Analysing collaborative practices in design to support project managers

O emprego de sistemas de apoio à gestão do ciclo de vida dos produtos, PLM, é de suma importância para melhorar o processo de desenvolvimento de produtos, principalmente para pequenas e médias empresas. Um dos desafios é integrar as funcionalidades de gestão de projetos (GP) com os dados do produto. O trabalho analisa diferentes estratégias para a integração entre sistemas PDM (SMARTEAM) e de GP (MS Project), comumente utilizados por SME’s. A estratégia considerada mais viável foi implementada e testada. Ao final, apresentam-se considerações sobre a pesquisa de aplicativos de GP no contexto de soluções PLM. Palavras-chave: integração, gestão de projetos, workflow, PDM e PLM.

This article discusses implementation of a new product lifecycle management (PLM) system at Parker Hannifin Corp.’s aerospace group. This group employs 6100 across its 18 design centers located around the world, where engineers create parts for commercial aircraft, including helicopters, and many military aircrafts. Managers within the Parker Hannifin aerospace group had been tracking digital documents with a document-management system since the early 1990s. The group recently upgraded its PLM system and is working on supplier access to design documents stored within the system. The new PLM system was rolled out in 2008. The Enovia MatrixOne system is from the same vendor that supplies the company’s main computer-aided design system, which is Catia from Dassault Systèmes of Paris. Regardless of how that project plays out, Parker Hannifin is now miles ahead of where it was only a few years ago when it comes to managing design documents and related data. The smoothing of any chinks among suppliers and in maintaining legacy information has all been worth the upgrade.

Effects of product lifecycle management systems on new product development performance

Industrial companies collaborating to develop new products need to implement an effective management of their design processes and product information. Unfortunately, PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems, which are dedicated to support product design activities, are not efficient as it might be expected. Indeed, product design processes are continuously changing, are sometimes emergent and non deterministic whereas PLM systems, based on workflow technology, don’t support process flexibility. Needs in terms of process support flexibility are necessary to facilitate the coupling with the business enactment. Furthermore, Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) enhances flexibility and adaptability of composed solutions. Systems based on SOA have the ability to inherently being evolvable. This paper proposes an approach to deal with product design process flexibility in PLM systems by making profiles from SOA. The objective is to specify, design and implement product design processes in a very flexible way so that business changes are rapidly considered in PLM solutions.

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the activity of managing a product throughout its lifecycle – “from cradle to grave,” “from sunrise to sunset” (Stark J (2005) Product Lifecycle Management – 21st Century Paradigm for Product Realization. Springer, London). The management of product lifecycles is important since it involves all entities that exist along the value and supply chains of firms. Product lifecycle management systems (PLMS) have emerged as a potent resource used by firms to manage multiple activities required to develop, model, track, and manage manufactured products, including sales, maintenance, and product retirement. This research has been motivated by the massive investments (in the order of several million rupees) on acquiring PLMS and launching PLMS initiatives by various organizations in India, and the consequent need to analyze and assess their PLMS deployment maturity. Obviously, they (organizations) should want to know their PLMS deployment maturity with respect to both their present standing and relative to the industry. Assessment of PLMS deployment maturity of an organization serves as a good reference point to rate the success of its operations and the quality of its products. Venugopalan et al. (2009. A framework for assessing the maturity of product lifecycle management practices. In: Proceedings of PDMA India IV annual international conference NPDC 2009: new product development – challenges in meltdown times, Chennai, India, December 17–19 2009. pp. 159–171) have proposed a framework for assessing the deployment maturity of PLMS, and the same has been adapted for this study. It has been used to assess the perspectives of PLMS deployment maturity between PLMS users and PLMS service providers by means of preparing and administering a custom-designed questionnaire, and collating and analyzing the responses using appropriate statistical techniques. This will also enable organizations to benchmark their PLMS deployment maturity relative to others. This work analyzes the deployment maturity of PLMS components of 29 Indian organizations using nonparametric statistical tests.

