Management of technical data for designing and manufacturing processes.

Musca, Gavril ; Musca, Elena ; Merticaru, Vasile 等

1. INTRODUCTION

Many important PLM software companies are acting today on the profile market. Among them we can nominate: Siemens, SAP, Arena Solutions, Dassault Systemes, PTC and Oracle. As a result of the research and business activities of these companies, many PLM systems, including Arena, Agile, eMatrix, Enovia, I-man, Metaphase, SAP PLM, Sherpa, SmarTeam, Teamcenter and Windchill have been released and implemented within a lot of organizations. Productive companies such as machine manufacturing enterprises usually have to manage a great number of variants in their product portfolios and they must also be agile and achieve short delivery times, as long as most of the customers ask for specific and individually developed solutions within a continuous and fast changing market environment.

2. MANAGEMENT OF TECHNICAL DATA IN PDM/PLM SYSTEMS

Technical data must be organized in special databases able to allow searching, retrieving, changing and current use of data, because they have a set of characteristics that impose this aspect, as follow: they are large and need an important memory resource; they have a complex structure (different formats resulted from: general design data, data referring to component parts of the product, CAD model, technological data, CAM model, data regarding the testing and simulation of the product's behaviour etc.); they have a dynamic structure which is used in several products, assemblies, subassemblies; they are frequently modified at least for two reasons: changes imposed by the optimization of the manufacturing and of the functioning conditions and also changes imposed by the beneficiaries' requests such as shape, colour, dimensions etc.

Data are heterogeneous because for a product there are original components, re-used components or modified components, and for each component part we meet the technological model (CAM), the model for testing, simulation, behaviour, adjacent data (tasks, messages, calculus sheets, reports etc.).

In conclusion, there are various databases for different stages of the product development, with the following disadvantages (Musca et al., 2008):

a) These databases have different data structures;

b) Difficulties occur in data analysis and processing;

c) The communication between these databases is difficult.

That is why the realization of some databases able to assure the data management along the entire product lifecycle (PDM, PLM) is absolutely necessary.

PLM databases have an efficient structure and they are organized on other principles than the purpose and the stage they address to.

For an efficient management of the technical data, the stages in the product lifecycle must be considered. The efficiency comes from: easiness of data searching and retrieving, in all the stages (designing, manufacturing, selling, use etc.). The method is named data management for the entire product lifecycle and has two main stages: a) the management of the technical data and of the documentation (PDM) and b) the entire data management for the entire product lifecycle (PLM).

3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCT VARIANTS USING PLM

More and more concern is noticed for the development of on-line collaboration platforms in the field of mechanical CAD. Interest in CAD designing based on solid entities occurs both for students and designers from many firms specialized in designing and manufacturing. Success in the activity of implementing of mechanical projects developed in CAD environments is also determined by gating know the procedures for the management of CAD files, of revisions and their modifications. The large number of CAD files and of other appendix documents of a project and their development in local or collaborative networks require familiarity of the product developers with the procedures of technical data management. The experience of some teams for the implementation of some PLM systems shows that the formation and training of specialists in PDM/PLM is a current necessity (Grieves, 2006). Collaborative development of mechanical projects indicates that more and more participants in the projects development, specialized in designing, manufacturing, marketing, presentation, sales and maintenance of products perceive the product development as a social activity, and as one collaboration between different specialists. There are necessary skills for integrating the communication channels, for accelerating data exchange, for on-line development of product components and assemblies (Samuel et al., 2006).

A case study on collaborative design developed at MIT shows interest in team project development, consulting experts and using variants of the project, taking elements from libraries and project archives. The results of this study define the ideal on-line system as a common area of work, having attached a database for the project in continuous development; an area to solve problems, and also an open communication and social interaction area (Sawhney, 2009).

