PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT

PLM: DEFINITION Activity of managing companys products all the way across their life cycle in the most effective way and enabling the company to take control of its products.

NEED FOR PLM

Outsourcing leads to long design and supply chain with the result that the product development and support activities are difficult to manage. The functionality of the products goes on increasing, complicating their development and support. Deregulation has led to the break-up of large organizations with well defined responsibilities, and their replacement by numerous companies, contractors and subcontractors. Competitive pressure results in less time being available for product development. Many companies now offer complete solutions, rather than individual products. Many more services are offered along with a product. Sometimes, the services are more important than the product. Developing and supporting these services may require additional skills.

NEED FOR PLM

Consumers wants customised products which are more difficult to develop and support them, Consumers want more services. Population trends leads to the need for new types of products. Globalisation led to the availability of hundreds of millions of workers in Asia with wages<US level. Increased environmental awareness leads to calls for reduced pollution from manufacturing and logistics. Rapid emergence of new technologies provides many opportunities but also the difficulties of industrialising them and ensuring safe use.

RISK OF NOT IMPLIMENTING PLM

Products not behaving as expected Losses due to damages resulting from product use Damage to the companies image Loss of customers concerned about product problems Revenues lost to low-competitors Reduced profit due to costs of recalls and legal liabilities Management appearance in court

Products not behaving as expected

Space shuttles, Space mission Trains in UK Electricity, Nuclear power plant Aircraft (Concorde, Swissair) Tyres, Ships, Drugs Chemicals (DDT, CFC) Production plants (Bhopal, Seveso) Cattle feed (leading to mad cows) Software (vulnerable to bugs, viruses)

Sources of problems
Design fault Testing not rigorous People trained sufficiently Design standards not followed Communication problems Customers needs were misunderstood Ineffective safety program Culture that accepted risk Informal decision-making and decision taking

Implementing PLM
Steps to understand what PLM is? Ways to implement, different strategies possible to implement. Feasible study to find what type of approach is appropriate to be adopted to launch new product. May be Strategic enterprise-wide initiative targeting new market-leading products and full control across the product life cycle? A cross functional project to achieve tactile benefits- for example implementing new lifecycle processes across several functions? Targeting very precisely defined improvements to achieve benefits in specific operational areas?

APPROACHES TO IMPLEMENTING PLM

These types of approaches are very different, and will provide different results as shown in table
Company approach to improving performance Time period Productivity change (%)
Development

cycle change (%)

Product cost change (%)

Unconditional cherry-picking and lemon squeezing

A short term plan A three year strategy plan Integrated vision, strategy and plan

6 Months
1 Year 3 Years 5 Years

+4
+12 +40 +100

-3
-10 -39 -80

-3
-9 -28 -41

Steps to implement PLM

1st step is to communicate a vision of the proposed new environment so that every one knows where they are going. 2nd step will be to define a strategy to achieve the vision. 3rd step is to develop a plan to implement 4th step to harvest the benefits

Feasibility study to implement PLM

This essentially required for Better understanding of the product Better understand the activities and processes across the life cycle Use a PLM phase /gate methodology all the way across the product life cycle from the cradle to grave Define the rolls in the product lifecycle Train people to work effectively in a lifecycle environment Define environmental needs Manage product development projects better Use a product data management system effectively throughout the lifecycle

Responsibility for PLM

PLM is not the responsibility of
Engg. Department Service department Information system department Finance department Responsibility of PLM lies with CEO, who is the only person above all the individual functional/departmental participants

A NEW WAY OF THINKING

BEFORE PLM Think product manufacturing Think vertically about the company Think functionally about the company Think about one activity of the company Think product development Focus on the customer Listen to the voice of the customer Think going forward in time Think customer survey Think product portfolio and project portfolio Think bottom-up, starting with part Think about product lifecycle management bit-by-bit Think PLM is for techies Think profit Think our processes Think our data Think our systems WITH PLM Think product lifecycle Think horizontal Think lifecycle Think about several activities Think cradle to grave Focus on the product, and then the customer Listen to the voice of the product Think forwards and backwards Think customer involvement Think integrated portfolio Think top down, starting with portfolio Think about PLM in a joined up, holistic way Think PLM is a top management issue Think profit and planet Think standard processes Think standard information Think standard systems

Thinking about manufacturing

Before PLM, companies aimed to make products and get into the hands of customer, this activity has created most of the value for the company. Thinking PLM, future profits will not come from manufacturing and assembly of commodity products. Manufacturing and assembly activities has to be done at 10% lower cost < US to survive, companies in developed countries have to create revenues elsewhere.

