Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

 

Notixia offers PLM-MPM solutions to help extended enterprises to gather, manage, share and optimize their proprietary engineering knowledge as an extension of the existing PLM principles.

It address the complete Product Life cycle value chain and fill-in the product related gap between Marketing (Specifications and Requirements Management), Engineering (CAD/PDM), Manufacturing (MPM) and Production (ERP) never before address by other major enterprise applications.

Simplify global data management throughout your product/service's lifecycle

 

Software modules:

• MPM / CAPP - Process planning editor
• Resource management module
• PDM/CAD integration module
• eBoM-mBoM synchronization module
• Document management module
• Cost simulation and evaluation module
• Manufacturing 3D viewer module
• Line balancing module
• Report generator module
• TDC FMEA module
• Part finder module
• ECIP development infrastructure

 

MPM / CAPP - Process planning editor

---

• Standardize your processes and enforce your Best Practices
• Create your operations from a standard library to enhance work parametrization and define basic operating instructions
• Manage your process configurations in synch with product configurations
• Manage precedence constraints to let the software defines the best sequence of operations
• Visualize the assembly process critical path to have a clear understanding of bottle necks before going into production
• Get full 3D contextual views of your products and resources at each assembly operation to reduce manufacturing errors: 
  • Fast detection of incorrectly defined operations
  • Ease the understanding of your assembly process
• Define your resource requirements (work-units, tooling, ...) based on resource templates to let downstream applications (line balancing tool, scheduler) decide for the right production resources to work with Have the capabilities to view all your resource requirements in a synthetic view
• Create your mBoM dynamically
• Assign parts to your process based on your mBoM using a product centric approach
• Synchronize your mBoM with all modifications on your process using a process centric approach
• Know which parts are allocated and where in the process using the part accounting view Integrate your documents whatever the format in your process using the Document management module: 
  • Manufacturing specifications
  • Manufacturing rules and procedures
  • Regulatory documents
  • 2D drawings
  • Legacy data
• Generate automatically your process sheets with multiple 3D views to simplify operator instructions
• Get directly on the shop floor your 3D models to reduce documentation work and project cost
• Generate custom and standard reports to ease communication of your processes

 

Resource management module

• Define your production work-units, fixtures and tools using our resource templates and resource catalogs
• Create and edit your plant structure to design your Bill of Resources (BoR)
• Use the 3D views to get an overview of your production facility
• Easily manage your tools and fixtures when coupled with the Inventory management module

 

PDM/CAD integration module

• Communicate with major CAD and PDM: Solidworks, CATIA V5, Pro-e, Inventor, SmarTeam, VPM, Windchill
• Custom integration to fit your requirements
• Generic XML import/export infrastructure
• Complete product management for manufacturing needs (mBoM)

 

eBoM-mBoM synchronization module

• Import from your CAD or PDM system any Product Engineering Definition (eBoM): 
  • Assembly and part relationships
  • Assembly and part multi-instances
  • Meta-data attached to part revisions and instances
  • Product configurations Complete 3D model positioning
• Edit your mBoM from your eBoM
• Update your eBoM to reflect engineering changes (EC)
• See the impacts of the ECs to your processes: at the assembly level
• Reconciliate d ata between your BoM and enforce changes in your mBoM
• Make engineer collaboration between departments a reality
• Reduce the design to production cycle time
• Reduce your design and manufacturing engineering iteration costs

 

Document management module

---

• Capture your know-how using our fully integrated document management module
• Track your document revisions and iterations
• Enable engineer collaboration: 
  • Multiple engineers can work together on the same documents
  • Life cycle control the state of the documents
  • Access right control to enforce the security of your know-how
  • Simplify data sharing thanks to a tight integration to all other modules
• Use all your documents on the shop floor and eliminate not up-to-date document errors
• Insure that all new released documents are read by the right people
• Enforce standardization and ease of quality control and certifications

Manufacturing 3D viewer module

---

• Dedicated 3D viewer for process planners
• No native CAD softwares required when 3D models are imported
• See products in context in the processes
• Reduce manufacturing errors: 
  • Fast detection of incorrectly defined operations
• Ease the understanding of the assembly processes
• Get 3D models directly on the shop floor, reduce documentation work and project cost

 

Line balancing module

---

• Calculate your cycle time based on production data
• Integrate you product variants and marketing data
• Determine the best operation to resource allocation to execute your process
• Use our dynamic overloaded work-unit detection mechanism to ease the allocation and then validation processes
• Insure that all precedence constraints and resource flow will be satisfied
• Do multiple simulations with different assembly line structures or cycle times
• Insure that stations, work-units and toolings are compatible with the resource requirements attached to the allocated operations
• Get full 3D views of the simulated assembly line including product data

 

Cost simulation and evaluation module

---

• Evaluate the cost of your BoM and processes early in the design process
• Determine the best suppliers according to your delays
• Compare BoM by doing cost simulations
• Generate reports and much more
• Fully integrated to quote management
• Accurately evaluate the cost of your products

 

Report generator module

• Generate custom and predefined reports and documents in many formats: 
  • Portable Document Format (.pdf)
  • Comma Separated Values (.csv)
  • Plain Text File (.txt)
  • MS-Excel (.xls)
  • Web Page (.html) and more...
• Automatic process sheet generation with dynamic up-to-date 3D pictures from your processes

 

Part finder module

Find Similar 3D models from your legacy projects! Most of the parts that are manufactured have already been manufactured. However, before machining a newly designed part, it may be difficult to tell which parts that have already been manufactured are similar to the new part. The Part finder can be used to retrieve previously manufactured parts that are similar to the new part based on their geometry. Such knowledge would allow process planners to use existing process plans (partially or totally), with the following benefits:

• Save time Reproduce the company's best practices in a systematic way
• Reuse existing tooling rather than creating new one

 

ECIP development infrastructure

• Develop your own software without the assle of recoding standard software mechanisms
• Low development cost and licensing
• Capitalize over a highly stable infrastructure

 

Notixia solutions have been designed to provide a broad set of integrated applications for the complete Product Lifecycle:

• Part & Assembly management
• Configuration management
• Product function management (FDPM)
• Document management
• Process management
• Resource management
• GD&T and features management
• Production Scheduling
• Light weight execution system (MES)

 

Industries

Many industries can take advantage of Notixia solutions to help them fulfill their strategic vision:

• Automotive Heavy
• Transports
• Recreational Products
• Aerospace
• General machining
• Medical

 

 

What is MPM?

Manufacturing Process Management is a collection of technology and methods used in the manufacture of products. It incorporates such technologies as computer-aided production engineering (CAPE), Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), the utilization of CAD and AEC tools for factory layout and digital mockup (DMU) and simulation for assembly analysis. As the digital manufacturing part of the PLM process it is the bridge from product design to production planning and on to resource and inventory scheduling. As CAD defines what is to be made; and ERP/MRP defines when it is to be made; MPM defines how it will be made.

A cornerstone of MPM is the central repository for manufacturing data management (MDM) similar to PDM for design data. MPM takes the product data eBOM (engineering Bill of Material) to create the process oriented mBOM (manufacturing) along with a bill of process (BOP). This together with the management of resources such as tools, machines and work centers forms the so called 3PR data (product process plant resources). The integration of all these tools and activities aids in the exploration of alternative production line scenarios; making assembly lines more efficient with the aim of reduced lead time to product launch, shorter product times and reduced work in progress (WIP) inventories as well as allowing rapid response to product or product changes.