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Journal of Industrial Technology Volume 18, Number 1 November 2001 to January 2002 www.nait.org

David Kelley is an Assistant Professor in the Departmentof Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University.His teaching and research interests include parametricdesign, animation, collaborative engineering, and graph-ics teaching methodologies. Dr. Kelley earned his Ph.D.from the Department of Technology and Education atMississippi State University in 1998.

AbstractCommunicating and sharing

information through Internet technolo-gies have become common practice inmost enterprises. Communication and

web-centric applications are alsoinfluencing the design process. Drivenby the need to compete in a globaleconomy, companies are using Internettechnologies to concurrently collaborateon design problems. Global collabora-tive engineering helps to decrease time-to-market while also decreasing produc-tion costs. Computer-aided designdevelopers have recognized the potentialof the Internet for collaborative engi-neering and have implemented applica-tions for the sharing and communicating

of design data. This paper reviewsweb-centric product-data management(PDM) applications available from fourleading computer-aided design compa-nies: Dassault Systemes, ParametricTechnology Corporation, StructuralDynamics Research Corporation, andUnigraphics. Commonly available web-centric PDM functions and the potentialimpact that web-centric PDM will haveon design industries are discussed.

Introduction

The advancement of computer-aided design (CAD) and its expandingutilization of the Internet have led toan increase in the growth of web-baseddesign collaboration. This technologi-cal growth has spurred the develop-ment of product-data management(PDM) systems that facilitate designcollaboration across the global enter-

Web-Centric Product DataManagementBy Dr. David S. Kelley

prise. CAD developers are examiningways to increase the rate at whichinformation is exchanged among usersthrough web-centric technologies.Leading CAD development companiessuch as Parametric Technology Corpo-ration (PTC), Dassault Systemes,Structural Dynamics Research Corpo-ration (SDRC), and Unigraphics areplacing a significant amount ofresources toward the development ofweb-centric data exchange applications.When fully integrated, these applica-

tions facilitate the design processthrough the sharing of design data.This paper explores and details func-tions available within most enterprisewide web-centric product data manage-ment applications and how thesefunctions help to benefit enterprisedesign processes.

PDM applications allow companiesto construct and disseminate large andcomplicated models that wouldtraditionally require significantcomputer resources (e.g. memory,storage capacity, bandwidth, etc.) withthe models displayed through the olderVirtual Reality Modeling Language(VRML) format. VRML is still usedtoday but less frequently due to the lossof accuracy and the size of files thatwould accumulate over the designprocess. The introduction of PDMtools have expanded the access to dataand provided a way to easily viewmodels and the corresponding dataassociated with a design.

The design process for most newproducts is a complex entity. To take

all the various tasks, inputs, specifica-tions, and desires and put them into aproject requires detailed organizationand management. Before the advent ofPDM systems, parties to a design werelimited in how they processed data andhow they could concurrently dissemi-nate data throughout the designprocess. This contributed to a lineardesign process (see Figure 1). Thistraditional linear approach to designusually consists of sequential steps suchas problem identification, concept

development, refinement, analysis, andproduction. Information flow withinthe process and external to the processis difficult and usually nonexistent.This lack of communication flownormally results in increased costduring manufacturing. To overcomethis problem, progressive engineeringand manufacturing companies utilizeprinciples of concurrent engineering tofacilitate the design process. Accord-ing to Prasad (1996), within a concur-rent engineering philosophy, everyonecontributing to the final product, fromconceptual design to marketing teams,is required to participate in the projectfrom its very inception (p. 2).Concurrent engineering principlesutilizing PDM systems provide toolsfor nonlinear design processes thatallow for simultaneous input frommany different sources, includingcustomers. With PDM, members ofdesign teams can markup, measure, andperform mass property calculations onCAD models. PDM systems evenallow for the sharing of non-CAD data

Figure 1.

