Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair/Advisor

Dr. John Wagner, Advisor

Abstract

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) initiatives can improve an enterprise’s efficiency by increasing collaborative design opportunities within its business structure. PLM solutions provide digital mediums to collaborate on all aspects of a company’s workflow, including engineering, testing, manufacturing, marketing, business, and field support services. This paper examines the major PLM tools and software used to establish a collaborative engineering design space; computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and product data management (PDM). The interactions between these PLM tools and a design team’s organizational structure are analyzed to determine some of the most effective PLM integration strategies to improve collaboration for all business functions. Engineering enterprises may split their work functions into technical and non-technical categories and match them with PLM solutions to create a collaborative design space that integrates all departments. A case study presents a university design team whose objective was collaborative creation of a digital twin for a scale tracked vehicle. The Siemens Teamcenter software tool was integrated within the team’s design procedures to improve the process. The results of integrating advanced PDM software into their workflow, including troubleshooting issues and problems, were explored in this paper. PDM and workflow interactions throughout the case study produced many unique outcomes that require additional PLM engineering solutions. Overall, advanced PDM software increased collaboration and efficiency of their design process.

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