Product lifecycle


In industry, product lifecycle management is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design, and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PLM integrates people, data, processes, and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprises.

History

The inspiration for the burgeoning business process now known as PLM came from American Motors Corporation. The automaker was looking for a way to speed up its product development process to compete better against its larger competitors in 1985, according to François Castaing, Vice President for Product Engineering and Development. AMC focused its R&D efforts on extending the product lifecycle of its flagship products, particularly Jeeps, because it lacked the "massive budgets of General Motors, Ford, and foreign competitors." After introducing its compact Jeep Cherokee, the vehicle that launched the modern sport utility vehicle market, AMC began development of a new model, that later came out as the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The first part in its quest for faster product development was computer-aided design software system that made engineers more productive. The second part of this effort was the new communication system that allowed conflicts to be resolved faster, as well as reducing costly engineering changes because all drawings and documents were in a central database. The product data management was so effective that after Chrysler purchased AMC, the system was expanded throughout the enterprise connecting everyone involved in designing and building products. While an early adopter of PLM technology, Chrysler was able to become the auto industry's lowest-cost producer, recording development costs that were half of the industry average by the mid-1990s.

Forms

PLM systems help organizations cope with the increasing complexity and engineering challenges of developing new products for the global competitive markets.
Product lifecycle management should be distinguished from 'product life-cycle management '. PLM describes a product's engineering aspect, from managing its descriptions and properties through its development and useful life. In contrast, PLCM refers to the commercial management of a product's life in the business market concerning costs and sales measures.
Product lifecycle management can be considered one of the four cornerstones of a manufacturing corporation's information technology structure. All companies need to manage communications and information with their customers, their suppliers and fulfillment, their resources within the enterprise and their product planning and development.
One form of PLM is called people-centric PLM. While traditional PLM tools have been deployed only on or during the release phase, people-centric PLM targets the design phase.
As of 2009, ICT development has allowed PLM to extend beyond traditional PLM and integrate sensor data and real-time 'lifecycle event data' into PLM, as well as allowing this information to be made available to different players in the total lifecycle of an individual product. This broader reach has resulted in the extension of PLM into closed-loop lifecycle management.

Benefits

Documented benefits of product lifecycle management include:
  • Reduced time to market
  • Increased full-price sales
  • Improved product quality and reliability
  • Reduced prototyping costs
  • More accurate and timely requests for quote generation
  • Ability to quickly identify potential sales opportunities and revenue contributions
  • Savings through the re-use of original data
  • A framework for product optimization
  • Reduced waste
  • Savings through the complete integration of engineering workflows
  • Stronger project management – plans, tracks, and manages tasks, timelines, and milestones
  • Documentation that can assist in proving compliance for RoHS or Title 21 CFR Part 11
  • Ability to provide contract manufacturers with access to a centralized product record
  • Seasonal fluctuation management
  • Improved forecasting to reduce material costs
  • Maximize supply chain collaboration

    Overview of product lifecycle management

Within PLM there are five primary areas;
  1. Systems engineering is focused on meeting all requirements, primarily meeting customer needs, and coordinating the systems design process by involving all relevant disciplines. An important aspect of lifecycle management is a subset within Systems Engineering called Reliability Engineering.
  2. Product and portfolio management2 are focused on managing resource allocation, tracking progress, planning for new product development projects that are in process. Portfolio management is a tool that assists management in tracking progress on new products and making trade-off decisions when allocating scarce resources.
  3. Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business to its customers.
  4. Manufacturing process management is a collection of technologies and methods used to define how products are to be manufactured.
  5. Product data management is focused on capturing and maintaining information on products and/or services through their development and useful life. Change management is an important part of PDM/PLM.
''Note: While application software is not required for PLM processes, the business complexity and rate of change requires organizations to execute as rapidly as possible.''

