An Open Product Lifecycle Management System

This thesis presents a complete set of user requirements and high-level architecture for [a] product lifecycle management (PLM) system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Engineering activities such as engineering change management (ECM) and product data management (PDM) are emphasized. The system is designed to be developed in [an] open source environment. Therefore the system is called Open Product Lifecycle Management (OPLM) system. The thesis begins with a presentation of the motivation for the work and description of products and literature in the areas of PLM, SME and open source. An industry survey is conducted to elicit requirements of OPLM. Engineering change management (ECM) process is described and a modified framework for ECM in OPLM is presented. The proposed model is expected to make ECM faster, reusable and accurate. Four OPLM subsystems, namely, product data management, engineering change management, process management and business intelligence are defined. For each of the subsystems, subsystem components are identified and defined.

An Open Product Lifecycle Management System

This thesis presents a complete set of user requirements and high-level architecture for [a] product lifecycle management (PLM) system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Engineering activities such as engineering change management (ECM) and product data management (PDM) are emphasized. The system is designed to be developed in [an] open source environment. Therefore the system is called Open Product Lifecycle Management (OPLM) system. The thesis begins with a presentation of the motivation for the work and description of products and literature in the areas of PLM, SME and open source. An industry survey is conducted to elicit requirements of OPLM. Engineering change management (ECM) process is described and a modified framework for ECM in OPLM is presented. The proposed model is expected to make ECM faster, reusable and accurate. Four OPLM subsystems, namely, product data management, engineering change management, process management and business intelligence are defined. For each of the subsystems, subsystem components are identified and defined.

Model-Based Definition and Enterprise: State-of-the-art and future trends

Model-Based Definition (MBD) is being adopted by the manufacturing industry as a single source for all product information in place of conventional 2D drawings. This paper aims to review the current literature on Model-Based Definition (MBD) and Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) to recognize the main contributions towards the development and implementation of MBD and explore its various perspectives. The publications encompassing technology and applications of MBD are categorized into seven domains. These domains are lifecycle information; design, discrete part manufacturing, and inspection; assembly; maintenance, repair, and overhaul; process planning; engineering change management; and contemporary aspects of digital product definition. The major outcomes of research literature, in these domains, are reviewed and future research directions are identified and formulated. Additionally, the paper highlights the issues and challenges associated with the realization of MBE by the manufacturing industry. These issues are categorized into technical, management, and certification categories. The prevalent issues in each of these categories are further discussed and analyzed.

An Approach for Agile Engineering Change Management Within Global Product Development

Engineering Change Management (ECM) is an essential constituent of any product development project, these project are highly dynamic process of knowledge generation and reuse for products, projects, processes and resources within a enterprise. Currently, ECM is fully document-, and at least partially paper-based, and needs to be transformed to a fully model-based standard workflow. Changes, uncertainty and hidden processes should be seen as regular events. For the agile process, a rapid and flexible handling of task items is necessary. Due to the unpredictable character and short time of singular task items, we have developed a new approach to collect all changes to a superordinate, master change note as a standard, common object in the product structure, and to and update this master change note as often as necessary. This change note is assigned to a product during its entire lifecycle. It collects changes in the product and related processes and equipment. We present a new approach in order to facilitate a full object-oriented support of all activities related to the change process. On each update, singular task items can be re-prioritized within this master change note according to the current needs.