2PLM Newsletter

John Stark Associates                                                                                                                                               August 2, 2010 - Vol13 #9

Welcome to the 2PLM e-zine

This issue includes :

• Managing the Product and the Process Record: The Need for PLM in Downstream Processes
  
• BPM Project Objectives
  
• CL₂M Case Study 9 : BOL Adaptive Production of Automotive Components
  
• PLM News

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It is well known that getting a product to market quickly is critical to a company's success. There are many steps involved in this process and manufacturers need to continuously find areas to improve upon in order to meet their product goals. One area that is often overlooked is product test and assembly. Even automated test and assembly processes can take considerable time and effort to prepare, document, and describe all of the required steps and procedures. Since many manufacturers rely on outsourced partners for test and assembly, inherent problems such as lack of access to product data, time zone/availability issues, and language barriers can often lead to delays in product release schedules.

Describing and documenting the procedures involved in a product's test and assembly process are often referred to as BOM Routing. BOM Routing allows the manufacturer to split a product Bill of Material (BOM) into a series of operations and sequences to describe how a particular assembly process/step is to be performed and which materials are consumed by each step. Some refer to such descriptions as recipes, since it draws many parallels to the culinary world.

For many manufacturers, routing information is created in Material Requirement Planning (MRP) systems while others will use custom applications or spreadsheets. Many of these legacy systems lack the ability to link the routing data to engineering information such as CAD drawings, behavioral parameters, and vendor specifications / datasheets. This information is typically stored in a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system. Moreover, manufacturers have begun using graphical depictions (photos, images, and drawings) to further describe complex test and assembly procedures and assist with language barrier / translation issues. The ability to view a picture of a particular procedure along with (or in lieu of) written instructions - a capability not commonly available in MRP/ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems - can help eliminate mistakes and ensure a higher level of quality.

Tying BOM Routing to the Product Record with PLM
PLM systems have traditionally focused on engineering and product data management processes. As PLM has evolved, and its functionality has grown to encompass more information management across an organization, there is an obvious fit for PLM to support downstream processes such as BOM Routing. PLM provides a central location to manage all of the information associated to a product, automates processes, and provides tracking capabilities to easily capture and resolve issues. Because PLM manages information electronically, paper-based, error-prone processes can be eliminated. 

Typically, the PLM system is where BOMs are created and revisions of the BOMs are managed. The natural evolution is to have the PLM system provide the BOM Routing functionality to define test and assembly operations and sequences in order to link these processes back to engineering data stored within the PLM system. This can provide test and assembly personnel with the ability to easily view documents, drawings, and pictures directly from the PLM vault. Using PLM as the source for BOM Routing also offers the ability to validate all Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and new BOM revisions with the routings/work instructions.

Integrating with ERP/MRP
Integration between PLM and ERP/MRP is still important to effectively manage routings because cost and timeline information is driven from ERP/MRP systems. Most companies with both PLM and ERP/MRP systems in place have established an integration process which passes new and updated BOMs and revisions from PLM to ERP/MRP. Passing routing information is a simple extension of that integration and allows both systems to contain synchronized BOM and routing information.

Key Benefits of Managing BOM Routing with PLM Technology

1. Link routing information directly to engineering data/product record
2. Provide graphical depictions for accurate assembly
3. Revision-based routing to maintain revision history
4. Automated Change/ECO process to verify/update routing information
5. Electronic workflow approval process
6. Dynamic BOM validation to identify inventory issues
7. Create Corrective Actions dynamically from routing operations
8. Eliminate paper print outs

Chuck Cimalore, the CTO and Co-founder of Omnify Software, is an expert in business-ready PLM solutions for small to mid-size businesses and has helped original equipment manufacturers streamline development cycles, accelerate product innovation and improve bottom-line profitability. Cimalore can be reached at 978-988-3800 or ccimalore@omnifysoft.com

There has to be a reason for a company to embark on a Business Process Management [BPM] project. Otherwise you would never start one.

Tips for starting your BPM Project:

• Identify the problem. What needs to change so that the problem will either go away or become manageable? Some process either takes too much time or is mistake-prone or is not customer-friendly, etc.
• Translate those needs into an objective. Maybe shorten the process cycle time by 50%?
• Identify meaningful metrics so that you can measure your success against your objective
• Measure the current process to record the "before" baseline
• Gather metrics to assess your ongoing success
• Learn from the results
• Make the necessary process improvements that will help you achieve your objectives

There is virtually no chance that you can achieve process perfection on the first pass, so give that up. Do the best you can and then make the necessary improvements to your process as you go. This "process" will continue indefinitely because "change" happens.

In this uncertain economy, effective process management is a key ingredient to success that allows you to break out as a market leader.

Your Thoughts....

What steps has your company taken to be a market leader?

Scott Cleveland can be contacted on +1 408-464-6387

The DSS developed for this application performs the following functions:

• Analysis of the impact of a modification request on product machining times in order to identify how the modification changes the product manufacturing processes.
• Analysis of the impact of a modification request on the production rate of the manufacturing system and calculation of the new capacity of the adapted production system.

• Analysis of the impact of a modification on production cost.
• Selection of the most effective system adaptation to respond to the current product modification request. This task is very complex and the time available is short, therefore the DSS explores a wider range of possible alternative solutions. Previously, the adoption of a sub-optimal solution may have caused the supplier to run its production system at non-optimal conditions or to lose the bid for the modification.
• Selection of the most effective system adaptation to respond to predicted future requests for product modification.
• Shares information and knowledge among all the technicians participating to the adaptation process. This reduces the lead time of the modification request because information is more quickly accessible and concurrent engineering concepts can be fully adopted.

The advantages delivered by the DSS can be translated in the following business benefits for the supplier:

• Lower production costs owing to the adoption of optimal solutions for adapting production systems.
• Increased revenue owing to reduced lead times for requests for product modification, which in turn leads to an increase in the number of offers accepted by the supplier's customers.
• Increased profit owing to improved accuracy in setting the price for a modification.

In principle, the methodologies and tools implemented in this demonstrator are also applicable to many other production scenarios. They can be exploited wherever there is a frequent need of product modification, either in cases where the new product cannot be technically produced by the existing system configuration, or where this can be done only by incurring significant losses in the system performance and quality offered.

Registered users who are logged in to cl2m.com will be able to access the full public text of this PROMISE demonstrator case study by following this link: Case Study 9: BOL Adaptive Production of Automotive Components. There is no charge for registration.

In the next issue of the 2PLM newsletter, I will present the tenth and last in this series of case studies, dealing with the application of PROMISE technologies to support middle-of-life predictive maintenance for white goods.

David Potter is Chief Technical Officer, Promise Innovation International Oy, and former Chairman of the Project Steering Board of the EU PROMISE Project.