Introduction to development process

The core of PLM is the creation and central management of all product data and the technology used to access this information and knowledge. PLM as a discipline emerged from tools such as CAD, CAM and PDM, but can be viewed as the integration of these tools with methods, people and the processes through all stages of a product's life. It is not just about software technology but is also a business strategy.
For simplicity, the stages described are shown in a traditional sequential engineering workflow.
The exact order of events and tasks will vary according to the product and industry in question but the main processes are:
  • Conceive
  • *Specification
  • *Concept design
  • Design
  • *Detailed design
  • *Validation and analysis
  • *Tool design
  • Realise
  • *Plan manufacturing
  • *Manufacture
  • *Build/Assemble
  • *Test
  • Service
  • *Sell and deliver
  • *Use
  • *Maintain and support
  • *Dispose
The major key point events are:
  • Order
  • Idea
  • Kickoff
  • Design freeze
  • Launch
The reality is however more complex, people and departments cannot perform their tasks in isolation and one activity cannot simply finish, and the next activity start. Design is an iterative process, often designs need to be modified due to manufacturing constraints or conflicting requirements. Whether a customer order fits into the timeline depends on the industry type and whether the products are, for example, built to order, engineered to order, or assembled to order.

Phases of product lifecycle and corresponding technologies

Many software solutions have been developed to organize and integrate the different phases of a product's lifecycle. PLM should not be considered as a single software product, but as a collection of software tools and working methods integrated to address single stages of the lifecycle, connect different tasks, or manage the whole process. Some software providers cover the whole PLM range, while others have a single niche application. Some applications can span many fields of PLM with different modules within the same data model. An overview of the fields within PLM is covered here. The simple classifications do not always fit exactly; many areas overlap, and many software products cover more than one area or do not fit easily into one category.
One of the main goals of PLM is to collect knowledge that can be reused for other projects and to coordinate the simultaneous concurrent development of many products. It is about business processes, people, and methods as much as software application solutions. Although PLM is mainly associated with engineering tasks, it also involves marketing activities such as product portfolio management, particularly concerning new product development. Each industry has several life-cycle models to consider, but most are relatively similar.
Below is one possible life-cycle model; while it emphasizes hardware-oriented products, similar phases would describe any form of product or service, including non-technical or software-based products:

Phase 1: Conceive

Imagine, specify, plan, innovate

The first stage is the definition of the product requirements based on customer, company, market, and regulatory bodies' viewpoints. From this specification, the product's major technical parameters can be defined. In parallel, the initial concept design work is performed, defining the aesthetics of the product together with its main functional aspects. Many different media are used for these processes, from pencil and paper to clay models to 3D CAID computer-aided industrial design software.
In some concepts, the investment of resources into research or analysis of options may be included in the conception phase – e.g., bringing the technology to a level of maturity sufficient to move to the next phase. However, life-cycle engineering is iterative. It is always possible that something does not work well in any phase enough to back up into a prior phase – perhaps back to conception or research. There are many examples to draw from.
The new product development process phase collects and evaluates market and technical risks by measuring the KPI and scoring model.

Phase 2: Design

Describe, define, develop, test, analyze and validate

This step is where the detailed design and development of the product's form starts, progressing to prototype testing, from pilot release to full product launch. It can also involve redesign and ramping to improve existing products and planned obsolescence. CAD is the primary tool used for design and development. This can be simple 2D drawing/drafting or 3D parametric feature-based solid/surface modeling. Such software may include Hybrid Modeling, Reverse Engineering, KBE, NDT, and Assembly construction.
This step covers many engineering disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and domain-specific, such as architectural, aerospace, and automotive. Along with creating geometry, the components and product assemblies are analyzed. Simulation, validation, and optimization tasks are carried out using CAE software, either integrated into the CAD package or stand-alone. These are used to perform tasks such as Stress analysis, FEA, kinematics, computational fluid dynamics, and mechanical event simulation. CAQ is used for tasks such as Dimensional tolerance analysis. Another task performed at this stage is sourcing bought-out components, possibly with the aid of procurement systems.