Why Care About PLM?

This article studies the role of product lifecycle management (PLM) in industrial engineering. The basic concepts of PLM—product data management, engineering change management, and product structure management—were also discussed. PLM provides data and management capabilities to reduce the non-value-added tasks required of engineers. It also increases engineering productivity, provides insight into engineering efforts, and improves product quality and customer satisfaction. Companies are receiving significant value and return from their PLM investments. Many companies begin implementing PLM by establishing a single source of product data, or product record. Most PLM solutions offer sophisticated interfaces to many design automation and office applications, which reduce the need to capture, store, and validate product data. Product designs are maintained as assemblies and parts in the PLM system, and that arrangement allows engineers easy searching when they are looking, for example, for legacy components, with software providing a critical control and value portion of the product. With PLM, disparate engineering teams work more collaboratively.

A Product Structure Management Method Based on Ajax

With the thorough application of Internet/Intranet in product data management field, system of product structure management based on Web has been becoming a development trend. A kind of product structure management method based on Ajax is presented. The method was realized through program. As an example, the algorithm was used in an actual product, and the algorithm was validated.

A Web-based Product Structure Manager to Support Collaborative Assembly Modeling1

Collaborative CAD systems enabling collaboration in computer-aided design processes among distributed designers are gaining more and more attention. Yet, such systems, especially in support of collaborative assembly modeling, are hardly achievable. In an effort to bridge this gap, we are dedicated to developing a collaborative CAD system with aim at 3D assembly modeling. As part of this effort, this paper addresses one function module of the system, a Web-based Product Structure Manager, which enables the Collaborative Product Structure Management (CPSM) in collaborative assembly modeling. In particular, CPSM facilitates product data sharing among distributed designers and supports collaboration in product structure creation and modification. A bench clamp assembly is used as an example to illustrate the Product Structure Manager for supporting collaborative assembly modeling.

A Web-Based Product Structure Manager to Support Collaborative Assembly Modeling

Collaborative CAD systems enabling collaboration in CAD among distributed designers are gaining more and more attention. Yet, such systems, especially in support of collaborative assembly modeling, are hardly achievable. In an effort to bridge this gap, we are dedicated to developing a collaborative CAD system with aim at 3D assembly modeling. As part of this effort, this paper addresses one function module of the system, a Web-based Product Structure Manager, that enables Collaborative Product Structure Management (CPSM) in collaborative assembly modeling. In particular, CPSM facilitates product data sharing among distributed designers and supports collaboration in product structure creation and modification. A bench clamp assembly is used as an example for the illustration of the Product Structure Manager in support of collaborative assembly modeling.

Strategies for Product Structure Management at Manufacturing Firms

Product structure management (PSM) is a process that affects many of the activity domains1. (AD) in a company. Different ADs have different requirements for the decomposition of a product structure and the function of the information systems (IS) used. Departments therefore often work in differing ISs. If several ISs contain some of the same information, it is important that it be updated in all systems when it is changed. Since PSM is a change intensive activity, it is difficult to perform it in an environment consisting of several heterogeneous ISs. There is a need for strategies of PSM that take into account all relevant aspects of an IS, such as the process it supports, the type of information handled, the systems used and the organization. Based on a case study at an automotive manufacturing firm, this paper discusses the diverse product structure requirements of various ADs. Proposed strategies for PSM can be used as a general guide and for categorization when analyzing ISs before introducing new systems or restructuring existing systems.

Strategies for Product Structure Management in Manufacturing Firms

Product structure management (PSM) is a process that affects many different disciplines in a company. Different disciplines have different demands on the decomposition of the product structure and the functionality of the information systems used. Different disciplines therefore often work in different information systems. If several information systems to some extent contain the same information, it is important that the information is updated in all systems if it is changed. Since PSM is a change intensive activity, it is difficult to perform PSM in an environment consisting of several different information systems. There is a need for strategies for PSM that considers all relevant aspects of an information system, such as the process it supports, the information handled, the information systems used and the organisation. This paper discusses different disciplines requirements on the product structure based on a case study at an automotive manufacturing firm. The paper proposes strategies for PSM that can be used as a guide and for categorisation when analysing the information system before restructuring and/or introduction of new systems.