PLM for Mechatronic The success of PLM adoption in conventional mechanical product

manufacturing industries gave inspiration to the PLM product vendors to focus

Products on the combined electrical, electronics, mechanical and software product
development, also known as, Mechatronics, which is a bigger challenge in the
integrated product development scenario.

Typical mechatronic product development involves managing both hardware

and software at various phases such as chip design with hardware specific
language, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layout design, mechanical and electrical
design and software development. Usually this involves multiple environments
which require synchronization at predetermined stages.

Major challenge is to integrate the life cycles of these different domains. Since
these life cycle behavior are independent today including the systems which
handle and support the life cycle management, it becomes a challenge to obtain
an integrated product view and to manage the dynamics of changes across these
domains. While there are changes to the design both at hardware and software
level, lack of integrated PLM causes delay and also increases cost of the final
product design.

Following are some of the other challenges:

l
Keeping in sync with the different ECAD and MCAD systems.
l
Maintaining short product cycles.
l
Managing more variants.
l
Utilizing manual prototyping methods which are expensive.
l
Configuration management of mechanical, electrical and
software product data.
l
Managing rich electronic and software contents.

In addition, with the advent of globalization, managing the security and the
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) from Original Equipment Manufacturers
(OEMs) to suppliers, has added to the challenges faced by these industries.

Latest PLM solutions have to address these challenges effectively by giving an

integrated secure environment for various work groups such as Electrical /
Electronics, Mechanical and Software to simultaneously work on the product.
Effective ECAD and MCAD integrations enable reduced use of transfer protocols
which avoids the problem of stripping the essential design information during
translation, Integrated prototyping in place of existing isolated prototype
methods, Flexible work flow model to route the various activities and Effective
supplier integration process which empowers the OEM to assign and review the
supplier deliverables are the key benefits obtained.

This paper discusses these aspects in detail and suggests a suitable PLM
environment to overcome the challenges in this growing field.
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

About the Authors

Raghavendiran
Raghavendiran (Raghav) is the Lifesciences domain
Consultant in the PLM functional team .

He has about 17+ years of total experience of which over 12

years of professional experience in TCS, both in India, Europe
and USA, and over 5 years of functional experience in
Manufacturing and Process industries. His functional
experience is spread across Lifesciences, Automotive,
Industrial Machinery and Process Industries.

Prabhu Patruni
Prabhu Patruni works for the PLM Practice in Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS) and is currently heading the Solutions and
Offerings of the practice. He is responsible for developing and
managing customer centric service offerings and PLM
solutions. He also holds the responsibility of building
competencies on various PLM products. He has been with
TCS for 10 years and has 8 years of experience in
implementing Matrix and Teamcenter Engineering PLM
Systems. Prior to joining TCS, Prabhu Patruni was with Larsen
& Toubro Limited, Mumbai with their Switchgear division. He
was instrumental in successful rollouts of some of the End-to-
End PLM Implementations done by TCS, and has architected
PLM ERP Integration solutions, integrations with other
enterprise wide systems and Engineering Change
Management solutions. Prabhu Patruni holds a bachelors
degree in Mechanical Engineering from Nagarjuna University
and Post Graduation in Tool Design and Engineering from
Central Institute of Tool Design

1
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3
2. Background 3
3. Current Industry Scenario 4
4. Challenges in Managing Product Data in
Mechatronics 5

5. PLM Solution for Mechatronics 6

6. Benefits of an effective PLM Environment

for Mechatronics 8

7. Conclusion 9

8. References 9

2
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

Introduction
A mechatronic system is defined as the synergistic integration of mechanical, electrical, electronics, and embedded
firmware (software) technologies into electromechanical products. Mechatronic systems and subsystems appear
across all industries [1], including automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, machinery, equipment, and others,
which are detailed in Table 1.

