Unit - 1: Introduction To Product Life Cycle Management

Unit - 1
Introduction to Product Life

Cycle Management
Need for PLM
• Large amount of information and data,
• Repeated administration of the same data (redundancy),
• Inconsistency in the area of data storage,
• Difficulty in parallel data use,
• Difficult data retrieval and processing.
• Outsourcing has led to long design and supply chains with the result that
product development, manufacturing and support activities are spread out over
different organisations, often over different continents.
• Deregulation has led to the break-up of large organisations with well defined
responsibilities, and their replacement by numerous companies, contractors and
subcontractors with unclear relationships.
• Competitive pressures result in less time being available for product
development.
• Many companies now offer complete solutions, rather than individual products.
This adds a new layer of challenges. Solutions are more complex to develop and
support than single products.
• Many more services are offered along with a product. Sometimes, it seems
as if the services are more important than the product. Developing and
supporting these services may require additional skills.
• Consumers want customised products – which are much more difficult to

develop and support than standard products.
• Consumers want more services – not easy for organisations that only used
to sell products.
• Population trends, such as ageing in Western countries, lead to the need

for new types of products.
• Globalisation has led to the availability of hundreds of millions of workers

in Asia with wages far below US levels. New approaches are needed to
manage their efforts.
• Increased environmental awareness leads to calls for reduced pollution

from manufacturing and logistics.
• The rapid emergence of new technologies provides many opportunities but
also the difficulties of industrialising them and ensuring their safe use.
• Sustainable development is needed to ensure resources are available for

future generations – which means companies have to take good care of
existing resources.
• A Stock Exchange mentality, with managers more interested in quarterly

results than in the long-term well-being of their products and services.
• The lifetime of some products is now so short, that the development of a

future generation has to start before the development of the previous
generation has been finished.
• Geopolitical developments – such as the appearance of China as a major

exporter of manufactured goods, India as a leading producer of software and
software developers, and Russia as a leading producer of oil and gas lead to
many changes.
Purposes of Deploying PLM Systems
Three basic aims of aiding engineering data management using information
technologies can be distinguished:
• shortening product development time,
• decreasing product development costs,
• enhancing the quality of the product.
To meet these targets, changes in the following areas are required:

• inside office integration,
• product data management,
• product data retrieval,
• archiving product data,
• inside office organization.
When it comes to inside office integration, three levels of integration can be

mentioned:
• product development process integration,
• integration in the remaining lifecycles of the product and in administrative
processes,
• integration of suppliers.
Integrative activity of a PLM system
The following data can be stored in PLM systems:
• product configuration;
• definition of parts and other constructional data;
• specification;
• CAD drawings;
• images (drawings, photographies, etc. – in electronic form);
• plans for processing;
• NC programs;
• elements of production software;
• electronically saved documents, notes, correspondence;
• audio and video files;
• and other – resulting from individual user's demands.

Product life cycle
The classic product life cycle has four stages.
• Conceive
o Specification
o Concept design
• Design
o Detailed design
o Validation and analysis (simulation)
o Tool design
• Realize
o Plan manufacturing
o Manufacture
o Build/Assemble
o Test (quality check)
• Service
o Sell and Deliver
o Use
o Maintain and Support
o Dispose
Phase 1: Conceive
• Imagine, specify, plan, innovate
• The first stage in idea is the definition of requirements based on customer,

company, market and regulatory bodies’ viewpoints.
• From this specification of the product major technical parameters can be

defined.
• Parallel to the requirements specification the initial concept design work is

carried out defining the visual aesthetics of the product together with its
main functional aspects.
• For the Industrial Design, Styling, work many different media are used from
pencil and paper, clay models to 3D CAID Computer-aided industrial design
software.
Phase 2: Design
Describe, define, develop, test, analyze and validate
• This is where the detailed design and development of the product’s form starts,
progressing to prototype testing, through pilot release to full product launch.
• It can also involve redesign and ramp for improvement to existing products.
• The main tool used for design and development is CAD Computer-aided design.
This can be simple 2D Drawing / Drafting or 3D Parametric Feature Based
Solid/Surface Modeling.
• Such software includes technology such as Hybrid Modeling, Reverse

