146 research outputs found
Collaborative Reverse Engineering Design Experiment Using PLM Solutions
No full textThe current climate of economic competition forces businesses to adapt to the expectations of their customers. To achieve this, in spite of the increasing complexity of mechanical systems, it becomes necessary, amongst other things, to reduce design time. Faced with new challenges, practices in design training must evolve to allow students to be mindful of these evolutions as well as to be able to manage projects in these new work environments. After presenting a state of the art of collaborative tools used in product design, our paper presents an experiment focusing on the reverse engineering of a complex mechanical product. This experiment was carried out between two centers of the Arts et Métiers ParisTech School of Engineering, located in Paris and Angers.Weanalyze the results obtained in this experiment and propose a collaborative environment that is well suited to our needs for design education, based on ‘‘Product Lifecycle Managament’’ (PLM) concepts. Finally, we present some modifications in collaborative design courses for our students, and we implement network modifications in order to significantly improve the ease of use of the design environment
Study of data structures and tools for the concurrent conceptual design of complex space systems.
No full textConcurrent design facilities are used by space agencies and private organizations to conduct preliminary design activities in the development of space systems. Concurrent conceptual design is characterized by dynamic exchanges between a limited team of experts, defining the operational requirements, the systems architecture, the baseline design, and budgets for different resources. The results are a preliminary system baseline and product requirements that are used as inputs to the subsequent product development phases.A study of the input and output of this early phase of product development has confirmed that data generated in concurrent design studies essentially describes behavior with a limited set of information about the geometry. The geometry at this stage is mainly composed of functional configurations with geometric envelopes.Based on this behavioral information content, the authors have looked at the SAPPhIRE model of causality, initially developed by Chakrabarti, as a potential data structure to support this early phase of system development and possibly all phases of the product lifecycle.In this current work, we present two concrete examples of concurrent conceptual design data structures for space applications and show how such data structures could be represented within the extended SAPPhIRE model.When compared to current PLM data structures, the use of the extended SAPPhIRE model represents an alternative means of structuring information and communicating this information between stakeholders, providing better understanding of the relation between a system’s structure, function and behavior. It also explicitly represents the links between subsystems and the iterative nature of the design process
Product relationships management enabler for concurrent engineering and product lifecycle management
No full textThe current competitive industrial context requires more flexible, intelligent and compact product lifecycles, especially in the product development process where several lifecycle issues have to be considered, so as to deliver lifecycle oriented products. This paper describes the application of a novel product relationships management approach, in the context of product lifecycle management (PLM), enabling concurrent product design and assembly sequence planning. Previous work has provided a foundation through a theoretical framework, enhanced by the paradigm of product relational design and management. This statement therefore highlights the concurrent and proactive aspect of assembly oriented design vision. Central to this approach is the establishment and implementation of a complex and multiple viewpoints of product development addressing various stakeholders design and assembly planning points of view. By establishing such comprehensive relationships and identifying related relationships among several lifecycle phases, it is then possible to undertake the product design and assembly phases concurrently. Specifically, the proposed work and its application enable the management of product relationship information at the interface of product-process data management techniques. Based on the theory, models and techniques such as described in previous work, the implementation of a new hub application called PEGASUS is then described. Also based on web service technology, PEGASUS can be considered as a mediator application and/or an enabler for PLM that externalises product relationships and enables the control of information flow with internal regulation procedures. The feasibility of the approach is justified and the associated benefits are reported with a mechanical assembly as a case study
A metamodel to annotate knowledge based engineering codes as enterprise knowledge resources
No full textThe encoding of Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) software applications is
becoming a prominent tool for the automation of knowledge intensive tasks carried out
using Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology. However, limitations exist on the
ability to manage the engineering knowledge models embedded in these executable
KBE applications. This research proposes a metamodel to annotate encoded KBE
applications. Resulting from the annotation, XKMs become explicit knowledge
resources whose content can be better accessed and managed.
The attachment of metadata to data sets in enterprise repositories is a necessary step
to identify and index them so they can be queried, browsed and changed. The
sophistication of metadata models for these data “items” ranges from the simple
indexing using numbers to more sophisticated representations describing their context
information (i.e. author, creation date, etc.), their internal structure and their content.
Current engineering data repositories like Product Data Management and Product
Lifecycle Management systems offer predefined metamodels to annotate a range of
engineering data items including CAD files or special types of documents. At the
moment, there is no metadata model specifically designed to annotate KBE codes. In
this situation, an undifferentiated metadata model needs to be used for XKMs.
However, in this case the only information retained by the system about them would
be context metadata.
Once an instance of the metadata is attached to an XKM, it can be used as its identifier
within an enterprise data repository. The proposed metamodel contains abstract
entities to annotate XKMs.
The resulting descriptive model for an XKM pays attention to its internal structure and
its operation at different levels of granularity. The particular design of the proposed
metamodel positions it at a level of abstraction between non executable domain
knowledge models and executable KBE applications. This design choice is made to
support the use of the metadata not only as an informative model but also as an
executable one. The achievement of this target is becoming possible through the
emergence of semantic modelling standards that allow the description of data models
independently from the language of implementation. Using this approach, the
generation of code and metadata is made automatically using mapping rules resulting
from the semantic agreement between models and specific syntax rules.