Product Categorizations Examples

Electronic products Cameras and audio equipment

Consumer Appliances Refrigerators and Washing machines

Vehicle systems (Harnessing and wiring) Automobiles, Aircraft and Trucks

Communication systems Satellites, Radar equipment and Telephone switches

Onboard control systems Aerospace, Marine, Weapons and Space systems

Biomedical instrumentation MRI, CT scan, and Airport security systems

Office equipment Computers, Printers, copiers, Fax machines

Industrial machinery and equipment Turbines, Printing presses, Weapon systems

Large scale transportation equipment Large aircrafts, Locomotives, Mass transit systems

Table 1. Mechatronic product categorizations

Background
The development of mechatronic products in the past, has been done in separate silos of electrical/electronics,
mechanical, and software domain experts. In many cases, mechanical engineering work is completed and then the
task is forwarded to the electronic/electrical design engineering group, and then forwarded to the software
engineering group. Also the mechanical, electrical, and software features of the product were integrated through
rounds of prototyping as shown in Figure 1. Since the disciplines worked in silos with their own individual design
processes and non-integrated information system tools, engineers downstream in the development had little
opportunity to provide valuable inputs early in the cycle. Hence design deficiencies were often discovered late in the
process which resulted in increased cost and time for effecting design changes.

Change management
From To
Upstream Downstream
systems Prototyping Electrical / Prototyping systems
Mechanical Software
Design Electronics
Design
Design

Figure 1. Sequential product development process

3
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

For example, PCBs used currently requires a much tighter integration between PCB design and mechanical
engineering. Every PCB contains mechanical constraints primarily due to product packaging requirements that
constrain the shape, size and position of PCBs. Based on these packaging constraints, the mechanical designer
determines the board outline, size and the locations of mounting holes for the board. The mechanical designer also
knows where to place certain critical components, such as connectors, displays, and switches, because these
locations are determined by the product packaging itself. Often, the mechanical designer indicates areas on the
board where components cannot be placed, or where placement is limited by other obstructions in the overall
assembly.

On the other hand, the PCB layout designer uses initial information from MCAD as the basis for creating the board
layout in ECAD. Often the layout designer adds additional placement and routing restriction areas, tooling holes,
pads, and solders masks. With the pre-placed components as a start, the layout designer places additional
components. The locations of the pre-placed components may have to be modified to accommodate board routing
considerations. Typically, several revisions between MCAD and ECAD are required to stabilize the design, or to
accommodate product packaging or functional changes. Due to the limited visibility to product information,
respective disciplines will consider it as a fault with other disciplines.

Current Industry Scenario

Higher safety needs and faster serviceability have led to challenging new requirements for stylish, content-rich and
price competitive products. In the electromechanical domain, latest product designs incorporate new intelligent
mechatronic features with increasing complexity and the use of electronics and software as differentiators in the
marketplace.

As depicted in Figure 2, there has been a fundamental shift in replacing the mechanical functions into electronic and
software functions which is driving Mechatronics. Customers are demanding variety and options in products, which
again is realized using Mechatronics. Competition is another factor which results in increased product features
wherein these additional features turn out to be the basic features of the product [2].The additional features require
added electronics, increased embedded software, and smart manufacturing processes to drive the next level of
operational efficiency and performance. Thus manufacturers must be ready and committed to continuously
innovate in developing new mechatronic products with increasing complexity.

Also new regulations and an increasingly green-conscious customer have resulted in the demand for environment
friendly products. Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE) regulations in Europe are forcing high-tech manufacturers to rethink designing for product disposal. In
automotive industry, fuel efficiency requirements have lead to new innovations in the engine design. This requires a
clear communication of environmental requirements and support for unique design configurations according to
the customers location. Figure 2 depicts the various influencing factors for demanding improved electronic and
software features in products.

4
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

Electronic & software 73%

core to product
Customer demand for 69%
better products

Competing products 46%

Improved product
maintenance or service 40%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Figure 2. Influencing factors for increased electronics and

software contents into products [2]

Challenges in Managing Product Data in Mechatronics

Given the industry scenario, following are some of the challenges [1] faced by manufacturers in the Mechatronics
domain:

Lack of Integrated Data management

lThere is no single legacy Product Data Management (PDM) system for capturing mechanical, electrical, and
software design data, and are often handled in separate PDMs with no automated sharing of data between the
systems.

Software Configuration Management

lMany different ECAD and MCAD tools are currently used by OEMs and by their supply chains. Keeping different
versions of software in sync and maintaining interfaces is not cost effective.

lCompanies are realizing embedded software is an area of competitive differentiation and are investigating on
improving and streamlining their software processes .There are no commercially available systems for keeping
the software version synchronized with the mechanical and electrical product data.

Difficulty in reducing cost

lSince the PLM solutions for mechatronic product development are still in the evolving stage, many of the
manufacturers are patching together homegrown systems that are expensive to develop and maintain.

lDue to the growing number of product variants and increasingly short lifecycles, costs for developing physical
prototypes in iterations have become increasingly prohibitive.