Dynamic behavior analysis is the area of investigation in the product lifecycle management (PLM) system. Behavioral modeling approach of a system is used to define dynamic behavior of a system. There is a big list of modeling approaches proposed by the researchers of various disciplines to simplify the analysis of system so that it is used as standard for system development in the real world. The cyber-physical system (CPS) is the next generation of system where the physical system acts smartly with the power of computing. Therefore, modeling of CPS is gaining popularity in the industrial design. This paper starts with the discussion of behavioral modeling era of a system and CPS respectively. Then, the survey of the state of the art of system behavioral modeling and CPS behavioral modeling is provided in which most of the approaches are reviewed PLM system. The system modeling survey is conducted based on the work done in the late 20th century to the recent years of 21st century. The CPS modeling survey is conducted based on the work done in the recent years of 21th century as this technology and modeling approach is emerging. Based on the discussion and survey, conclusion and future work will be explained.

Development of products has been organized around product lifecycle management (PLM) systems during the past decade in leading industries. In mechatronics, where product structures are very complex and inhomogeneous, it is urgent to apply high level information technology for engineering purposes. The new style of engineering, where engineers work in remote workplaces and communicate through sophisticated model of product is especially important for mechatronics. Communication among engineers through product model is one of the problem areas because the changed demands for product development can not be fulfilled by using of direct communication. Current product models describe product information. Information is not enough to understand, revise and change of earlier decisions by engineers who receive these product models. The problem is that current product models are not suitable for description of background of decisions on product information. As a contribution to establish a solution for this problem, this paper introduces a new modeling that uses human intent and other content of information in product model at the creation background description for decisions. The new modeling is proposed as an extension to current PLM systems. Main purpose of the proposed modeling is to enhance communication among engineers. The paper explains changed engineering activities in recent model based product development. Following this, the proposed new communication is detailed and discussed. Next, a concept for a new virtual space for products is introduced. Finally implementation of the proposed modeling in the form of extension to current modeling in PLM systems is explained and tasks for research in the proposed modeling for the next future are outlined.

Introduction: To achieve competitive advantage, a company must permanently innovate and change its products, process and management systems faster than competitors. In manufacturing companies, as new products become the focus in competition, the new product development (NPD) process become increasingly important to these businesses. NPD process can be improved by boosting product lifecycle knowledge management. In this paper, how to carry out this improvement is described through a case study of a naval shipbuilding firm, Navantia. Methods: In the detailed case study, the improvement needs are identified from a knowledge management based approach and the solutions developed are described. These solutions are provided by a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system by means of its tools and its integration with other management systems used in Navantia. Results: The integration of knowledge in the company has lead to access and sharing information time reduction; errors reduction; improvements in the communication among employees and with partners, customers and suppliers; and design time and product costs reduction. Discussion: This case provides several keys to a successful implementation of a PLM system, such as making a reasoned analysis of the needs of the company from a strategic knowledge management based approach, the gradual integration of existing tools with the system PLM and the involvement of different actors in the company, both at organizational and interorganizational level.

PLM (product lifecycle management) is the management of the enterprise's products all the way across their lifecycles in the most effective way. However, at present, the PLM system in the market is not very appropriate to the small and medium-size enterprises. This paper presents a workflow engine-driven universal PLM system framework, which is constructed by four layers: client layer, application layer, business logic layer, data layer. The workflow engine-driven universal PLM system framework can be directly used as the PLM system, or can be used to customize the autonomy PLM system for the small and medium-size enterprises. The workflow engine-driven universal PLM system framework is implemented by Java enterprise edition and service-oriented architecture, which has the advantage of lightweight, cross-platform, and so on.

The objective of this paper is to discuss future developments and potentials for Product Data Management (PDM) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, based on a new theory-based approach to modelling products and product development processes ('Property-Driven Development/Design', PDD). A special focus is placed on the management and control of the product development process.

Manufacturing data and information are produced and used during the lifecycle of product development. Product lifecycle management (PLM) systems provide a suitable platform for managing them. For a...