Thinking about the company

Before PLM, people sliced the company activities as sales, engineering, manufacturing, after-sales and the jobs were defined with reference to those functions.-sales person, design engineer, manufacturing worker, after-sales service person, CAD system engineer, manufacturing resource planning (MRP) systems for manufacturing. Thinking PLM, people slice the company into product lines. They identify the life cycle for the product line. They look to build the best design chain and supply chain for that product line. They hire the people to work in its product teams. They define life cycle processes and implement PDM systems to manage the data across the life cycle.

Thinking about a function:

Before PLM, people thought functionally about the company. A marketing VP, an engineering VP and a manufacturing VP would report to CEO. Manager of the product line would report in through a matrix. Thinking PLM, people first think about the product life cycle. A chief product officer (CPO) has a responsibility for all the products across the life cycle. The CPO reports to CEO -so do the chief financial officer (CFO) and the chief information officer (CIO). Product line managers reports to the (CPO).

Thinking about an activity ;

Before PLM, people used to think about one activity in a company at a time. In

the engineering department without considering the needs of the other people In the lifecycle, design engineers would buy new systems to design product faster. In the recycling department, specialists scratched their heads and wondered what they are going to do with the freshly arrived truck load of old products too difficult to disassemble for recycling processes.

With PLM, people think more than one activity at a time. They think about the product across its life cycle. Engineers while designing the product they take into consideration of manufacturing processes, disassembling while recycling. The recycling specialists keep up-to-date with environmental laws and keep Development engineers informed.

Thinking about the product development activity:

Before PLM think about one activity in a company at a time i.e.. Product development. Design Engineer seems to have problems communicating with people with other functions. So were left to work alone. With PLM, people think about entire product lifecycle, from cradle to grave. Product development is one of the many activities in the lifecycle and is closely integrated with others.

Thinking about focus;

Be aware while implementing PLM

Make sure that the
The management understands PLM. PLM is brought to the attention of most important participants (CEO, VP,MD, etc) Link between the PLM and the companies strategy is clear. Demonstrate that the initiative will have a high impact. The initiative has to come at the right time for the company, and it has to show that the PLM is relevant and applicable in the companies particular situation. Participants need to see how the initiative meets their needs and how it will be of benefit for them as individuals. They need to be confident of implementing PLM, and see that what steps are to be followed for successful implementation of PLM. The initiative need to be simple and packed such that everyone can understand easily and can spread message to those around them. With any other improvement initiative that can offer a high returns on investment, a project to implement PLM can be risky. Implementing PLM can be complex and have many repercussion.
28.09.10

Be aware that

Failure rate for PLM initiative

Unclear justification for implementing PLM Incorrect definition for needs Underestimate of resource, management and training requirements. Lack of skills and knowledge. Lack of implementation of support tools. Lack of understanding of available solutions. Departments disagreeing about working methods. Inability to integrate computer systems. Difficulty of objectively identifying the benefits of PLM. Lack of clarity about the scope of PLM, and about what to integrate. Underestimate of required investment Uncertainty about the return on investment (ROI) of PLM. Difficulty of defining the limits of responsibility between vendors and system integrators. Concern about high cost. Doubts about migration paths for existing system. Fear of starting an ERP-style enterprise-wide mega-project. Lack of interest after initial setbacks.