The paper presents the efforts of a team from the CAD/CAM/PLM Laboratory from Technical University Iasi (TUI) for collaborative development of some industrial projects. TeamCenter environment has been used for product data management and the projects development uses SolidEdge. Previous concerns included the development of projects of stamping devices within some work teams. The integration of the PLM environment was realized within a VPN network providing the collaborative development conditions. The optimization of the structure of the approached products used both the facilities of SolidEdge and of the TeamCenter environment, fig.1. For a type project of stamping device, 18 project variants have been developed. Each variant has different dimensions and components, being available for further development, fig.2. The completion of a certain project is done by analyzing the workability of the parts processed by stamping, designing of the scheme for placing the parts on the sheet metal strip and the process of working phases. According to these elements, one of the previously designed variants is used, which by configuration and dimensions frames the working scheme developed for a stipulated part. The active elements (the punches) are designed and function with the active plate while the port-punch plate are adapted. The elements for material guidance, the fixing and retaining of material during processing and the evacuation of the stamped elements are developed further on.

Using the data management systems, project variants are developed, characterized by codification of assemblies, subassemblies and components. These variants are available in final or archived variant.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

4. CONCLUSION

The work proposes a collaborative methodology for developing some type projects, specific to the machine manufacturing industry. The realization of the projects for some stamping devices, using computer aided design software, uses the experience and the speciality knowledge of the economic agents, partners in the project and the abilities of the teams in the universities in the field of knowing the latest CAD software at the international level. The development of the design knowledge at the level of the network of the partners in the project is assured by integrating the CAD, CAM and CAE modules into an integrated solution, into an open developing environment, leading to a greater efficiency of integrating information in the designed products and processes. The idea of including in the partnership a university specialized in design allows for a collaborative conceiving activity which leads to the introduction of some aesthetical aspects, favourable to the development of competitive products. These approaches are stipulated in the phase of product conception but also in that of presentating and realizing some visualization elements, product promotion and presentation catalogues, using specialized software compatible to the software used in computer aided design. The work proposes to use product lifecycle management software for small and medium companies, which ensure collaboration oriented to product and based on web platform to develop new products, quickly and with reduced costs. One of the requests is to develop projects using technical data management for the phases of the product lifecycle. The phases of the developing cycle are:

* realization of some alternative variants of project, characterized by different dimensions,

* different solutions for solving conception problems or manufacturing technology; typifying and normalization of some families of parts or assemblies;

* finishing an efficient solution for the management of the information and of the technical data developed in previous phases, at the level of the partnership network.

The ability of technical data management must facilitate synchronization of knowledge about product with ERP systems, allowing economic agents to maximize the profitability starting from the design phase, as opposed to actual tackling which is based on production costs control.

For access and use of CAD-PLM software, one Virtual Private Network (VPN) was developed by the team members that collaborate in development of product, in CAD-PLM Laboratory of Technical University Iasi. We realized a tele-working system used by students, engineers and researchers. This system imposes very exactly the scheduling of the activities and stages to develop the product. We will develop the procedures for a better communication between the members of our team through e-mail, documents files, attached and included in data base of developed product.

5. REFERENCES

Grieves, Michael (2006). Product Lifecycle Management, McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 0-07-145230-3, USA

Musca, G., Merticaru, V.jr., Ciofu, C., Carausu, C., Tabacaru, L., Musca, E. & Iosip, M. (2008). Definirea conceptului PLM implementarea unei solufii PLM, in: Cresterea competitivitafii companiilor folosind proiectarea asistata de calculator si managementul datelor (Define the concept and implementation of a PLM solutions, in: Enhancing the competitiveness of companies using computer aided design and data management), Editura PIM, ISBN 978-973-716918-1, Romania

Samuel, S., Weeks, E. & Kelley, M. (2006). Teamcente Engineering and Product Lifecycle Management. Basics, Design Visionaires, ISBN:0-9754-3774-7, USA

***Sawhney, Nitin, Collaborative Design and Learning in Studio Courses. Phase 1: Summary of Online Survey Conducted at MIT, Available from: http://web.media.mit.edu/[jenny]nitin/thesis/CDLstudyMITsurvey-jul10.pdf. Accessed: 2009-05-12

***(2009), Teamcenter Engineering & SolidEdge. Documentation, Available from: http://support.ugs.com/docs/