Requirement of flexible integration techniques

lInterfacing with an incumbent PDM system requires more flexible application interfaces and data standards.

lProduct design with integrated system simulation is yet another challenge.

5
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

Supplier Management

lDue to the increased electronic content, traditionally mechanical companies are sourcing the development of
PCBs globally. Managing the supply chain and tying to as-shipped product structure is a growing challenge.

lIPRs are increasingly moving to suppliers, rather than OEMs, as the product behavior is moving to software.
IP security related threats have to be taken care.

Compliance Management

lCompliance to RoHS and WEEE regulations require tracking of the material specifications right from the design
stage. The related processes are still maturing in this area.

PLM Solution for Mechatronics

The futuristic PLM ecosystem for mechatronic development must have the following essential features:

ECAD/MCAD data exchange: It should adopt STEP AP210 and STEP AP212 [1]. STEP is the acronym for Standard for
the Exchange of Product Model Data. STEP-AP210 (ISO 10303- 210:2001E) is a part of STEP on Electronic Assembly
Interconnect and Packaging Design. STEP AP212 is for electro technical design and installation which enables
electro technical exchange in a robust exchange format.

Currently, Intermediate Data Format (IDF) standard is typically used to communicate between MCAD and ECAD.
Most MCAD application vendors do not support the IDF file format directly, but rely on third-parties. By
implementing the STEP data model with a PDM system using XML schemas, the integration between ECAD and
MCAD applications will be simplified. An MCAD and ECAD authoring tool will place design elements into the data
model, and this information will be used by both the originating authoring tool for data management, and also other
authoring tools for design validation and collaboration.

PLM data integration: To improve new product introduction through integration of mechanical, electrical, and
software domains, the product data management (PDM) data model must support STEP standards for electrical and
mechanical data, and must support an XML-based standard for robust interchange of data between applications.
The core PDM mechatronic requirement is to provide a data model functional enough to represent fine grain level of
functional requirement details and physical aspects of the electromechanical products and relationships between
these representations. This include electrical and software domains in addition to mechanical.

Essential PLM solution components

In designing mechatronic products, manufacturers adopt a system decomposition approach to define the product.
Top-level product systems are divided into subsystems that are further divided into components.

The natural place to bring all of these islands together is the enterprise PLM that maintains not only product Bill of
Materials (BOMs), but also the relationships among the components that make up the mechatronic subsystems. In
addition, an enterprise PLM already deals with the sophisticated concepts of effectivity, versioning, and
configuration that are not completely dealt with by the isolated systems in an integrated way.

6
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

The enterprise PLM should essentially have the following components as mentioned in Figure 3.

Requirement Management: The typical mechatronic development process starts with customer requirements for
a mechatronic subsystem that eventually flows down into a detailed set of constraining parameters to be met. In the
process of flowing down the requirements, designers will allocate requirements to functions to be performed by the
system, which in turn is partitioned and allocated to physical elements (mechanical, electrical, and software
components) that perform the functions. The result is a set of requirements that flow down to each element that
performs the task and act as input specifications for each component.

Document Management: The system should have the complete document repository with traceability right from
idea generation for the product throughout the lifecycle of the product. It should have electronic signatures and full
text search which will enable searching the contents of documents.

Supplier Management: Suppliers should be able to access through a secured network. Lightweight and secure
forms of design collaboration such as design sharing and change notification for communication purposes,
especially during design reviews and project status meetings should be used.

Compliance Management: PLM product vendors are offering solution components to achieve materials
compliance by way of tracking part level material composition and regulatory compliance to be adhered during
product development. For example, 21CFRPart 11 for Food and Medical device industries and ROHS compliance
solutions for automotive & other electronic industries address the compliance requirements of mechatronic
industries.

Integrated Prototyping Management: The prototype build events should be tightly integrated with engineering
change management process and supplier management process to enable monitor impacts due to product
changes and supplier quality evaluation process respectively.

Software configuration management: The ability to manage the embedded software can be achieved through
PLM integrations with code configuration management applications like ClearCase, PVCS etc which has to be tightly
integrated with the hardware lifecycle of the product.

Program Management: The whole product development for a customer has to be treated as one program. It
should have phases and deliverables for each phase. Status monitoring and dash board reporting have to be
periodically reviewed.

