Archive for October, 2019
Monday, October 28th, 2019
A growing concern amongst car manufacturers is the upsurge in external development partners and suppliers. Because of this increase, CAD models, electrical and simulation data and other documents need to be exchanged more widely and more frequently for efficient product development. These models and data tend to run several gigabytes in size, making them nearly impossible to share over easy-to-use and unsecure transfer methods such as email, FTP, and “Dropbox”-like external applications.
Porsche has directly experienced the above scenario. Porsche files were placed on an FTP server where suppliers could retrieve their data. Server access was restricted to certain users and other work-arounds had been implemented. Smaller, non-CAD data was often encrypted and sent via email and larger data was either burned to DVD or saved on a removable drive. Once burned onto removable storage media, data was then sent via regular mail to the intended recipient. This process took days, resulting in poor product collaboration and development. Steffen Kopp, responsible for CAx collaborative process in the IT department at Porsche, notes, “There was a plethora of different procedures that were no longer able to cope with the growing volumes of data and our security expectations”.
Another case involves The Mahle Group, a global development partner for the automotive and engineering industry. Because of their expansion into China and other countries with OEMs and subcontractors, they needed a reliable, efficient and secure CAD data exchange solution for efficient product development. The Mahle Group had more than 49,000 employees throughout 100 productions sites, forming a complex CAD landscape of about 1000 workstations. Differing CAD formats with various release versions and start configurations included CATIA V5, Pro/Engineer, Creo Elements/Pro, NX, I-Deas.
By now, technology has advanced in engineering product development to the point where CAD data exchange inside and outside your organization is not only critical to project collaboration, but also to security and safety. According to the Commission on Theft of American Intellectual Property, IP (trade secret) theft is a major cyber security risk causing organizations to lose $180 to $580 billion per year.1
So how are you currently exchanging data? Are you using email? FTP? Dropbox? Many times, customers believe that it is just easier to ”do it the way we’ve always done it”. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, an Internet standard for email transmission, was first defined by RFC 821 in 1982 and grew out of standards developed during the 1970’s. File transfer protocol (FTP) typically uses clear text authentication and was published as RFC 114 in 1971.
What does this mean? The more convenient your data exchange process is, the more likely it is to be unsecure with greater potential for IP theft. It is easier to do things the way you’ve always done them, but it is definitely not the safest or most secure way.
CAD data exchange is a necessary component of today’s globalized economy and digital thread manufacturing, meaning that it should be as close as possible to your user’s daily working environment – desktop integration, email integration, product lifecycle management (PLM) integration, integrated in purchasing/bid systems, etc. The more that users have to leave their default working environment to send secure information, the more likely IP theft is to occur. The admittedly minor inconvenience of stepping outside the default environment significantly decreases the likelihood that the approved solution will be put to use.
Luckily, CAD data exchange doesn’t have to be complex. With OpenDXM GlobalX from PROSTEP, the solution is built into a user’s work environment, allowing them to easily adopt the solution. This secure data exchange platform allows for multiple integrations, including CAD / PDM integration and Email integration.
Porsche was able to solve their data exchange problem with the use of OpenDXM GlobalX. As Steffen Kopp noted, “…in addition to web support and the possibility of integrating the solution into our supplier portal, we also needed support for our standard IT platforms, user authentication, scalable encryption, good performance when exchanging large files, restart of transfer after interruptions and seamless logging of all exchange operations.” OpenDXM GlobalX provided that support.
The Mahle Group also found that PROSTEP’s OpenDXM GlobalX solved their issue. Their most important requirements included logging data receptions, identifying the recipient and automatically forwarding the data to an inbound folder for respective business unit while informing the recipient(s) it was available, and OpenDXM GlobalX addressed all of the above. At Mahle, approximately 30,000 data exchange jobs are processes internally and externally amounting to about 750 gigabytes of data. As Heinrich Wickom, Head of CAD CAM IT Services Europe at Mahle states, “…main benefit is undoubtedly the fact that all data exchange operations are processed securely and documented. Consequently, if a dispute arises, we are always able to identify which version levels we sent to the OEM or supplier and when. With GlobalX, we can now react more flexibly to the demands of our dynamic, change partner environment.”
CAD data exchange can be both easy and secure with the right integration platform. OpenDXM GlobalX CAD data exchange provides peace of mind by ensuring that your intellectual property is safe at rest and during transmission to all parties throughout your product development process. If you’re interested in learning more about OpenDXM GlobalX, please contact PROSTEP for a free user account and demo.
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Saturday, October 26th, 2019
One year after introducing the new user interface, PROSTEP launches version 9.1 of its leading global data exchange platform OpenDXM GlobalX. It now also increases ease of use for system administrators. Other major innovations include support for the Microsoft SQL Server database and improved data transfer performance thanks to additional configuration options.
The amount of data that needs to be moved during data exchange is constantly growing, as are the distances the data travels. PROSTEP has therefore placed great emphasis on improving performance in the further development of OpenDXM GlobalX. For users who are already working with the new interface, the system administrator can now set transfer-relevant parameters such as block size, parallel transfers, etc. individually and save them with their access configuration. This enables them to achieve the best possible transfer rates.
