Product Data Management
Product data management is the use of software or other tools to track and control data related to a particular product. The data tracked usually involves the technical specifications of the product, specifications for manufacture and development, and the types of materials that will be required to produce goods. The use of product data management allows a company to track the various costs associated with the creation and launch of a product. Product data management is part of product life-cycle management and configuration management, and is primarily used by engineers.
Within PDM the focus is on managing and tracking the creation, change and archive of all information related to a product. The information being stored and managed (on one or more file servers) will include engineering data such as computer-aided design (CAD) models, drawings and their associated documents.
Product data management (PDM) serves as a central knowledge repository for process and product history, and promotes integration and data exchange among all business users who interact with products — including project managers, engineers, sales people, buyers, and quality assurance teams.
The central database will also manage metadata such as owner of a file and release status of the components. The package will: control check-in and check-out of the product data to multi-user; carry out engineering change management and release control on all versions/issues of components in a product; build and manipulate the product structure bill (BOM) for assemblies; and assist in configurations management of product variants.
This enables automatic reports on product costs, etc. Furthermore, PDM enables companies producing complex products to spread product data into the entire PLM launch-process. This significantly enhances the effectiveness of the launch process.
PTC Windchill
PTC Windchill is a product lifecycle management (PLM) software product that is offered by PTC. Windchill is currently being used by over 1.1 million users worldwide.
Product data management (PDM) is the business function often within product lifecycle management (PLM) that is responsible for the management and publication of product data. In software engineering, this is known as version control. The management of version control ensures that everyone is on the same page and that there is no confusion during the execution of the processes and that the highest standards of quality controls are maintained.
PDM is a subset of a larger concept of product lifecycle management (PLM). PLM encompasses the processes needed to launch new products, manage changes to existing products and retire products at the end of their life (End of Life).
Product Data Management Solutions from PTC
• Windchill PDMLink
• Windchill PDM Essentials
• Requirements Management
• Windchill MPMLink
• Pro/INTRALINK
• Windchill PartsLink
• Windchill Supplier Management
• Windchill FlexPLM
• Windchill ProjectLink
• PTC PLM Cloud
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials
Without basic CAD data management, it’s difficult for organizations to effectively collaborate and improve their productivity. PTC Windchill PDM Essentials empowers smaller organizations to effectively organize and manage their product content so they can improve design reuse, broaden access to product information and ensure control over design versions and release processes including structures that contains all the individual parts for a given product, Engineering Bill of Material (eBOM) software. Based on PTC’s production-proven PLM software, PTC Windchill PDM Essentials/eBOM Software offers a quick to deploy, easy–to-use offering that can improve your ROI. By managing product data from PTC Creo, as well as many other CAD systems, you can ensure data integrity and enable concurrent engineering. PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is right-sized for the existing needs of smaller teams and companies. And it provides the foundation for additional capabilities that a growing company may require in the future.
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials/eBOMSoftware: Features and Benefits
- Fast deployment – Installation and configuration wizards greatly simplify set-up time providing customers with quick time-to-value.
- Centralized vaulting and revision control – Secures CAD models, their structures and relationships (PTC Creo, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Inventor, Pro/ENGINEER, PTC Creo Elements/Direct, and PTC Mathcad) improving control and collaboration.
- Efficient documentation control – Manage office documents, such as Microsoft Word and Excel, tracking changes through check in and check out functionality.
- Powerful searching tools – Quickly and easily search, copy or rename designs improving product information discovery and design reuse.
- Managing Product Structures that contains all the individual parts for a given product, known as the Engineering Bill of Material or eBOM software.
- Schedule and automatically publish viewables and other formats such as thumbnails and PDFs.
- Embedded 3-D view and markup utilities – Allows non-CAD consumers to view, section, measure and markup designs.
- Secure access – Lifecycle states control access managing the ability to view, use and update product items.
This ensures that organizations such as manufacturing and purchasing can only access released items.
PTC WindchillPDMLink
When all product stakeholders are accessing a single, trusted, central data repository, manufacturers have the power to expertly manage all forms of digital product data — including mechanical, electrical and software. PTC WindchillPDMLink is a Web-based, industry-proven Product Data Management (PDM) system that supports geographically dispersed teams while managing critical processes such as content, change and configuration management. PTC WindchillPDMLink allows you to create and manage product structure views such as “As-Designed” and “As-Planned,” thereby optimizing configuration management. Now anyone, anywhere within the enterprise or extended supply chain can communicate and collaborate by accessing the tools in PTC WindchillPDMLink.
PTC WindchillPDMLink Features and Benefits
- Global access — Enables Web-based access to a current product data management repository
- Seamless connections — Enables access to multiple mechanical/electrical CAD applications, embedded software tools, desktop applications and ERP systems
- Prevents design errors — Controls and automates product development processes, improving quality and reliability
- Improved innovation — Facilitates rapid development of new products with powerful configurations tools
- Complete integration — Works with PTC Mathcad, PTC Integrity, PTC Arbortext, PTC Creo and PTC WindchillProjectLink for cross-enterprise collaboration
