Chapter 4: Information Architectures and Implementation

Title: Parametric Object Reuse within Product Lifecycle Management

Author(s): Jonathan Lund, Nathaniel Fife, C. Greg Jensen

Address: Brigham Young University 152 CB Provo, UT 84602 | Brigham Young University 152 CB Provo, UT 84602 | Brigham Young University 152 CB Provo, UT 84602

Reference: International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management 2005 pp. 210 - 220

Abstract/Summary: The architecture of modern PLM systems is an ideal environment for distributed knowledge-based engineering. However, despite the underlying database being a natural place for storing parametric model information, commercial systems store all models as individual files, creating redundancy and difficulty in automation. This paper proposes the storage of design variations as metadata in order to leverage the speed and versatility of the database. For this, a generic schema for parametric objects has been created to efficiently store designs in two parts - a master model and the variation data. With design data separate from proprietary files, design information is neutral and can therefore be manipulated or viewed in any program or format. Design data can also be linked to or inherit from other datasets. This neutrality provides a foundation for PLM-based automation, optimisation, task-driven product development, report generation and parallel processing. An add-in to Teamcenter Engineering has been created to enable this type of storage and automation of parametric designs.

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