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Traditional intra-company PDMimplementations fall into five catego-ries: (a) change management, (b)document management, (c) collabora-tion management, (d) parts manage-ment, and (e) product builds fromengineering data (Collier, 1996). Howeach application deals with these

aspects varies, but the underlyingprinciples for each application arebasically the same (see Figure 2).Change management is targeted towardmanufacturing users of PDM byproviding provisions for changes aftera design has been released to produc-tion. Unfortunately for most designs,many changes occur after the finaldesign is released, especially produc-tion related changes. Change manage-ment tools help to break down barriersthat arise between engineering and

production. The second category,document management, provides ameans for tracking vital design infor-mation. This is an invaluable tool forthe storing of data within concurrentengineering teams. It keeps record ofnon-CAD specific material (e.g. Word,Excel, Project, etc.) and CAD specificdata, including bill-of-materials. Thesharing of data between members of adesign team can be a demanding taskand is accomplished through intuitivecollaboration tools. In a classical

sense, collaboration capabilities are theheart of a modern web-centric PDMapplication. Used in conjunction withdocument management tools, a PDMscollaboration capabilities allow for thetimely distribution of design informa-tion. The fourth category, partsmanagement, works to keep track ofparts libraries and to promote standardcomponents. This is the category mostoften associated with product datamanagement and consists of tools forCAD data management and revision(e.g. check-in, check-out, copy, etc.).Finally, product builds from engineer-ing data, from a manufacturingviewpoint, reduces the amount ofwasted effort that goes into a projectbecause of extensive product configu-ration (i.e. design for manufacturingissues). Its implementation goal is toshift the responsibility for defining

final product configuration from themanufacturer to the designer.

Collaborative ProductCommerce

Collaborative Product Commerce(CPC) is an emerging design philoso-phy that enables companies to be more

responsive to the needs of everyone inthe design process. According to theAberdeen Group (1999), it is a classof software and services that usesInternet technologies to permit indi-viduals to collaboratively develop,build, and manage products throughouttheir entire life cycle (p. 3). It ties

together all business, supply, anddesign functions for the facilitation ofdesign information throughout the lifeof a product (see Figure 3). It repre-sents the next generation of web-centric PDM applications that willcontrol the flow of design relevantcommunications throughout the global

enterprise. Applications includedunder the umbrella of CPC includeCAD/CAM, computer-aided engineer-ing, manufacturing resource planning,enterprise resource planning, visualiza-tion, and component sourcing (i.e.subcontracting components).

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

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CPC provides four major benefitsfor product design (Aberdeen, 1999).First, the collaboration tools availablewith CPC applications allow multipleenterprise players (e.g. engineers,manufacturers, vendors, subcontractors,and suppliers) and customers to partici-pate in product design throughout the

various stages of the design process,including initial design ideation. Second,customers can interface directly with thesystem to provide input to the design. Indoing so, they can communicate specificand customized design specifications.Third, CPC applications can tie togetherdispersed and disparate computer systemsand applications. Finally, CPC can speedup the time to market of a product. In aglobal economy, the best product toreach the market first is usually thewinner. In its truest sense, CPC speeds

up the design process by facilitatingcommunication flow.

Focus of PaperThe purpose of this paper is to

analyze high-end modeling applicationsuse of integrated PDM and CPCprocesses and how these applicationshelp to benefit a global design process.Early PDM applications aimed to keepthings simple by concentrating ondocument management and revisioncontrol. Modern web-centric PDM

applications are moving towardtargeting product development directlywhile emphasizing concurrent develop-ment and improved coordination fromconcept to customer (Collier, 1996).Web-centric PDM offerings from fourleading high-end CAD developers:Dassault Systemes, Parametric Tech-nology Corporation (PTC), StructuralDynamics Research Corporation(SDRC), and Unigraphics are dis-cussed. These companies are knownfor their integrated computer-aideddesign and engineering solutions; eachhas its own offerings of web-centricPDM and CPC applications.