7
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

Enterprise

ERP

PLM - ERP Integration

Integrated PLM
CAD Integration
MCAD

Document Mgmt.

Other Legacy
Prototype Mgmt.

HW & SW Mgmt.
Part Data Mgmt.

(000RS,Idea
EAI Custom
Supplier Mgmt.
Program Mgmt.

Mgt. etc)
Integrated
ECAD

Secure
Collaboration

Design Manufacturing
Partner Partner

Extended Enterprise

Figure 3. Integrated PLM ecosystem

Idea Management: Considering the development processes of high-tech electronic equipment, the ability to
assess the end customer demands through various innovative ideas and capturing them in a system will help the
industry to stay ahead of competition.

After market support: Connecting product development processes with service applications also enables design
engineers to see which parts and services are being actively deployed in the field and thereby lower future warranty
activities and costs through redesign. These capabilities will be highly useful in the development of mass production
components, by avoiding product recalls and increased customer satisfaction [3].

Benefits of an effective PLM Environment for Mechatronics

Following are some of the benefits of an effective PLM environment:

Enables postponement: Postponement is a supply chain term. It refers to the practice of postponing the features
that are closest to the customer to the last stage of product delivery. The configurable characteristics of the
mechatronic product can be easily identified and managed in a better way. Using this, the same product can be
delivered at different places by still meeting the local regulatory and end user requirements [4]

Enables avoiding loss of design information: Efficient transfer protocols between MCAD and ECAD applications
help in avoiding stripping of design information during translation process.

8
 PLM for Mechatronic Products

Limited organizational changes: Challenges in technology integration are substituted by integrated

organizational structure across disciplines, which is not a good method for multi disciplinary product development.
Industry statistics reveal that discipline specific engineering teams are highly productive than integrated structure
teams [5].

Reduces the inventory of different applications software: Companies working with multiple OEMs can reduce
their software inventory, since multi CAD and PLM integration will be possible through effective protocol methods.

Reduction in prototyping expenses: Integrated prototyping and system simulation will reduce the cost of
prototyping in mechatronic product development.

Enable cost effective globalization: Optimum product development processes with better way of supplier
management will enable effective globalization which can be cost effective for the organizations.

Enable compliance to regulations: When there are changes in the regulatory compliance policies or new
regulations introduced with respect to product development processes, organizations can easily implement them.

Conclusion
Mechatronic industries exist for a long time, but this industry is growing considerably due to the increasing market
requirements. The issues these industries are facing can be well addressed with recommended enterprise PLM
ecosystem, which will help the companies to get appreciable benefits when compared to the conventional product
development processes.

References
1. ASME Global trends and best practices in Mechatronics PLM (June 2005)
2. Aberdeen Group The Mechatronics System Design Bench Mark Report, (August 2006).
3. Forrester, Process Overview- Product Life Cycle Management, (July, 2007).
4. Cimdata Electro Mechanical Product Development: The mechatronics requirement for
automotive competitiveness(July 2006)
5. Aberdeen Group Outsourcing SMEs exacerbate outsourcing integration issues, (September 2006).

9
About TCS Engineering and Industrial About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Services Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and
Engineering and Industrial Services (EIS) is a strategic business unit of outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global
TCS that offers a wide spectrum of engineering services and solutions, businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match.
covering new product development, product lifecycle management, TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-
plant solutions and geospatial technology solutions. These services & enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network
solutions cater to different industry verticals such as Aerospace & Delivery ModelTM, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in
Defense, Automotive, Hi Tech, Telecom, Energy & Utilities, software development.
Government, Industrial Machinery and Medical Devices.
A part of the Tata Group, India's largest industrial conglomerate,
TCS has over 143,000 of the world's best trained IT consultants in
42 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of
US $6 billion for fiscal year ended 31 March 2009 and is listed on
the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India.

For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com

corporate.engineering@tcs.com

Subscribe to TCS White Papers All content / information present here is the exclusive property of Tata Consultancy Services Limited
TCS.com RSS: http://www.tcs.com/rss_feeds/Pages/feed.aspx?f=w (TCS). The content / information contained here is correct at the time of publishing.
Feedburner: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tcswhitepapers No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, transmitted,
posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from TCS. Unauthorized use of the
content / information appearing here may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws, and
could result in criminal or civil penalties.
Copyright 2009 Tata Consultancy Services Limited

www.tcs.com