High-stakes definitions

Those in the know used to refer to the transfer of engineering data to manufacturing as "tossing it over the wall." At some point over the last few years—thanks largely to Web-based systems for product life-cycle management (PLM)—the realization set in that not only should manufacturers break down the wall between engineering and manufacturing, but they should strive for consistent product definition management throughout product life cycles.

At stake is a greater ability to excel at a range of crucial activities—from field service to minimizing quality glitches and gaining better feedback from manufacturing. David Chiulli, director of IT with New Hampshire Ball Bearings (NHBB), Peterborough, N.H., says a PLM system helped NHBB create a knowledge base for product-related data, including information from operations such as changes in tooling.

"The PLM system essentially becomes a feedback system," says Chiulli. "If you're using PLM just to capture and store engineering data, then I think you're missing the boat."

Vendors of PLM software—not surprisingly—say their packages should function as the central system for the product record, but not everyone believes implementing PLM software guarantees product definition nirvana. John Moore, an analyst with Boston-based ARC Advisory Group, says one problem is that "PLM is still [firming up] as a market, with different vendors coming at it from different directions. In fact, PLM itself is a strategy, not a system."

This means potential users must look closely under the covers of a PLM solution to see if it meets their needs, says Moore. Though analysts differ in their descriptions of PLM, the market includes tools for design collaboration, and product data management (PDM) functions. But PLM also takes in such areas as simulating the manufacturing processes for new products, and a host of other systems that have logical touch points with PLM.

Even though the PLM concept is a big tent, PLM vendors insist companies need a core system for the product definition. "The PLM system is the hub of the product development process, and it produces information for downstream systems where products are sold, made, maintained, or serviced," says Jim Heppelmann, an executive VP and chief product officer for PLM vendor PTC.

PTC offers an application called Windchill PDMLink to centralize product information. Heppelmann sees a publish-and-subscribe scenario existing between PLM and other systems to achieve consistent product definitions. Just how companies go about affecting these linkages is key to product definition management.

PTC has partnered with integration software vendor TIBCO on PTC's Enterprise Systems Integration (ESI) middleware, which offers pre-built integration to ERP software from SAP. The main improvement to the ESI module, says Heppelmann, is that TIBCO's technology supports guaranteed data exchange.

PLM strategies typically involve integration with ERP and other systems, says Heppelmann. "[Users] have to choose which systems are going to own which elements related to the product definition," he says. "Much of that is going to happen within PLM, but there is some data that might get managed in a manufacturing execution system [MES], or other systems, and get propagated to PLM."

ARC's Moore agrees. MES, for instance, may contain data on alternate routings or material replenishment locations that the PLM repository doesn't need to hold, but data that impacts product cost or genealogy likely needs to be exchanged. "You have to define the constructs for what data needs to reside in the product record, but it's not practical to place all the data in one system," he says.

PLM vendors with a PDM background have long had interfaces to ERP systems to handle engineering change notices. However, even PLM vendors with CAD backgrounds are branching out to data management.

For instance, Autodesk, a vendor known for making CAD affordable for the mass market with its AutoCAD package, now offers an application called Autodesk Vault. Robert "Buzz" Kross, VP of Autodesk's manufacturing division, says Vault aims to do for PDM and version control issues what AutoCAD did for design creation.

Autodesk is developing pre-built integration between Vault and bill-of-material data in ERP systems from Microsoft Business Solutions, says Kross. "All modern CAD systems can produce a bill, but it represents an engineering view of the bill that is not very meaningful to the ERP system," he says. "So what happens without the right associative links is that the design bill gets keyed into the ERP system, errors get made, and then the two systems are never in sync."

At NHBB, Chiulli says bidirectional synchronization provides consistent product definition data between NHBB's PLM system from Aras Corp., and its ERP system from MAPICS. To synchronize data with the iSeries-based ERP system, NHBB uses a data integration tool from Vision Solutions.

The Aras PLM package serves as the central repository for NHBB's product definitions, says Chiulli, but the company allows certain data—such as tooling substitutions—to be changed on the fly in the ERP system, with the change synchronized back to the PLM system so that there is a central record. "With bidirectional integration, we have the flexibility to change things during operations, then bring the systems in sync later," says Chiulli.

Synchronization is a more practical approach than dictating to those in manufacturing that if they want to change data that impacts the product definition, they must do so through the PLM system, says Chiulli. "You can set strict policies against [making product-related changes in ERP], and hope the people in operations won't do it, but they will," he says.

Chiulli says NHBB's approach is to synchronize even temporary changes on factors like tooling with the PLM system. "If changes are made to the process or the definition, this allows us to get at the data on the change without having to do an archeological dig," he says.

Peter Schroer, Aras's chief technical officer and founder, says integration with ERP is important to some Aras clients, but others use ERP mainly for financial and order management functions. For such users, he adds, Aras has come up with production, quality, and sourcing modules that handle functions such as manufacturing bills of material, process definitions, and quality specs.

How systems manage the product definition may be as much a business decision as anything else. Kathy Evans, manager of PDM business processes for Goodrich Aerostructures, a Chula Vista, Calif.-based manufacturer of structural components for the aerospace industry, says PLM initiatives require users to determine which systems will own which elements of the product definition. At Goodrich Aerostructures, Teamcenter from UGS PLM Solutions is the product record system, but some product-related data resides in its ERP system from SAP.

"Before we went live [with these systems], we made some decisions about where we would capture certain information," Evans says. "Teamcenter is the main system of record, and then we pass data to SAP, but there is some data that never goes to SAP, and vice versa." For example, says Evans, the ERP system has codes used by the material planning engine that are unique to it, but while product-related, aren't needed for PLM.

Since implementing Teamcenter in September 2001, one improvement was the installation of an automated interface with the ERP system, accomplished in April 2002 using UGS middleware. But perhaps the biggest Teamcenter benefit comes from its ability to manage the release of data to manufacturing, and automatically push that information out to users. "It saves time and money," Evans says of the workflow. "All the stakeholders now have real-time access to product-related data."

While much attention has been placed on the interplay of PLM and ERP, some experts believe the new frontiers in product definition management are in sourcing, quality, and service management. Quality-related data, for instance, is considered a tricky area because it draws on information from multiple systems and involves text documents.

John Howaniac, CEO of Cohesia, a PLM vendor focused on complex product manufacturers, says traditional PDM systems aren't well suited to making sense of text-based specifications. Cohesia's system, he adds, helps manufacturers organize text-based data "so that it can easily be sorted and filtered to pull out context-specific information."

The context boils down to the characteristics of a product, material, or process, Howaniac says. Something as simple as a hole in a metal structure, for example, would have not only a precise diameter, but also characteristics like whether it was drilled or punched, or a certain surface finish. Howaniac says companies need to track and quickly access this type of information in what amounts to "characteristics life-cycle management" so that fewer quality glitches or "escapes" occur in bringing products to market.

PLM vendor Agile Software also is working to blend more quality data with the product record. "There are new frontiers out there, such as getting feedback on quality issues, says Sarvesh Jagannivas, director of high-tech marketing at Agile.

Jagannivas says a module called Agile Product Service & Improvement addresses quality by linking with data from call-center and service-management systems. The module also addresses closed-loop corrective-action processes and drives feedback on quality issues back into the design process.

Some PLM vendors say the tie between ERP and PLM still offers room for improvement. Richard Vermeij, senior product marketing manager with PLM vendor Arena Solutions, says Arena offers software called Request Management that captures suggestions and manages engineering change requests centrally.

"It's important to make sure that everyone impacted by a potential change have access to the same information," Vermeij says.