Engineering, KBE (Knowledge-Based Engineering), Assembly construction.
• This step covers many engineering disciplines including: Mechanical, Electrical,

Electronic, Software (embedded), and domain-specific, such as Architectural,
• Aerospace, Automotive.
• Along with the actual creation of geometry there is the analysis of the
components and product assemblies.
• Simulation, validation and optimization tasks are carried out using CAE
(Computer-aided engineering) software either integrated in the CAD
package or stand-alone.
• These are used to perform tasks such as: Stress analysis, FEA (Finite
Element Analysis); Kinematics; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); and
mechanical event simulation (MES).
• CAQ (Computer-aided quality) is used for tasks such as Dimensional

Tolerance(engineering) Analysis.
• Another task performed at this stage is the sourcing of bought out

components, possibly with the aid of Procurement systems.
Phase 3: Realize
Manufacture, make, build, procure, produce, sell and deliver
• Once the design of the product’s components is complete the method of

manufacturing is defined.
• This includes CAD tasks such as tool design; creation of CNC Machining
instructions for the product’s parts as well as tools to manufacture those parts,
using integrated or separate CAM Computer-aided manufacturing software.
• This also involves analysis tools for process simulation for operations such as
casting, molding, and die press forming.
• Once the manufacturing method has been identified CPM comes into play. This
involves CAPE (Computer-aided Production Engineering) or CAP/CAPP –
(Production Planning) tools for carrying out Factory, Plant and Facility Layout
and Production Simulation.
• For example: Press-Line Simulation and Industrial Ergonomics as well as tool
selection management.
• Once components are manufactured their geometrical form and size can
be checked against the original CAD data with the use of Computer Aided
Inspection equipment and software.
• Parallel to the engineering tasks, sales product configuration and

marketing documentation work will be taking place.
• This could include transferring engineering data (geometry and part list
data) to a web based sales configurator and other Desktop Publishing
systems.
Phase 4: Service
Use, operate, maintain, support, sustain, phase-out, retire, recycle and

disposal
• The final phase of the lifecycle involves managing of service information.
• Providing customers and service engineers with support information for

repair and maintenance, as well as waste management/recycling
information.
• This involves using such tools as Maintenance, Repair and Operations

Management (MRO) software.
• The concept of a product having a lifecycle has existed for a long time in many
industries, particularly in those with products (such as aircraft and power
plants) that have long lives.
• Yet in other industries, many companies have tended to ignore what happens
to their product once it has gone out of the factory gate.
• Sometimes it’s not very clear what is meant by the lifecycle, as manufacturers
and users of products have different views of the product life and the product
lifecycle.
The lifecycle of the product
Conventional PL
• PLM has a wide scope in terms of application across a company because it is
used throughout the lifecycle of a product.
• Customer input into product design early in the lifecycle aids customer
satisfaction and identifies the demand – so PLM is needed at this stage.
• Companies want to develop excellent products, so they need PLM during

research and development – when they are discussing ideas and defining the
product.
• They want to sell excellent products to their customers, so they need PLM
during the sales process.
• They want to provide excellent support to customers, so they need PLM during
the use stage.
The fundamental assumptions of PLM
1. Versatility and safety of using information about the product (access and use).
2. Retaining the integrity of product definition and relations among information

throughout the whole lifecycle of the product.
3. Managing and supporting processes used for creating, managing, circulating,

sharing and using information.
• Product lifecycle management is the process of managing product-related
design, production and maintenance information.
• PLM may also serve as the central repository for secondary information,
such as vendor application notes, catalogs, customer feedback, marketing
plans, archived project schedules, and other information acquired over
the product's life.
• “Product lifecycle management is an integrated, information-driven

approach to all aspects of a product’s life -- from its design inception
through its manufacture, deployment and maintenance, culminating in its
removal from service and final disposal.”
The essential elements of PLM:
• Manages design and process documents
• Constructs and controls bill of material (product structure) records
• Offers an electronic file repository
• Includes built-in and custom part and document metadata ("attributes")
• Identifies materials content for environmental compliance
• Permits item-focused task assignments
• Enables workflow and process management for approving changes
• Controls multi-user secured access, including "electronic signature“
• Exports data for downstream ERP systems