As the globalization is at its peak and innovative products are at high demand, firms are forced to work in a collaborative manner. The product data must be lively available to all the collaborated partners. Although on-premise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems are offering the collaborations and product data management throughout the product's lifecycle, the Internet of Things (IoT) era offers more connectivity at a lesser cost. Though most large manufacturing firms have established the on-premise PLM systems, yet face some difficulties related to maintenance and upgradations of in-house information technology (IT) infrastructure. Hence, cloud PLM is under consideration for adoption among many large manufacturing firms. However, there are several challenges associated with cloud PLM adoption decision. This work intends to find out the challenges which large manufacturing firms face while deciding to adopt cloud PLM. The empirical investigations have been attempted to find out the relations among the challenges faced and to provide the guideline on how to find out the core challenges which needs to be attended before adopting cloud PLM in large manufacturing firms.

Relationship and dependencies between factors affecting new product development process: an industrial case study

This research is focused on the IT Small and Micro sized Enterprise sector in Ireland. This sector is very significant both socially and economically and utilises significant project management efforts. The main aim of this research is to assess how small and micro sized firms are currently managing requirements with a view to considering the Value Management (VM) approach as a foundation for a micro-lite approach. Recent research from the Central Statistics Office (2012) reports that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland accounted, in 2009, for 99.8% of enterprises in Ireland, 69% of private sector employment, 52% of turnover and 51% of Gross Value Added. Over 185,000 of Ireland’s 190,000 companies (98%) employ less than 50 people (Harrigan and Ramsey 2009). SMEs account for a significant portion of projects, Turner et al (2012) state that more than 40% of turnover for SMEs is undertaken as projects, and that this increases to more than 60% for SMEs in their first two years of existence. If these figures are extrapolated to the Global Economy one could state that $10 Trillion dollars are spent on SME projects annually. Based on recent research carried out by Turner et al (2009, 2010, 2012) it is proposed that small and micro sized firms need a micro-lite Project Management method based on having a requirements management core and a focus on people rather than systems. An initial review of the literature, reviewing SMEs; SMEs and Project Management; Requirements Management and Value Management (VM), suggested that a VM approach may provide a basis for the requirements management core needed for a micro-lite Project Management Method. Therefore, progress in helping this sector can have a big consequence. Academically, it can provide further insight into how small and micro sized firms manage requirements and provide directions for future research and practically, findings may have a significant influence on the millions of people and thousands of companies which make up this sector. Besides the potential contribution to a Project Management micro-Lite solution for SMEs, the ‘Value’ elements of this research are in line with recent research directions identified for the Project Management Profession as a whole. Winter et al (2006) propose five directions for future Project Management Research and Direction 3 suggests a move from Product Creation as a primary focus to Value Creation as a primary focus for the overall focus in the management of projects. Hanisch and Wald (2011) propose an integrated framework for future Project Management Research and their third dimension – the Goal Dimension - incorporates Value Added as a sub category. They proceed to state that value is “probably the primary reason to execute a project, regardless of the industry considered.”

The rapid evolution of CAD technologies and their integration with product lifecycle management (PLM) systems poses significant challenges for experienced designers. Transitioning to new software often requires relearning workflows and adopting unfamiliar functionality, which can lead to productivity disruptions and frustration. To address this, the company ARTECH GmbH proposes an innovative e-learning course tailored for experienced designers, specifically designed to foster their mastery of new systems. This paper explores the development and deployment of a training course designed to balance technical training with empathy for users' professional expertise and learning styles. The course uses human-centred methods to address the unique needs of experienced designers, recognizing their existing skills and emphasizing adaptive strategies rather than rote learning. Core training components include self-paced modules, interactive tutorials, and project-based learning, all aligned with real-world design challenges integrated with PLM systems. A key focus of the course is the integration of the user experience throughout the lifecycle of products and services. Designers will be guided to understand how new CAD tools affect collaboration, prototyping and the eventual lifecycle management of designs. By simulating multi-user, multi-modal scenarios, the course promotes collaborative design thinking and enhances designers' ability to consider multiple perspectives and criteria in their workflows. I