The significance of web-centricPDM applications is their ability tomanage the digital enterprises of thefuture. The understanding of theseabilities is important for designers,engineers, and managers. According toToole and Lemke (2000), the product

creation process facilitates innovation byencouraging designers and engineers toleverage the digital information avail-able throughout the enterprise to createnew, high quality products demanded bynew and existing markets. A truedigital enterprise is an environmentwhere all resources will be linked

together throughout the lifecycle of aproduct or a family of products. Adigital enterprise encompasses morethan just the sharing of CAD data. It isthe real time sharing of any documenta-tion, data, or information associatedwith a product, including informationfrom vendors and subcontractors. It isalso the interfacing of customers intothe enterprise for the promotion oftimely design criteria. These web-centric PDM abilities create new designprocess models and incorporate modern

design philosophies. As stated by Tooleand Lemke, the product creationprocess facilitates innovation byencouraging designers and engineers toleverage the digital information avail-able throughout the enterprise to createnew, high quality products demanded bynew and existing markets.

MethodologyA comparison of different web-

centric PDM applications will revealsimilarities between each application. The

PDM applications studied for this paperincluded PTCs Windchill, DassaultsENOVIA, SDRCs Metaphase, andUnigraphics iMAN. The followingsection of this report is a description anddiscussion of the tools, techniques, andresources that are generally shared by eachof these four applications. It should benoted that each application is composed ofmany smaller modules that may or maynot be implemented by all users. It shouldalso be noted that the four companiescovered in this project are developers andproviders of high-end, enterprise wideengineering tools. Other PDM applica-tions are available that are tailored towardmore limited applications.

Functions of Web-Centric PDMApplications

A variety of companies havedeveloped applications for web-centriccollaboration of design problems. This

section focuses on the exploration ofweb-centric PDM solutions from fourestablished developers of high-endCAD products: Dassault, PTC, SDRC,and Unigraphics. While all identifiedsolutions have many tools in common(e.g. Internet capability, revisioncontrol, CAD interface, etc.), the

author identified six functions thatdistinguish web-centric PDM applica-tions from standard intra-companyPDM applications: (a) the ability tohandle multiple CAD formats, (b) theability to manage disparate datasources, (c) the integration of ERPsolutions, (d) life cycle design capabilities, (e) Internet and PDM integration,and (f) customer integration.

Multiple CAD Formats:A true global enterprise requires

the sharing of information from manydifferent vendors, suppliers, andenterprises. Even with smaller, moregeographically constrained companies,it is difficult to maintain one standardCAD application. Changing economiesnecessitates diverse requirements,which in turn dictate collaboration withmany different companies. Thegrowth of CAD application developersalso plays a role. The CAD industrychanges at a rapid pace. Whos topredict which CAD package will

dominate five to ten years down theroad? Due to the utilization of differ-ent CAD applications within oneorganization, PDM systems arerequired to manage multiple CADformats to include standard industryformats such as IGES and STEP. Asan example, PTCs CAD applicationPro/ENGINEER is in direct competi-tion with Dassaults CATIA product.Despite this, through PTCsProductView module, a CATIA file canbe viewed and manipulated. Other 3Dand 2D formats supported byProductView include AutoCAD,Microsoft, I-DEAS, Solidworks, and3D Studio Max. ENOVIA also has asimilar capability. Through itsENOVIA Portal foundation and itsENOVIA 3D COM product, webbrowser plug-ins allow for the sharingof Pro/ENGINEER, Unigraphics, I-DEAS, and CATIA models.

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Multiple Disparate Data Sources:CAD models are not the only

electronic information that goes into thedesign of a product. Information suchas word-processed documents, databasefiles, engineering data, and projectmanagement data can be seamlesslyintegrated into the design process.

SDRCs Metaphase application providesits MetaDocumentManager (MetaDM)for the organization and management ofdocuments from authoring tools such asWord, Excel, and Word Perfect. Likemost web-centric PDM applications,web interfaced engines are provided forlocating and managing documents. Akey benefit to this functionality is usersdo not have to learn the primary PDMapplication; it typically works behindthe scene.

