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The pressure on manufacturing companies is enormous: they have to become sustainable and energy efficient while responding quickly to customer requests, all in the face of uncertain supply chains and rising energy prices. Digitalization and automation are the keys to taking on these new challenges. To achieve this, information islands must be eliminated. Companies need holistic information management and a PLM system as a product data backbone.
How have technical companies worked in the past? They have managed the documents created in their various work processes separately. CAD/CAE data from product development is stored in PDM/PLM systems. ERP/SCM solutions for manufacturing and logistics processes have their own data management, as do CRM applications for communication with customers. In addition, traditional DMS solutions cover parts of document control.
Because the continuity between the individual components does not work smoothly, there are always conflicts and disruptions when working this way. Anyone who has to react quickly to market changes or wants to safely cushion disruptions in the supply chain is in a losing battle. A uniform database is needed – a central product data backbone that brings all product-related information/documents together in digital form and connects them to each other.
This allows a digital thread to be formed. It connects ongoing operations with development and enables articles/parts to be evaluated. In this way, the complaint process can be linked to the relevant part. Development automatically receives notifications of complaints and can mark them for future product development or change products from the outset.
The Digital Thread also establishes controlled change and improvement processes in the company. Ad hoc service calls are reduced and planned preventive measures take their place. SLAs can be set higher and adhered to more easily, and product quality increases because there are fewer defective parts.
The Product Data Backbone – similar to the backbone of a person – constantly supplies the individual departments and locations of a company with information from the product lifecycle without media disruption. The information relevant to product development and product management is digitally related and dependencies are displayed. Links ensure that the same information is only available and edited once. Each document is stored in the system with specific information and linked to a logical connection in the existing structures.
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