Introduction to PLM
PLM in 21st century: PLM is a new activity for manufacturing companies that opens up new business opportunities. PLM manages each individual lifecycle from cradle-to-grave. PLM manages not only one product of the company but all of its products in a better and integrated way. PLM emerged in 2001, before companies implicitly manage across their lifecycles because it wasn't done explicitly, things fell through cracks:
Decisions were not coordinated Risks were not fully analysed Information got lost Customer requirements were misinterpreted Time was wasted Key relationship were ignored

As a result, although it appeared that everyone in the product Development, manufacturing and support chain had done their work Correctly, the product did not work properly in the field.

The opportunities and benefits of PLM

Opportunities: at the beginning of 21st century Globalisation has increased the number of potential customers for all the types of products and services. The population has increased to 100,000/day, the fact assures still more customers in the future. Electronics, biotechnology and the nano-technology provides the basis for products with new concepts and new technology. Designer drugs are developed to match an individuals particular genetic make-up. Further development are mobile technology, world wide web, the grid, data base, wrist top computers, finger ring computers. Intelligent cloths will change performance as the wather changes and the wearers mood changes. Direct brain implants of memory and processing power will increase the human performance. Sensors planted in the body will monito organ performance.

Levels of PLM
Companies can implement PLM in pursuits of opportunities and benefits at three levels: A strategic level at which the objective is to develop and support product and services in a way that leaves the competition behind. A tactile level, focused on improving processes and achieving timeto market advantages. An operational level focused on efficiency. Levels of effort: To reach strategic objective will require a company wide initiative based on 5 year plan. To reach a tactical level of benefits will need a cross functional approach focused on improving performance in a well defined area, and will take at least 2 years. Benefits at the operational levels can be achieved by improving individual activities in a particular part of the company.

Lifecycle
PLM is the activity of managing a product throughout its lifecycle from cradle to grave. from sunrise to sun set. Consumer think of a product having a life from the moment they acquire it and start using it, to the moment they stop using it. First there is an idea for procuring the product (such as car). At this stage the car may be a dream for some customer. Then the car is defined in detail, in other words an exact description of it is created. In this stage, the physical product, the car, doesn't exist and cant be used. Then the product is realised for example all the parts of the car are produced and assembled in a form in which it can be used. The product is used by some one, or may be operated on their behalf. And finally the product comes to the end of its life. Some parts of it may be reused, some recycled and some disposed of.

Form users point of view:

Manufacturers view of a products lifecycle

Imagine

Define

Realise

Support
Service

Retire

Users View Of A Products Lifecycle

Imagine

Define

Realise

Use
Operate

Dispose
Recycle

Over Lapping Phases

A B C D E imagine Define Realise Use Dispose XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Another view of product lifecycle

1 Imagine 2 Define 3 Realise 4 Useful life 5 End of life

Product
The word product has many meanings and implications within PLM. The individual products used by customer ay be Just one of an identical batch of thousands of products. It may be a unique product It may be successor or derivative of another product It may be one of range or product line It may be parts of a product family
All these will make up the product portfolio. The product may be made of many assemblies PLM manages in an integrated way, the parts the way the products and the portfolio, its rage, from individual part to the entire portfolio. The portfolio of the product development process is sometime referred to as the product portfolio.
Product /project Phase Product/ project imagine Define Realise Support Retire

1 2 3 X X X

4
5 X

Components of PLM Product data Products Organisational structure Working methods Processes People and information systems

Benefits along the life cycle

Benefits are essential to convince the people the need of PLM. The PLM can help company to improve effectiveness, efficiency and control throughout the entire product lifecycle, enabling it, for example to:
Capture customer requirements better Create more innovative ideas Improve the sales process, where the customer is located. Develop products faster Develop products in an international collaborative development environment. Manufacture in-house, or outsource manufacture to low-cost suppliers Delivery the required product at the required time in the required place. Provide superb support of product use Prevent future product failures through knowledge of past failures Schedule maintenance effectively based on knowledge of use of the actual use of the product Reduce spares requirement by better knowledge of use of spares Provide maintenance information on line, with up-to-date documentation and service bulletins Provide better product maintenance and service until the product will disposed on an environmentally-sensitive manner.

