Understanding the PLM field Product Lifecycle Management PLM is a broad concept that encompasses product information management. Product information includes initial market definition, design, prototype, manufacturing, sales, and after-sales services from product generation to completion. The PLM system is not a single data management system, it is a collection of systems and tools. The main data in the PLM system is the necessary documentation for product manufacturing. Typically, it includes at least a list of production drawings, raw materials, and purchased parts for the manufactured product (typically included in the bill of materials {BOM}. There is usually some additional information, such as some special handling instructions in the manufacturing process, including Inside. As time changes, some changes are made to the product when the product problem is corrected or the product is upgraded. The details of the modification process must be documented to ensure consistency with the supply and manufacturing process. From the data associated with PLM, the direct source of quantity should be design data, including the design of the mechanical part, the design data of the electronic part, and the software code. The history of PLM applications Current PLM vendors and systems originate in the mechanical design industry. Engineering drawings have been possible from the initial manual drawing to the development of computers and the advent of computer-aided design (CAD), making it possible to digitize engineering drawings and control them on a computer. In the early 1980s, the EDA industry emerged. At this time, traditional CAD companies tried to enter the EDA market from the point of view of mechanical design, but found it difficult to compete with professional EDA companies in the field of electronic design. Today, despite many attempts, all mechanical CAD companies do not have a successful EDA product. The main reason for their failure in this new market is their lack of expertise in the field of electronic design. Since electronic data and mechanical data are fundamentally different in type and complexity, it is impossible to apply mechanical-based tools and techniques to the EDA field. Therefore, most PLM vendors today have a good performance in managing MCAD design and data. Basically, there are integrated functions of MCAD tools, and other functions are becoming more and more perfect, such as project management, knowledge management, and gradual improvement. All joined the digital manufacturing solution. However, for the management of EDA design and design data, the current PLM system does not have a good solution. The need for PLM in the EDA design field The EDA design field is different from the mechanical design field. There are generally specific design flows, from front-end schematic design to back-end PCB design. A typical electronic design environment consists of multiple tools from multiple vendors. In extreme cases, due to differences between application tools, Different data management systems to support. This inconsistency requires a customized data management solution when trying to understand and control the data of the entire electronic design portfolio. Some of the largest ECAD vendors have developed basic data management tools to support their customers. If your design tool flow consists primarily of tools from a single vendor, you can use the tools provided by these vendors as a basic library management and design data management solution. Unfortunately, the vast majority of systems cannot support multi-vendor hybrid processes, nor can they easily connect to other data sources in the enterprise and bring the information of these external systems to the designer's desktop. In addition, the design becomes more and more complex, the design team becomes a global team, and to improve the team's productivity, more and more experts will be required to work together, which also puts higher and higher requirements on collaborative work. . For EDA design engineering, the system needs to provide the following two aspects: Through these two steps, collaborative design is made possible to balance global resources and improve overall efficiency in product development. Because design decisions have a huge impact on supply chain issues that affect cost, reliability, and product manufacturing efficiency, it is important to ensure that design teams have access to product-related information. This information is usually about the device. Moreover, design engineers need to understand the technical details of the device to make the right design decisions, but they usually also need to understand the business-related details. For example, a component validity question, whether it is an approved device, whether it is a preferred device, whether there are alternative suppliers, and other factors such as cost, safety, environmental rating, and the like. But this information is not easy for designers to get. Usually they are included in various commercial systems and are not available to designers. And this information is exchanged through meetings, emails, telephone calls, etc. Such communication is easy to cause errors and can lead to information loss or data errors. For companies that have already been on the PLM system, if the information cannot be integrated with the system tools, the user has to retrieve the information in different systems, and then select the appropriate device from the company's standard parts library, which is very inconvenient to use. And it is not possible to perform convenient association checks. For the field of electronic design, today's PLM systems provide some of the features they need: such as creating and managing object lifecycles, assigning roles, keeping design data in a reliable place to ensure data integrity, and designing data with version management And provide permission control based on role and lifecycle status. However, a key electronic design's need for a PLM system is the ability to provide this data at a more detailed level than is currently done by PLM systems. EDA library management Managing the design library of EDA tools is a key task when developing high quality electronics. Not only is the EDA design library more complex than the corresponding MCAD library, but with the company's mergers, the EDA library environment becomes more complex: multiple design libraries that manage different tool flows, and different ECAD vendors. Coupled with the difficulty of maintaining EDA library consistency across different regions (possibly across several continents), the need is clearer: there is an