Core PLM for Discrete Industries Features and Functions
Core PLM and Product Data Management (PDM) for Discrete Industries covers the base foundation of PLM for the discrete manufacturing industries such as automotive, electronics, aerospace and defense, medical devices, complex machinery and others. It covers design and product-related aspects of PLM including management of material specifications, product structures, production processes, design tools, document management, and design collaboration.
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Design and Project Collaboration
Design collaboration is the process of allowing multiple people with different perspectives to provide input into the design process. By including people involved with upstream and downstream processes, such as suppliers or customers, products can be introduced that are more appropriate for the market and many potential problems can be avoided through advanced visibility. An example would be a design that cannot be produced on existing equipment, being flagged early in the development process.
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Application Technology
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Item Management and Classification
Material management is a primary building block of PDM. Material management is where information on raw materials, intermediates and sub-assemblies, and finished goods is stored. Materials represent discrete items, bulk materials such as liquids and gasses, packaging, and packaged items (among others). Materials represent the physical materials themselves, and are associated with products which are the commercial representation of the material that is to be bought or sold.
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Configuration Management/BOM
The bill of material (BOM) represents the materials that are required in order to produce or assemble a new material. The BOM identifies all required materials that are needed as input to a production process, as well as the material (or materials) that are created by the process. The BOM is used along with the production process, also known as a routing, in order to provide instructions to produce the material. For process-oriented production, the BOM and production process are often combined to form a recipe. Process-oriented companies typically use recipes, but still use BOMs for other purposes such as packaging operations.
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Routing, Approval, and Lifecycle Process
PLM provides the ability to manage the product design and development process in a number of ways. Some companies have formal phase review processes that are associated with full project management plans, while others run their processes by managing the state of the products and product-related objects. States can include "in development", "pending design approval", "released to manufacturing" and others depending on the specific process defined. The portion of the RFI covers the processes used to manage the lifecycle of objects (items, BOMs, documents, etc.) and the formal processes involved in reviewing and approving those objects.
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Product Cost Estimation
Cost is typically a key consideration for products. The cost of an item can be most effectively influenced during the design phase by selecting the optimal materials, using common materials where possible and designing for ease of manufacture. Cost analysis and cost simulations for existing products are often handled by the ERP system, however developing costs for new or experimental products is handled by PLM so that cost does not become an afterthought.
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Change Management
Engineering change management is the process by which changes to product designs are implemented in the production process. This process covers simple material substitutions as well as major process changes that require plant engineering. The key challenge is to integrate the change across the enterprise and the value chain such that revision to key component or ingredient materials coincide with the timing of the change, whether the change is triggered by a specified date or based on the consumption of existing inventory of materials. This requires that planning, production, purchasing, and others execute the change in a synchronized, staged process to avoid obsolescing materials. In addition to internal coordination, there is an increasing requirement to keep supply chain partners informed on a real-time basis. A key requirement for engineering change is the approval and notification process. The approval process is covered under the Routing and Approval section within the Project/Process Management portion.
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Product Data Vaulting and Management
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Visualization, Markup and Translation
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CAD Design Integration
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Enterprise/ERP Integration
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Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Features and Functions
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