Manufacturing products involve a great amount of product information from the design phase onwards. To ensure that the operation runs smoothly, information must be transparent across the organization and available to those who need it. The product and all the related information must be managed efficiently throughout the entire product lifecycle, even after the product is taken out of use and has to be disposed of in a sustainable way.
Smart Manufacturing is the endeavour to design, deploy, connect and manage enterprise manufacturing operations and systems that enable proactive management of the manufacturing through informed, timely (as close to real-time as possible), in-depth decision execution (definition by MESA International – White Paper 52).
Smart Manufacturing’s goal is to create the Self-Organized Plant, where people support the process but are not in the process. The individualisation of mass produced products is one of the goals as well as products fully recyclable in an eco-friendly process with production and consumption brought closer and closer together. The journey will be achieved step by step in realistic steps as technologies mature and bring business benefit. Product design will support the transformation, smart digital transformation.
Adequate processing of materials into a finished product in both the real world and in cyber space (digital twin) requires a complete set of manufacturing master data defining all aspects of the product and how it has to be made. In order to enable decision execution by Cyber Physical Systems, full Product Lifecycle Management is required.
What do we do?
ATS helps manufacturers to improve their Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) by following PLM Best Practices:
- Providing standards and guidelines
- Capturing and categorizing exemplars
- Providing rich interpersonal communications and coordination
- Mapping information flows and sources
.
.
ATS integrates these best practices with PLM tools as:
- Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) and Simulation
- Engineering Data Management (EDM)
- Product Data Management (PDM)
- Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)
How do we do it?
ATS helps manufacturers to:
Find PLM initiatives to support corporate objectives
See beyond functional barriers
Identify decisions that are sub-optimal
Stretch change muscle
Converge PLM and Manufacturing Execution Systems / Manufacturing Operations Management (MES/MOM) process capability models to enable concurrent development of new products and manufacturing processes to accelerate Time-to-Market (TTM)
Think “One Organization”
The result is in an integrated, information-driven approach comprising people, processes/practices, and technology in all aspects of a product’s life, from its creative design through manufacturing, deployment and maintenance, culminating in the product’s removal from service and final disposal. By trading product information for wasted time, energy, and material across the entire organization and into the supply chain, PLM from ATS drives the next generation of lean thinking.
Customer Benefits
Improved “Right first Time” by having correct manufacturing master data available at each operation, driving down cost-per-unit.
Faster release of product/process changes to the shop floor, improving agility.
Shortened Time-to-Market by concurrent development of new products and manufacturing processes.
Reduced cost of New Product Development and Introduction (NPDI) by aligned PLM and MES/MOM capability models.
Future of Product Lifecycle Management
The introduction of digitalization, Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technologies and approaches is increasing the need for full Product Lifecycle Management. More detailed information is required for the inception of concepts such as the digital twin and the digital thread in Cyber Physical Systems.
Customer demand will continue to become more dynamic and less predictable. New Product Development and Introduction has to become faster, more effective and more efficient. PLM best practices and tools will help to meet these challenges.
Product Lifecycle Management Success Stories