urgent need for a way to manage and synchronize the branches of these different libraries. The task of a typical ECAD library: Maintain a protected central repository to control the design of a globally distributed enterprise. Create and synchronize management of multiple EDA tools from multiple vendors. Provide a controlled design library management process to ensure that the company's quality assets are automatically created by the EDA design library. Different manufacturing processes ensure the correct design library for different manufacturing processes Device information management Selecting and locating a new device to the design layout is one of the most important events for the design of a new electronic product. Because this choice will affect the cost and reliability of the new design. This is a far-reaching decision-making process that requires designers to consider the following questions: Whether the cost constraint can be obtained from the supplier to obtain the required components to meet environmental and regulatory requirements (eg RoHS, WEEE) These are the factors that influence the designer's choice. The wrong choices in the early stages will ruin all the original advantages and lead to delayed product launches, resulting in lower profits. Typical tasks for component information management are: Provide technical, environmental, logistics and supply chain information management processing data forms in the design process to give designers decision-making support tracking device life cycle information and design tools directly integrated in the EDA design library to provide a complete view management of a component can interact with each other Change device and confirmed processing data In 2006, a new environmental policy (RoHS & WEEE) aimed at reducing and eliminating hazardous materials in electronic products will take effect in Europe. Companies need to manage data on hazardous materials to ensure that the final product meets new standards. This requires mandatory integration of the device information system and design process. Design data management Effectively managing design projects and enhancing teamwork is an increasingly important challenge. In a high-tech electronic design, because the new concept is to be tested, simulated, and analyzed, the results are neutralized into the design, and many iterations are necessary during the design process. In addition, multiple designers will be involved in the design process, and the work will be subdivided and collaborated by team members distributed throughout the country. Two key aspects of design data management are: · Manage design files created by different tools during the design process · Track intermediate versions Typical design task for design data management · Inter-regional teamwork · Manage design process iterations and tracking design increments · Improve design reuse in design communities WIP_BOM management BOM is one of the most important information for management in each PLM system. Each PLM system usually has its own method of processing the BOM. Basically, a BOM represents the product structure, but there are many different descriptions of the product structure. Some examples of BOMs are: Derived BOM, derived design BOM For the design process, the resulting BOM list is incomplete and needs to be changed frequently. We call it the design process WIP BOM (Work in Progress BOM). Typical tasks for WIP BOM management: WIP BOM management extraction and release management cost and environmental statistics release constraint review derivation design management Design collaboration Many large companies face the division of labor between multiple development teams in different regions of the interior, as well as collaboration with manufacturers and external partners. These collaborations are very important, and a lot of collaboration started at the beginning of the project, and there is no suitable project design data for PLM. Typical tasks for design collaboration: Collaborative release of BOMs via web query devices and design information design changes to EMS or other partners PLM system expands in EDA field As mentioned above, the current PLM systems are generally developed from the mechanical industry, and the data design features of the EDA industry cannot be deeply grasped, such as library management and production processes. Therefore, it is impossible to go deep into the details of the EDA design. For example, although the BOM can be extracted, the information at the pad level cannot be grasped. For the current data management of EDA design, the design files are generally packaged by the design engineer and then managed as a document in the PDM system. Basically, the PLM system is used as a design and archive electronic warehouse. And this simple result management has caused the company to lose a lot of knowledge in the design process. At the same time, since the component information stored in the PDM system cannot be directly used by the design tool in the design process, the randomness of the information entry process is caused, resulting in inaccurate information and untimely maintenance. The design engineer gradually does not believe the device information in the PLM system, which causes the PLM system to gradually lose the advantage of design data management as the enterprise standard. Therefore, if the PLM system wants to truly manage the data in the EDA field, it should work more deeply with the EDA vendors to gain a deeper understanding of the EDA industry design process and design data specifications. Or, it is integrated with some mature EDA data management and library management systems (such as Mentor's DMS system), which expands the PLM system itself's lack of EDA management, thus truly helping customers to establish a complete enterprise level. PLM system.
· Provide designers with the necessary information to make optimal design decisions. • Manage and control design information during the design phase to ensure data integrity
Device aging problem, confirm that the device is not near retirement
The main BOM, the main BOM of the derived design, including all child BOMs
Structure BOM, logical hierarchy of product structure BOM
The design of the BOM mainly completes the logic function of the design. Compared with the production BOM, it has not been determined that the specific manufacturer produces the BOM, which has been specific to the BOM of the specific manufacturer, and can be directly used for the production and processing of the back end.
BOM analysis and "where used" search
PLM system requirements and management in the EDA field