Enterprise Resource PlanningIntegration:

In a global market, design inputcomes from a variety of sources.Typical players in the design processinclude product designers, engineers,and manufactures. Other individualssuch as customers, suppliers, sub-contractors, and vendors also haveimportant criteria to input into aproducts design. Companies whoembrace the diversity of their suppli-ers, partners, and customers must link

processes and systems together moredynamically, to create a completesource of product knowledge thatcrosses organizational boundaries(PTC, 1999a, p. 2). Modern produc-tion and inventory control methodolo-gies focus on enterprise resourceplanning (ERP) applications to linknontraditional sources such as vendorsand sub-contractors. Web-centric PDMapplications are typically integratedand linked with ERP applications.This allows designers to receive data,including CAD models, from outsidesources such as vendors. The sharingof this information speeds up thedesign cycle, allowing a faster time tomarket for a product.

Lifecycle Design Management:The management of a product

throughout its lifecycle utilizing web-centric applications is an expanding

design methodology. Traditional lineardesign processes end when designinformation reaches production. PDMapplications within this environment aretypically concerned with document andproduct management, not product design.Modern philosophies such as concurrentengineering place an emphasis on the

timely receipt of design criteria frommany different sources to includemanufacturing, vendors, and customers.There are limitations to concurrentdesign approaches. According to Collier(1996), concurrent developmentprocesses contain no built-in guaranteesthat the information used in a given stepis accurate, or that the informationgenerated by a given step will beavailable to the appropriate users doingconcurrent work. Life cycle manage-ment tools available within PDM

applications can help overcome theseproblems through their extensive use ofdata and information sharing. Thisextends sources of design informationfrom engineering and design departmentsto everyone with an interest to includeterminal end-users, maintenance techni-cians, and environmental experts.

Web-Centric PDM Tools:Web-centric PDM applications help

to expand product design throughout theentire enterprise. It is easy to get lost in

their many capabilities, but at their heartthere exists a powerful PDM applica-tion. As stated earlier in this paper,traditional PDM implementations havetools that allow for change manage-ment, document management, collabo-ration, and parts management. Web-centric PDM applications have thesetools, but they are enhanced to expandthe design enterprise. One of theseenhancements is the utilization of a webinterface. This allows individuals, suchas customers, with standard Internetconnections, to access relevant designinformation. Webcentric applicationsare more flexible and scalable, are easierto manage and integrate, and have ahigher user acceptance rate (PTC,1999b, p. 3). According to Stevens(1997), Internet technology helps boostthe richness of information in designdocumentations, facilitates data commu-nications within and between compa-

nies, enhances workflow and coopera-tion in extended design teams, andopens useful design information tointerested parties outside the designcommunity.(p. 52). PTCs approach toweb-centric PDM is the integration ofits Pro/INTRALINK product with itsWindchill application. Intralink is a

traditional collaborative PDM applica-tion. Combined with Windchill,traditional PDM tools can be extendedacross the lifecycle of a product.

Customer Integration:A natural result of a global enter-

prise is increased competition. In-creased competition gives rise toincreased customer demands for shorterproduct time-to-market and forcustomizable designs. The need forshorter time-to-market and the need for

customization often conflict. Compa-nies that can provide a product that acustomer wants and provide it in ashorter timeframe will, more thanlikely, win the competition. Throughcollaborative processes and technolo-gies, such as enterprise wide PDMapplications, customers can provideinput during the design cycle, lesseningthe likelihood of later design changes.Most web-centric PDM applicationsprovide avenues for customers to viewdesigns through a web browser during

the design cycle. PTCs ProductViewapplication has a client application thatcan be downloaded using standardInternet capabilities. What a customercan view with the client application iscontrolled through ProductViews serverapplication. Another developing web-based PDM technology is the ability ofa customer to customize a part througha web page, similarly to how manycompanies sale products online, such asmodern computer vendors. Thedifference lies in its affect on theproduct database. Once customized, thesystem generates a bill of material forthe product and a 3D visual representa-tion. (Unigraphics, 2000).