The immediate application of the developed metamodel is to annotate XKMs within
PLM systems. The approach shall contribute not only to systematically store instances
of XKMs but also to manage the lifecycle of the engineering knowledge encoded within
them. The proposed representation provides a more comprehensive approach for non
KBE language experts to understand the code. On this basis, the change on the
metamodels can be automatically traced back to the code and vice-versa. During the
research, evidence has been gathered from the community of KBE technology users
and vendors on the need to support this research effort. In the long term, the research
contributes to the use of PLM systems as a platform for engineering knowledge
management
Fostering the Link from PLM to ERP via BIM
No full textPart 2: BIM Concepts and Lifecycle ManagementInternational audienceThis paper investigates approaches for linking Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) via structured data stemming from Building Information Modeling (BIM) to information systems that get applied for Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) across Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC). The author highlights key pathways for such integration, with a particular focus on the hurdles contractors, suppliers and manufacturers need to overcome to master their transition to BIM-enabled PLM and the associated ERP. Based on a case-study (Hickory Group), the paper analyses the opportunities for the strategic repositioning of a construction and manufacturing firm who combines PLM with BIM and ERP within its organisation
Design and analysis procedure for centrifuge devices with a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system
No full textStructural analysis of new devices to be used in centrifuge facilities can be a challenging task. Initial calculations, based on simple basic static principles, are usually used. However, as devices placed in a geotechnical centrifuge are often complex structures, advanced analysis methods to assess their performance under enhanced acceleration fields are desirable. This paper presents the analysis of the performance of a new strongbox designed for a centrifuge facility at ETH Zurich by using a commercial Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software
A Critical View on PLM/ALM Convergence in Practice and Research
No full textAbstractThe Internet of Things (IoT) is the main driver for industrial smart products produced by an increasing number of manufacturers. The overall functionality of smart products is a combination of mechanical, electrical/electronic functions (hardware functions) and software functions. For hardware and software there are different lifecycle models: Product lifecycle management (PLM) focuses on hardware, application lifecycle management (ALM) focuses on software. Smart products force manufacturers to converge both lifecycle models step by step. Although seemingly important, the research community leaves this innovative area mostly up to the PLM tool vendors and the ALM tool vendors, resulting in them driving the convergence.This paper points out the mismatch between industry and academia regarding the PLM/ALM convergence. We encourage academia to increase research activities and we propose potential research topics
A Semantic Information Retrieval Framework within the Scope of IPS2-PLM
No full textAbstractThe Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) approach faces new challenges if transferred for Industrial Product Service Systems (IPS2). The vast amount of heterogeneous data generated throughout an IPS2's lifecycle complicates the retrieval of required information for IPS2 actors. However, these actors’ risky decisions determine an IPS2's success during use phase. Thus, an approach is needed that supports actors in finding targeted information. This paper presents a framework that utilizes semantic and text mining techniques in order to improve the information retrieval process in IPS2-PLM and to allow IPS2 actors to focus on their value-adding tasks rather than spending a lot of time for finding information
Managing virtual factory artifacts in the extended PLM context
No full textVirtual engineering increases the rate of and diversity of models being created; hence requires maintenance in a product lifecycle management (PLM) system. This also induces the need to understand their creation contexts, known as historical or provenance information, to reuse the models in other engineering projects. PLM systems are specifically designed to manage product- and production-related data. However, they are less capable of handling the knowledge about the contexts of the models without an appropriate extension. Therefore, this research proposes an extension to PLM systems by designing a new information model to contain virtual models, their related data and knowledge generated from them through various engineering activities so that they can be effectively used to manage historical information related to all these virtual factory artifacts. Such an information model is designed to support a new Virtual Engineering ontology for capturing and representing virtual models and engineering activities, tightly integrated with an extended provenance model based on the W7 model. In addition, this paper presents how an application prototype, called Manage-Links, has been implemented with these extended PLM concepts and then used in several virtual manufacturing activities in an automotive company.CC BY 4.0Available online 2 June 2022, 100369Corresponding author: Iman MorshedzadehThis work was supported by the Knowledge Foundation (KKS) through the IPSI Research School at the University of Skövde [grant number 20140330], and VF-KDO Profile research project [grant number 20180011].</p
3D Reuse in PLM for Conceptual Ship Design
No full textToday 3D CAD tools have become more and more used in design processes, allowing amongst other better visualization of product, computer analysis of design, etc. Even so, in ship design, 3d-design is still combined with 2D drawings in the conceptual stage. At this point, developing the design in full 3D is not justifiable, since shipbuilding companies almost consistently use a no-cure no-pay principle at this stage. Using 3D vessel models and -software is just too complex and time-consuming. This, in its turn, causes situations where a lot of rework has to be done, because these drawings must be turned into 3D models in the subsequent stages. A method is needed to support the process and reduce the time it takes. PLM is a holistic business approach which promotes amongst others reuse of information. And the question arises; can PLM reuse simplify the 3D design process for use in conceptual ship design?
The main goal of this thesis is to create a framework where a virtual prototype can be built from existing components. The way the author wants to achieve this is by creating a library using PLM tools, where the components can be easily stored and reused in other projects. To do this a PLM reuse framework was adapted to maritime requirements. Additionally, the interfaces between vessel model and library were identified and a method to handle them found. Then these methods were applied to a case, with two different vessels, one of them where all components were designed to requirements and one where components from the previous vessel was reused.
From the cases, discussions were made about the challenges discovered and ways to improve the models. The discussions lead to a conclusion that while there are still elements to handle, PLM shows promise in providing a tool to reuse vessel components in the conceptual design stage. This thesis could only look into a few of the aspects in 3D reuse in ship design in one step of the lifecycle. PLM is about integrating data from all the stages and processes together, and the 3D components should be combined with data from these processes connecting the models with e.g. specifications, manuals, BOMs etc. When that is done the full benefits of PLM will be revealed
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