methods for engineering students, in the disciplines of product design and manufacturing, are becoming more difficult and complex since they have to integrate theoretical technical knowledge, skills in computer-aided applications (CAx) and skills in collaborative work practices. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools support structured collaborative practices and CAx supports engineering content creation. Both types of software applications are key in the Industry 4.0 development. They also evolve over time, incorporate new functionalities, and change their graphical user interface (GUI), adding complexity to the learning process. Traditionally, engineering education addresses the learning of CAx and PLM tools separately, hindering a holistic learning experience to the students. This communication presents a structured integrated vision of these tools and their learning. Project-Based Learning (PBL) is proposed as a learning approach suitable to provide a learning experience that facilitates the development of Industry 4.0 skills and competences.

A Critical View on PLM/ALM Convergence in Practice and Research

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the main driver for industrial smart products produced by an increasing number of manufacturers. The overall functionality of smart products is a combination of mechanical, electrical/electronic functions (hardware functions) and software functions. For hardware and software there are different lifecycle models: Product lifecycle management (PLM) focuses on hardware, application lifecycle management (ALM) focuses on software. Smart products force manufacturers to converge both lifecycle models step by step. Although seemingly important, the research community leaves this innovative area mostly up to the PLM tool vendors and the ALM tool vendors, resulting in them driving the convergence.This paper points out the mismatch between industry and academia regarding the PLM/ALM convergence. We encourage academia to increase research activities and we propose potential research topics.

Power Consumption Management in the Digital Factory

Digital Factory as part of the PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) philosophy consists of different sub-areas of production. Each production process in the engineering company is formed by factors such as planning, design, simulation, tooling, machinery and equipment, installation and robotics, manufacturing cells, quality, production, suppliers, technical support. Every product manufactured goes through those phases of closed cycle and using PLM tools to manage and optimize all processes. Digital Factory effort is to analyze, mapping and digitized this platform to produce a realistic picture of the production. With this copy of production it can be further optimize and innovate the process of real production without having a need to implement the proposals even before it has been found its reality, sensuality and economic efficiency. One of the issues that the digital factory is involved, is the power consumption in the production.

The future of flight is green

How modelling, simulation and product lifecycle management tools are making a new generation of lighter, stronger, cleaner and possibly even simpler aircraft. Building and flying greener aeroplanes may not in itself be a top priority for aircraft manufacturers and airlines. But utilising lighter, more aerodynamic aircraft with better fuel consumption to reduce the airlines' costs and increase profits in an increasingly competitive market certainly is, and the two objectives dovetail neatly to a certain extent. One of the key competitive and regulatory battlegrounds is mitigating environmental impact, alongside the drive to reduce the costs of flight, and those technologies go hand in hand because airlines are trying to reduce the fuel burn. (4 pages)

PLM system support for modular product development

A modular design strategy both enables, but also demands, parallelism in design activities and collaboration between a diversity of disciplines in companies, which often involves supporting computer-based tools for enhancing interaction, design management, and communication. Product data management (PDM) and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems offer support by automating and managing some of the operational complexity of modular design activities. PLM system tools are used for handling a variety of product definitions, to manage workflow of development activities, and to measure relational properties such as cost and performance. Companies often use a PLM tool for management of CAD files, documents, and drawings, but they do not take advantage of the full potential of the PLM system to support the development activities of modular product designs. The key result of this paper is the description of an empirical tested approach using a visual product architecture representation in combination with a PLM system to support the development of a product family of products. The results from the study encompass new PLM capabilities for handling multiple product structures, visualising multiple architectural views on products, controlling interfaces, and quantifying and communicating the status and progress of product-related resources.

P2P Data synchronization for product lifecycle management

Intelligent products are an undeniable asset for efficient product lifecycle management (PLM), providing ways to capture events related to physical objects at various locations and times. Today and more than ever before, PLM tools and systems must be built upon standards for enhancing interoperability among all product stakeholders and developing tools independent of specific vendors, applications, and operating systems. Based on this observation, this paper develops strategies to improve “information sustainability” in PLM environments using standardized communication interfaces defined by a recent standard proposal named quantum lifecycle management (QLM) messaging standards. More concretely, data synchronization models based upon QLM standards are developed to enable the synchronization of product-related information among various systems, networks, and organizations involved throughout the product lifecycle. Our proposals are implemented and assessed based on two distinct platforms defined in the healthcare and home automation sectors.