Impact on IndustryElectronic-business (E-Business)

continues to grow in functionality andpopularity. To the traditional users ofthe Internet, E-Business is a way to

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purchase, market, and communicate.Collaborative engineering tools such asweb-centric PDM applications are inreality E-Business tools. These tools areimpacting industry in four significantways: (a) increased global collaboration,(b) faster time-to-market, (c) higherquality, and (d) customizable products.

Developers of engineering designtools have recognized the need tointegrate modern communicationtechnologies to facilitate the growth ofglobal markets. An overview of thehistory of computer-aided design andof the Internet will reveal increasingutilization of web applications withinCAD systems (Burchard, 2000; Smith,1999). The integration of web andCAD applications combined with PDMsystems present the tools necessary tofacilitate global collaboration. Tradi-

tional linear design processes requiredface-to-face information sharing. Atbest, engineering drawings could beshipped through the mail to customersand vendors. Now, with the advent ofweb-centric design applications,designers and customers can collabo-rate in real time. Companies that oncewere restricted by geographic bound-aries can now expand. Similarly,vendors and subcontractors which oncehad to collocate to guarantee smoothbusiness exchange can now bid for

business from an expanding array ofglobal enterprises.To compete in a global market,

companies have to produce high qualityproducts in a timely manner. Often,faster time to market results in initialpoor quality. Traditionally, quality isengineered into a product during design.Older design techniques that do notfacilitate communication betweenengineering and manufacturing requirean extensive amount of rework andredesign during production planning.

Engineering philosophies such asconcurrent engineering help to decreaseproduction costs through increasedcommunication and collaboration, butthey tend to also increase design time,especially for geographically dispersedcompanies. Web-centric design applica-tions help to facilitate collaborative

engineering philosophies and techniquesthrough the integration of Internet tools.These applications have the capability tosynchronize the lifecycle design of aproduct. This increased design inputhelps to increase quality. In addition, italso facilitates faster time-to-market forproducts, especially customized products.

SummaryDue to the emergence of Internet

capabilities, the communication andsharing of engineering designs are in a

state of change. Information technolo-gies have increased the demand forcollaboration between global enter-prises. The display of designs through2D drawings is giving way to electronicdisplay of 3D models. Designs can nowbe shared in real time with clients fromany point on the globe. Engineeringdesign tool of the future will be web-centric and will allow for timely inputof design intent. At the center of thesedesign technologies will be PDMapplications that are capable of not just

CAD data management, but the man-agement of all data associated with aproduct. While these technologies arecurrently in their growth and develop-ment stages, it is important for designersto be aware of their capabilities.

ReferencesAberdeen Group (1999). Collaborative

product commerce: Deliveringproduct innovations at Internetspeed. (Whitepaper from theAberdeen Group: http://www.aberdeen.com).

Burchard, B. (2000, December).Clients push web-based projectcollaboration. Cadalyst. http://www.cadalyst.com.

Collier, W. (1996). Managing theproduct lifecycle: The changing roleof enterprise PDM. ComputerGraphics World, 19(9), p. 112-116.

Dassault (2000). http://www.catia.ibm.com.

Pasad, B. (1996). Concurrent engineer-ing fundamentals: Integratedproduct and process organization(Vol. 1). Prentice Hall: New Jersey.

PTC (1999a). Leveraging the Internetfor collaborative product com-merce. (White paper from http://www.ptc.com).

PTC (1999b). Visualization solutionswhite paper: Making product datamore available to more people.

(White paper from http://www.ptc.com).

PTC (2000). Parametric TechnologyCorporation introduces ProductPortal with DIVISIONProductView 2000i. (White paperfrom http://www.ptc.com).

SDRC (2000). http://www.sdrc.com.Smith, S. (1999, November). Design

for the new millennium. Cadalyst.http://www.cadalyst.com.

Stevens, T. (1997). Internet aideddesign. Industry Week, 246 (12), p.

50.Toole, P. & Lemke, J. (2000). e-business Transformation to a DigitaManufacturing Enterprise. (Whitepaper from http://www.enovia.com).

Unigraphics (2000). SalesConfigurator. (Corporate whitepaper from http://www.unigraphics.com).

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