Other benefits of PLM

Revenue Increases by increased customers by developing and supporting new products Increased range of products, new functions and features, quality, support and services, more variants, Helps to cut the costs, -reduces direct labor, overhead labor costs across the lifecycle Reduce material and energy consumption cost by use of optimal design, better decisions, more reuse, and better purchasing, Reduce the cost of purchased designs and parts. Reduce the cost of quality, scrap and rework, warranty costs, product reliability cost , Cost of communicating information, information will be transferred quickly at and cheaply by electronics means. Provide better management of innovations, improve interface between product development and support and control of product over its lifecycle Enables mass customization, improve quality of outsourcing Managing the product retirement better.

Doing all these things better

Defining strategy for the product portfolio, managing portfolio and associated data about customer needs. Analyzing portfolio profitably, identifying gaps in portfolio, planning product lifecycle Screening proposals for products to identify the best opportunity Identifying and managing customer requirements and associated data about ideas for new products, previous products, specific product characteristics, customer and market product requirement Providing design rules, defining safety rules Costing, needs cost data of vendors and estimate of new products Reviewing, selecting and purchasing designs, assemblies and parts to keep cost low and high quality Analyzing product performance, simulating and testing the product performance Defining path to disassemble, recycle, reuse Defining sales configuration which needs data from design process Verifying and planning manufacturability, eliminating problems in manufacturing, assembly and installing the product.

Details of PLM swamp

The product lifecycle environment to implement there may be lack support. It might take a lot of effort to implement straight. many of these problems are to be analysed in detail by the team of specialists to design the strategies for implementation of PLM. In a company with large number of people involved in the product lifecycle, in particular with product data, - they waste time looking for proper data -unable to find information they need to solve these problem some managers implement knowledge management systems. As more and more data is collected it becomes more difficult to control and process the data, to track the location of the particular data.

Product data flow

Product work flow

9.10.2010

Product data
12.10.2010

Definition: The term product data is used to describe all data related to a product and the process that are used to define ,produce, use and support it. Scope: Product data include a very wide range of information such as specifications, schedules, process plans, geometry, formulae, results of analytic experiments and calculations, computer programs, photographs, drawings, sketches, video data and test result commentaries. Each type of information is used and and managed in a different way. Media: Product data on traditional media such as paper and cards, electronic media, micro films, magnetic tapes, OS, storage devices and storage techniques. Type and format: Product data exists in many forms such as text data, numeric data, graphic data and voice data. Representations: Data exchange: As product data may be represented in different ways in different systems and media, there may be problems when it is transferred from one representation to another. An exact conversion may be impossible, with the result that a loss of quality will occur.

Product data
Structure: A product may be made of assemblies and sub assemblies, components and parts. Product data such as bill of materials, describe the structure and relationships. This data has to be managed. Options and variants: many products such as car are available with a variety of variants. The descriptions of each option have to be managed. As product life time decrease and customization increases, the possible number of options increases. Versions of information: different versions of same information will exists. In some cases a user may need the latest version, in another version an earlier version may be needed. Versions of systems: Computer software is regularly up graded. There is the risk that the addition of new functionality and a richer information content will make it impossible to access and use product data created in previous versions of the system.

Product data
Identification and classification systems: there are so many pieces of product data that special identification and classification systems have to be used to keep track of them. Unique numbers are needed to identify every specification, drawing, list, test procedure, operating manual etc. which defines the functionality, physical construction, and performance of a solution, product, component, aasembly and sub assembly. Status: product data can be various states such as in-process, in-review, released, as-redesigned, as-planned, as-built, as-installed, as-maintained, and asoperated. Different rules apply to access and modification of data in different states. Change: Most product data undergoes change at various times in its lifetime. The management of these changes introduces added complexity to the product data management process. Change to data have to be formally requested, evaluated and properly approved by all interested parties. Changes have to be publicized and recorded.