The PLM process manages:
• Products and parts, including those which are used for tooling, inspection,
calibration, training, operation and maintenance
• Documents that define the performance, functional and physical

attributes of an item.
• Ancillary documents that are used for training, operation and

maintenance of an item
• Electronic computer files that support the product's design, development,

production and subsequent post-production phases
• Material content, including reporting on legally-proscribed or hazardous

substances and the identification of part recycling and disposal methods.
Benefits
• Increase revenue
Reduce design time
Accelerate release and change cycles
• Reduce product cost

Purchase fewer parts in larger volumes
Increase production experience
Reduce production rework and scrap
Conduct more comprehensive, less intrusive collaboration
• Reduce overhead
Simplify regulatory and contractual compliance
Mitigate and, if required, report on a product's environmental impact
Reduce process administrative and clerical costs
PLM Visioning
• Experience of working with companies to help them develop a Vision of

their PLM activity shows that most people have little idea of what a PLM
Vision is or how it can be developed.
• To demonstrate that Visioning isn’t so difficult or unusual, we get them to

think about Visioning in an environment that is familiar to them and
usually of interest.

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Unit - 1

Introduction to Product Life

• Consumers want customised products – which are much more difficult to

• Population trends, such as ageing in Western countries, lead to the need

• Globalisation has led to the availability of hundreds of millions of workers

• Increased environmental awareness leads to calls for reduced pollution

• Sustainable development is needed to ensure resources are available for

• A Stock Exchange mentality, with managers more interested in quarterly

• The lifetime of some products is now so short, that the development of a

• Geopolitical developments – such as the appearance of China as a major

To meet these targets, changes in the following areas are required:

When it comes to inside office integration, three levels of integration can be

• definition of parts and other constructional data;

• images (drawings, photographies, etc. – in electronic form);

• plans for processing;

• elements of production software;

• electronically saved documents, notes, correspondence;

• audio and video files;

• and other – resulting from individual user's demands.

• Imagine, specify, plan, innovate

• The first stage in idea is the definition of requirements based on customer,

• From this specification of the product major technical parameters can be

• Parallel to the requirements specification the initial concept design work is

• Such software includes technology such as Hybrid Modeling, Reverse

• This step covers many engineering disciplines including: Mechanical, Electrical,

• CAQ (Computer-aided quality) is used for tasks such as Dimensional

• Another task performed at this stage is the sourcing of bought out

• Once the design of the product’s components is complete the method of

• Parallel to the engineering tasks, sales product configuration and

Use, operate, maintain, support, sustain, phase-out, retire, recycle and

• The final phase of the lifecycle involves managing of service information.

• Providing customers and service engineers with support information for

• This involves using such tools as Maintenance, Repair and Operations

• Companies want to develop excellent products, so they need PLM during

2. Retaining the integrity of product definition and relations among information

3. Managing and supporting processes used for creating, managing, circulating,

• “Product lifecycle management is an integrated, information-driven

• Constructs and controls bill of material (product structure) records

• Offers an electronic file repository

• Includes built-in and custom part and document metadata ("attributes")

• Identifies materials content for environmental compliance

• Permits item-focused task assignments

• Enables workflow and process management for approving changes

• Controls multi-user secured access, including "electronic signature“

• Exports data for downstream ERP systems

• Documents that define the performance, functional and physical

• Ancillary documents that are used for training, operation and

• Electronic computer files that support the product's design, development,

• Material content, including reporting on legally-proscribed or hazardous

• Reduce product cost

• Experience of working with companies to help them develop a Vision of

• To demonstrate that Visioning isn’t so difficult or unusual, we get them to

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