Mixing real and virtual components in automated manufacturing systems using PLM tools

The automation of manufacturing systems is one of the most important aspects that need to be taken care of during a design process. The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools allow for the designing of automated systems even before acquiring all the hardware and/or software. This paper shows the use of this PLM kind of tools for mixing virtual and real components on an automated manufacturing system through the implementation of four different case scenarios: using the real process/real controller to the virtual process/virtual controller, real process/real controller to real process/virtual controller and finally, virtual process/real controller to virtual process/virtual controller. These scenarios will be described along with their purposes and the tools used to achieve them. Dassault Systemes DELMIA Automation is used as a PLM tool and is combined with the hardware and software required to achieve each case scenario. The case study used is the Flexible Manufacturing System in the Mechatronics laboratory at the Tecnologico de Monterrey; it’s also presented an implementation of these scenarios in a Manufacturing Systems Automation laboratory class. This study examines students’ use of technology for learning compared to more traditional learning methods. Results suggest that there is more than one good way to learn.

The Influence of Human Motivation Factors on the Successful Implementation of Product Life Cycle Management Tools: Explorative Findings and Managerial Implications

For technology firms it is crucial to integrate progressive product design methods such as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools in their daily routines to improve the quality of the product development process. However, in practice one problem arises: research and development (R&D) employees show little motivation to implement these tools in their work. This paper aims at determining human factors for successful implementation of PLM by studying the motivation of R&D employees. Based on a literature study, face-to-face interviews with 16 R&D experts were performed. Furthermore, a survey study with 22 participants using online questionnaires was conducted. Based on the results of the data analysis, a list of critical human success factors which help managers to implement PLM tools in R&D departments of technology firms successfully is presented.

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.

A decision support system for design of mass production machining lines composed of stations with rotary or mobile table

This paper describes a decision support system (DSS) developed in order to offer to machining line designers a cognitive aid for early design stages. The aim of DSS is to assist the decision makers in finding the configuration of a new line that will meet quality and productivity requirements and minimize the investment costs. The current version of DSS is oriented to design of mass production machining lines composed of machines with rotary or mobile tables. This decision support system is based on mathematical models and methods which were devised to provide the designers with the optimal parameters of new line configuration including the required number of working stations of different types, the number of working positions at each station and spindle heads at each working position. The system is implemented under Autodesk Inventor and includes the modules for part modeling, process planning and machining system configuration. Its modular character and open architecture make upgrading with new mathematical tools suitable for other machining systems easy and fast. Moreover, it can be employed either as a separate software or integrated in a Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) tool. ► A decision support system is developed for early design stages of machining lines. ► It includes the modules for part modeling, process planning and line layout. ► It assists designers in finding the optimal line configuration. ► The line cost is minimized via an optimization procedure. ► It can be employed either as a separate software or integrated in PLM tools.

Problem solving methods as Lessons Learned System instrumentation into a PLM tool

Among the continuous improvement tools of the performance in enterprise, the experience feedback represents undoubtedly an effective lever of progress by offering important prospects for a progression in almost all the industrial sectors. However, several reserves to its use slow down the diffusion of its employment. We are interested in the installation of experience feedback system in a partner enterprise. In this paper, we propose an instrumentation of a Lessons Learned System (LLS) by problem solving methods (PSM) and its integration with a product lifecycle management (PLM). These proposals support an improvement of LLS performance and a facility of his application.

Virtual Verification of an Aircraft Final Assembly Line Industrialization: An Industrial Case

This communication describes the experience gained when implementing a Digital Manufacturing methodology to validate the industrial design of the AIRBUS A400M Final Assembly Line using commercial Product Lifecycle Management tools. The implementation project generated a remarkable innovation in the industrialization methods and tools used in AIRBUS Military, contributing to the A400M program success. The document presents: the background and reasons motivating the project, the context, the main barriers identified and the definition of a Final Assembly Line (FAL). An innovative concept of industrial Digital Mock-Up (iDMU) was coined, representing the interoperable grouping of product, processes and manufacturing resources data.

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.

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.

PLM-based certification process in aeronautics extended enterprise

Nowadays, aircraft development requires an efficient organisation and strong ICT support to set up a real aeronautics extended enterprise merging workers and companies involved in such a large project. During the ENHANCE project, a business case study dealing with aeronautics certification has been developed. A Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) implementation based on UML has been carried out for demonstrating the feasibility of multi-partner collaboration. The use of PLM standards and tools across an extended enterprise for the aeronautics certification process has been validated.