Product data
Sources: Product data is created in many functions and used in many functions. Some product data is created during development, some is created later. Some of the data is used during product development, some used elsewhere. Some of the data will be created in the company, some will be created by suppliers and customers. Which ever source it has come from, it has to be managed. Users: Product data will be used by many people in many different functions and many different locations. They may be working on companys premises. They may be working for a suppliers, a partner, or they may even final the customer of the companies product. Product data has to be made available to all these people. At the same time product data must be protected against unathourised access. Uses: Users of a product data will be working on a variety of tasks. Depending on what they are doing, and their level of computer literacy, they will have different product data usage and product data management needs. Some will create data some will modify it, and some will delete it. Location: product data can be found in many locations. The users of the data may be in same building or in the same plant, but they may be in different locations of the country or in different countries or even in different continents with different culture and language. Departmental organisations: product data will be used and shared by different departments and functions. A lot of product data will be created in the engineering department, but information will also be created and used in the manufacturing, marketing and finance, sales and support departments. Some of the data will be with design department, some with production planners, some with shop floor, some with service departments. Some data with the customers, and some with suppliers. Where ever the data is, and whoever it is with, it needs to be managed if it is to be used effectively.

Product data
Views: different users will want to see different views of the product data, but many users want to see and work with one view of the data. managers- want to see the current progress on all the parts of a product development project but not details of the design itself. project engineer wants to check an assembly but have no interest in stress or thermodynamic analysis results. a drafter interested in an individual part. a company may only want to give a supplier a very restricted view of its over all data base. users may want to see different views of the data and systems they use may be different, and underlying data may be same. Computer programs: product data is created and used by many different computer programs. examples- in discrete manufacturing CAD, NC, FEM, aerodynamic analysis, process planning, technical publishing, word processing, tests and many other types of systems. These systems create and work with product data in different ways. Each one will probably have its own specific approach to data management.

Product data Computers Data definition Duplicate and redundant data Vocabulary Data ownership Volume of data Security Archiving Corporate asset Islands of data

Link between product data and product work flow

Informati on

>>>>>
Imagine

>>>> >>>>
Define Realise Support Retire

Link between product data and product work flow

Informati on

>>>>>
Imagine

>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>

Define Realise Support Retire

Link between product data and product work flow

Material Informat ion

>>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>
Imagine Define Realise Support Retire

Link between product data and product work flow

Components of PLM
Product life cycle activities:

Manufacturers view of a products life cycle 1 2 3 4 5 Retire

Imagine Define

Realise Support service C D

Users view of a products life cycle

A Idea B Define E Dispose Recycle

Realise Use Operate

Product: -Activities in the life cycle enable current products and services to be produced and supported. -The product portfolio is maintained. -Platform products are defined and built. -Derivative products follow. -Product line, product families and product groups are created and maintained. -Plans are prepared for future products and services. -Products for new products are defined and carried out to modify existing products and services.

Organizational structure
To make all the activities manageable, organizational structures are defined Enterprises are built up with different organizations such as -contractors -sub contractors -suppliers -partners -customers - Suppliers supplier - customers suppliers - Customers customer - Retailers - Prime contractors - Distributors - Regulators - Clients, information brokers, auditors, lawyers, trainers, analyst, industry bodies, users, quality assurance organizations.

Organizational structure
Inside the company groups, teams, services and departments may be created, with all sorts of names, to carryout or manage all sorts of activities such as product design, component management, customer services, manufacturing engineering, test engineering, product management, program management, software solutions, professional services, industrial design quality engineering, logistics, production operations, production planning, plant operations, inventory management, manufacturing, purchasing, vendor quality, supplier management, operations, opportunity management, order management, safety engineering, sales and marketing support, product support, marketing communications, process management, human resource management, technical support, financial services, etc

Human resources in product life cycle

It takes many people to manage across its lifecycle
Outside the company Inside the company Account manager, assembly workers, associates, business analysts, cost accountants, course developers, craters, customer service representatives, data base administrators, designers, documentation specialists, drafters, engineers, field engineers Financial analysts, HR administrators, HR & IT Managers, lease representatives, marketers, net work specialists, PC technicians, programmers, project & Quality managers, regional financial managers, resident engineer, sales representatives, service engineers, software technicians, test engineers, In some cases most of these roles will be played within the company, in other cases it will be outside

