Functionalities of the PLM system

Understanding the basic functionalities of the PLM system

will allow users to adapt the application effectively.

Business
Processes

PLM
Functionalities

Total
solution

Functionalities of the PLM system(2)

1. Management of files

6. Change
Management

2. Items Creation
3. Distribution
management
4. Information search

PLM System

status/states

7. Files transfer
& conversions

8. Communication and
management of tasks
9. Archiving & distribution
of documentation

5. Product structures management & maintenance

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1. Management of files status/states

... is able to automatically control the state of files or
file attachments and their lifecycle status.
Creation and updating files.
~ a user requests for a
file.
Check out/Check in:
~ the system verifies
user privileges for
approval.
~ the user checks out a
file.
~ changes are made .
~ the file is then
returned (checked in)

2.
Items
Creation
Items are created based on a
certain workflow:

When changes are made in

documents, they becomes a new
version or revision:
PLM system keeps a history log
to serve the following functions:

.Viewing
Copying
Changes
Commenting
ECR
ECO
Printing

3. Distribution management
Approved documents are distributed in a process utilizing
the relevant workflows.
This automatic distributions are done based on the
processes/principles defined to the software.
The product structure allows other related documentation to
be enclosed with a document when a reference is needed.

4. Information search
Planning engineers spend 1540% of their working hours doing
routine searches of the information and retrieving routine
information.
Facilitation of information search is through:
~classification of the
information.

~ attributes.
~finding/analysis of
information depends on:

exactness of the metadata.

definition/configuration of the
system.

4. Information search...(2)
Classification, lifecycle phase, and attribute information
allow the following searches for information to be carried
out in standard PLM systems:
(a) What is the status of each drawing in a certain project?
(b) What has changed in a certain document? Who made the change and
when?
(c) What changes have been made in documents related to a given project
within the last two months?
(d) List all the resistors used in production, of which the resistance is greater
than 5 but less than 10 .
(e) List all allowed suppliers for 20- resistor RES123456.

5. Product structures management

& maintenance
... one of the most important functions of the whole PLM
system,
it provides the basis of many other basic system functions.
version
management

structural
presentation

change
management

Product structures management

configuration
management

5. Product structures management

& maintenance...(2)
The product structure itself makes the presentation of
the relationships between the separate parts of
product and assemblies possible.
The product structure can be based on:
a generic product data model,
a part list,
a B.O.M. (Bill of Materials)..

5. Product structures management

& maintenance...(3)
The product structures can be viewed according to specific
perspectivese.g., engineering, manufacturing, etc.
~designers

~ derived from a
single product
structure to give
several disciplinedependent views.

~planners

5. Product structures management

& maintenance...(4)
Filtration/Filtering feature is used to facilitate the examination of
large, complex product structures.

5. Product structures management

& maintenance...(5)
Maintaining information at too exact a level for complex products
(with tens of thousands of parts) is not practical,
use a suitable level of precision.
Using attribute information will help to clarify the information in the
normal data fields and product structure. They are:

(a) Individual product based information such as the serial

number of a sourced component in a certain product
(b) Generic regarding generic products, product, assemblage,
parts.
(c) User-specific remarks and notes.

5. Product structures management

& maintenance...(6)

Attribute information for the product structure

6. Change Management
... It provides 3 important capabilities:
Controllability

Visibility

Traceability

Ver1.0

Ver1.1

~ the change process

takes place in a
controlled manner.

~ info. on completed/
forthcoming changes
is emailed/notified.

~ specific stages of
changed items
& documents
can be tracked.

Ver1.2

6. Change Management: ECR/ECO/ECN

~publication of items to production.

~updated documents are recorded in the file vault and assigned
automatically with new version numbers (via versioning)

6. Change Management: ECR/ECO/ECN(2)

Product structure and version history of the bicycle

7. Files transfer & conversions

When a user seeks an item or a document, the following is
executed:
a) for documents:

Fetch

~the system gives access

to a document after user
verification.

b) for CAD files:

Fetch

Open
~the system opens it in a
suitable application.

Convert

Open

~the system converts a

CAD file into a format
readable to the users
system.
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8. Communication & management of tasks

This feature of the PLM system provides the context
for collaboration in CE.
o system provides a communication forum for daily
working.

All relevant team members are constantly and

automatically notified of the events related to their
tasks (as dictated by the workflow).

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9. Archiving & Distribution of documentation

Legacy of paper drawings and documents could be
electronically archived.
Scanning
~paper dwgs/docs are
scanned using large
scanner into suitable
formats.

Archiving
~scanned and saved dwgs and
docs are stored in electronic
form in the vault.

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Example of an Advanced Search

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Example of Multi-Level B.O.M.

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Example of a Workflow.

Example of a Classification scheme

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Example of a document change

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Example of Meta Data

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