Enabling Product Development and Other Life Cycle Processes
by Erisa K. Hines
2005 Master’s Thesis for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Motivation:
Product Data Management applications greatly impact the way companies do business throughout their
product lifecycle – it is not just CAD drawings anymore. There is an expectation of greater data accuracy,
cycle time efficiency, and collaboration within the enterprise. Just this year, the aerospace industry is
expected to spend $10.4 billion on PDM/PLM technologies.1 That much and more in savings has been
promised by vendors. Many companies are deriving some benefits of PDM, but the full potential is not
being realized as suppliers struggle to catch up.
Consultants and vendors have provided assistance to industry, but have not focused on the state of
implementation and needs across it. My research attempts to assist industry in understanding where it’s
been, where it’s going, and how to get there successfully as an enterprise transforms with PDM in tow.
Where Data Elements Are Managed (Past)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
non-CM
CM
PDM+
PDM
CA
D
CA 2D
M D
et 3D
a
Da
t
Sc En EB a
an g OM
St D No
ru raw tes
c
To t A ing
ol na s
in ly
g si
M s
od
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C
Pr M AE
o
B
No cu O
n- rem M
co e
nf n
Te Da t
st ta
D
PM ata
Fi D
el at
M dD a
ai a
t
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th a
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Percentage (Programs)
Key Questions:
• What is the value of PDM?
• What are the high level requirements of
PDM?
• How is the management of data
evolving?
• What makes a successful
implementation?
• How are the technology and
organization evolving? Who is driving?
Research Methodology
• 9 sites (6 companies): 24 programs
• Structured interviews:
Site and process interview
Program interviews
• 2 case studies
Data Elements
Evolution of Data Management
Where Data Elements Are Managed (Future)
non-CM
CM
PDM+
PDM
CA
D
C 2D
M AD
et 3D
a
Da
ta
Sc E EB
n
an g OM
St Dr No
ru aw te
s
c
To t A ing
ol nal s
in ys
g
M is
od
el
s
C
Pr M AE
oc B
No u O
n- rem M
co e
nf nt
Te Da
st ta
D
PM ata
Fi D
el a
M d D ta
ai a
n t
O tD a
th a
e t
Sc r D a
he ata
du
le
s
Percentage (Programs)
100%
Results:
90%
80%
• PDM remains focused on the design stage
70%
60%
• Suppliers moving up the food chain: Need
50%
40%
for product data management capability
30%
20%
• Change management and data migration
10%
0%
are the biggest challenges/pitfalls
• Lean and program practices should be
used when implementing PDM capability
• PDM enables “Enterprise Lean” by
Data Elements
providing the opportunity to address
enterprise processes
• PDM goes beyond design engineering, enabling the enterprise in their long-term goals
Poster can be seen at http://lean.mit.edu
Research Team: Erisa K Hines (erisak@mit.edu), Tom Shields (shields@mit.edu), and Jayakanth Srninivasan (jksrini@mit.edu)