Methods, techniques, practices, methodologies

Activity based costing Alliance management Benchmarking a technique used to compare a companys performance with that of other organizations Business process re-engineering (BPR) Company wide quality control Compliance management applications help ensure that product related activities are carried out in accordance with standards, rules, and regulations. Concurrent engineering is a technique to bring together multidisciplinary teams that works from the start of with the aim of getting it done as quickly as possible. Configuration management (CM) is the activity of documenting initial product specifications Cost of quality management (COQ) Design for assembly (DFA) Design for manufacturing (DFM) Design for environment (DFE) Design for recycling (DFR) Design for six sigma (DFSS) Design for sustainability (DFS) Design to cost (DTC) Early manufacturing involvement (EME) Early supplier involvement (ESI) Failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) Full tree analysis (FTA)

Methods, techniques, practices, methodologies

Group technology Hosin Kanri is a technique of step by step planning, implementation and review for managed change. It is system approach to management of change in business processes. Just in time (JIT) Intellectual property (IP) management is used to organize intellectual property rights across the extended enterprise. Lifecycle assessment (ICA) is a methodology used to understand the main impacts arising in each phase of a product's life Phase/gate and stage/gate methodologies split the product development activity into separate phases (4-6). When product development projects are carried out, people from different functions work together in each phase, carrying out the tasks defined for the phase and producing the different deliverables. The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle is a technique for continuous improvement of any activity or process. In the plan step, a plan of action is generated to address a problem. Corresponding control points and control parameters are generated. The plan is reviewed and agreed. In the do step, the plan is implemented. In the check step, information is collected on the control parameters. The actual results are compared with the expected results. In the act step, the results are analysed

Methods, techniques, practices, methodologies

Platform strategies and module strategies aim to reduce cost and improve quality by maximising reuse of parts in different products (PSA,/PeugotCitroen has a platform strategy. Poka-yoke existed as a concept for a long time before the Japanese manufacturing engineer Shigeo Shingo developed the idea into the technique for achieving zero defects and eventually eliminating quality control inspection. The method is called as fool proofing or mistakeproofing or fail-safing. Portfolio management provides an over view of a companies pipeline of development of projects. It allows managers to take trade-off decisions based on the risk/rewards of the product portfolio against companies strategic objectives. Portfolio management includes activities such as entering the data about the product portfolio, defining and modifying product strategy and roadmaps, providing required views of portfolio and product performance, balancing the portfolio to have the right mix of the products, monitoring and analysing the portfolio performance, identifying ways to improve portfolio performance and evaluating their suitability, communicating portfolio information.

Methods, techniques, practices, methodologies

Process mapping is carried out to understand, analyse and design business processes. Product planning links markets and requirements to the product portfolio, product families, products & parts. Product strategies and roadmaps can be created, simulated and analysed. Quality function development (QFD) is a step-by step technique for ensuring that the voice of customer is heard throughout the product development process so that the final product fully meets customer requirements. Reliability engineering is a technique to improve the reliability of a product or process. Reliability engineering comprises the activities of planning, measuring , analysing and recommending changes with the aim of improving reliability of a product or process. Robust engineering is the engineering of products and processes such that they will work satisfactorily throughout their lifetime in spite of disturbances that are bound to occur. Statistical process control (SPC) is used during production phase of product lifecycle to reduce the variation and helps to correct the mistakes.

Methods, techniques, practices, methodologies

System engineering rather than engineering individual parts- reduces the time and cost of the development process. System integration issues are dealt with early on, rater than later in the development cycle. Taguchis experimental design technique allow designer to experiment with a large number of variables with relatively few experiment. Taguchi approach is particularly relevant to the parameter design phase in which the designer sets the value of design parameter get a stable reliable product. Team work is a new technique for many companies. In the traditional product lifecycle, people in different department work one after the other on successive phases of the development. Within the context of concurrent engineering, the term team is applied to a group of Individuals, often from several functions who work together sharing information and knowledge, and faster results than they would have done individually. TQM is an approach of art of management that has become steadily more popular in the west since early 1980s. The key point of TQM include: customer-drive quality, continuous improvement , fast response to customer requirement , action based on data and analysis, participation by all employees.

Methods, techniques, practices, methodologies

TRIZ is a way of systematically solving problems and creating suitable solutions. It was invented by Russian engineer and scientist, Genrich Aitshuller, it is known as theory of inventive problem solving. Value analysis and value engineering are techniques in which a multifunctional team measures the current value of a product or its components in terms of functions that fulfill user needs. Value analysis is applied to the existing products whereas value engineering is carriedout during initial product development.

Processes
Processes may be specific to a product or project or to an organization. They include alliance management, contract preparation, contract review, control of non-conforming product, corrective action, delivery. Design, design control, disposal, document control, engineering, engineering change management. Handling, inspection, leadership, manufacturing modeling, new product development, packaging, process control, product identification, product modification, production. Project management, prototyping, purchasing, quality assurance, quality control, recycling, service provision, servicing, storage, test, traceability and training process. There is also the process of establishing, documenting, maintaining and improving process. This process includes sub-processes for planning review, audit, measurement, monitoring, verification, validation, corrective and preventive action. PLM enables all the product-related processes to be carried out in a coherent way.

System components in its lifecycle

Computer Aided Design (CAD)- computer based tools using interactive graphics techniques that are used in translating a requirement or concept into an engineering design, the geometry of which is stored in computerised data base. Computer Aided Engineering (CAE)- is the overall umbrella acronym for all computer based tools used in design engineering and manufacturing engineering functions. Computer Aided Industrial Design (CAID)-allows an industrial designer to model a design in 3 dimensions on a work station. Through the use of shading, colour, movement, and rotation. CAID lets designer create photorealistic images and animation from a core design. Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM)- is the generic name for all computer base tools used in manufacturing engineering activity. e.g. CAPE, CAPP, CA Tool & Fixture Design, NC Programming, PLC. It is used preparing a wide range of manufacturing processes, including cutting of metals, fabrics, leather and composites, forming of metals, plastics and glass. Computer Aided Production Engineering (CAPE)- systems digitally model a manufacturing plant, production line or work cell to enable simulation of production processes for a particular products in a virtual factory, Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP)- systems are used in generating the process plans, which describes the sequence of processes to be carried out to manufacture the products, specify tooling, details speed, feeds, and coolants, and set-up run time. They work with either a variant or a generative approach.

System components in its lifecycle

Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE)- tools are used to support some or all of the phases of the software life cycle. There are basically three types of CASE tools: used in planning, analysis and design, and code related activities. Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)- use of computer techniques in manufacturing activities. The benefits of CIM are realised through automation and integration. Repetitive activities are fully automated, and creative activities are computer assisted, Digital Mock-up (DMU)- is a computer based product definition of a real product. It provides a data set which can be used to carryout all sorts of analysis. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)- is the exchange across a telecommunications net-work of documents and other paper information such as engineering drawings, receipt advices, purchase orders, and advance shipping notices between computer in one company and the computer in another company. The information transmitted in a standard format in which the various contents of documents are arranged in a predescribed way. Knowledge Management includes major activities such as : creating knowledge: capturing knowledge: analysing knowledge: storing knowledge: indexing, classifying and validating knowledge; synthesizing useful knowledge; searching relevant knowledge; making knowledge available; making value-adding use of knowledge. The knowledge part of knowledge management includes anything about a company, its customers, its vendors, its competitors, its partners etc.it could be knowledge from the past or current or for the future.

System components in its lifecycle

Knowledge based systems (KBS)- are systems that allow the experience and knowledge of humans to be represented and used on a computer so as to increase peoples decision making ability. Manufacturing Process Management (MPM)- systems support the manufacturing process from initial manufacturing engineering and process planning to full production. Rapid Prototyping (RP)- is used to produce rapidly a prototype from a CAD model. The prototype can be in a variety of materials including investment casting wax, PVC and polycarbonates. Technical Document Management (TDM)- systems are similar to EDM and PDM systems. And provide a vault for all drawings and documents, as well as mechanisms to index and access them. Virtual reality is the application of computer simulations, based on 3D graphics and special devices, of a environment, that allow a user to interact with the environment as if it was real. Virtual engineering brings together Virtual reality, engineering computation modeling and CAD technologies.