In addition, the transfer routes can be optimized by providing and accessing the files via so-called Remote FileVaults, which enables additional performance increases. Users are assigned a preferred FileVault that is installed as close as possible to their location and to which their data is uploaded or made available. The synchronization between the FileVaults takes place in the background, so that the recipients are always provided with the current data via the shortest route. This mechanism, which required changes to the data model, is of particular interest to customers who want to use OpenDXM GlobalX in a cloud infrastructure.
As of version 9.1, it is possible to use Microsoft SQL Server as an alternative to the Oracle database. This has the advantage, for example, that no additional Oracle licenses are required when using the data exchange platform in the MS Azure cloud infrastructure.
The ease of use for system administrators has also improved. They can now perform daily tasks such as the creation of user accounts and web spaces or the administration of groups with the comfortably designed web interface. User administration has also become much more convenient thanks to the fundamentally revised user concept for rights management. The administration functions are to be further completed in version 9.2 in order to be able to provide the entire administration under the new web interface in the future.
OpenDXM Global is synonymous with security in data exchange. That is why we did not neglect the security aspects when developing the new features and had a certified service provider perform intensive penetration tests to secure the software again. Since most customers have already switched to version 9.0, we will end technical support for OpenDXM GlobalX 8.3 and all older versions with the delivery of version 9.1 from June 2020.
By Udo Hering
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Monday, October 21st, 2019
Exporting and converting CAD data has always been a complex and expensive process… but is there an easier way to share data? These days, if you know where to look, CAD conversion can be both efficient and economical. Of the available conversion software on the market today, PROSTEP’s conversion solutions are the least expensive and most advantageous. PROSTEP software converts CAD data from any authoring system (AutoCAD, Creo Parametric, CATIA, Solidworks, etc.) into a lightweight, shareable 3D PDF file.
CAD conversion to a lightweight, portable format is an important part of the product lifecycle management process, as it is the method by which you render your data shareable downstream.
The purpose of CAD conversion is to translate your data into a more readily readable format, and you want to keep things simple for the recipients of your data. You want said recipients to access your data files without having to purchase, install and learn to use an entirely new program. You want to convert your data into the most versatile, lightweight, accessible file format available… a 3D PDF file.
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Friday, October 18th, 2019
The experiences of Walterscheid Powertrain and SONACA show that with the right strategy and careful planning, a CAD data migration doesn’t have to be difficult.
In the middle of 2019, leading private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP) announced its acquisition of Walterscheid Powertrain Group — a leading provider of original and aftermarket parts and services for off-highway powertrain applications — from GKN limited. The divestiture of Walterscheid from GKN resulted in the necessary migration of product data management (PDM) data. Due to the acquisition, Walterscheid needed to move PTC Windchill data to another server to consolidate legacy systems.
The legacy systems of Walderscheid and the firm formerly known as OEP were not designed compatibly. Each company’s system had its own lifecycle state, revision scheme, attribute types, and classification. To further add to the challenge, Walterscheid was faced with a time constraint: They needed to merge their systems quickly to keep the project on time and within budget. Therefore, Walterscheid looked to PROSTEP’s data-migration expertise for assistance.
In another example, leading global aerospace company SONACA wanted to improve and update their systems. With facilities in Europe, North and South America, and Asia, the SONACA Group opted for a Teamcenter migration, the best fit for their specific migration parameters. SONACA Group’s goal was to complete a migration from their Enovia VPM (virtual product management) configurations to a unified Teamcenter installation.
Their biggest challenge lay in reducing multiple product lifecycle management (PLM) instances down to a single centralized one in Teamcenter. This was a monumental feat, since SONACA Group had multiple Enovia instances in various locations. (How were they able to handle the specific logic of VPM layouts? How were they able to consolidate data VPM layouts to a single Teamcenter model? Continue reading for details about SONACA Group’s successful migration.)
The above scenarios are two of many reasons that your business may require a data migration. What if you’re introducing modern technologies such as Industry 4.0 and enabling digital thread manufacturing in your company? What will you do when your system is facing end-of-life? Are your product development processes sustainable? Will your legacy systems be prepared for the changing digital landscape?
Are You Prepared for a Data Migration?
Digitalization, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and/or system end-of-life are a handful of scenarios that make data migration a necessity. Regardless of whether it’s a new startup or a long-established firm, your company will certainly face a data migration at some point. When this occurs, you may try a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach — but be aware that DIY often leads to a longer migration period, numerous data mapping errors, and countless dollars lost on product development.
With the right strategy and careful planning, a CAD data migration doesn’t have to be difficult. Can you answer the following questions from a high-level roadmap of a CAD data migration?
- As-Is Analysis: Do you understand your current PLM architecture, information flow, and capabilities? What challenges do you have with your current system that you’ll want remedied in your target system?
- To-Be Definition: How will you realign your business processes with the new system? What business and IT requirements are there? What kind of migration strategy is best, given your use case?
- System Selection: How will you plan out a pilot or proof of concept for your migration? What about the request for proposal (RFP), assessment, and contracting? Have you outlined a migration project plan and a solution partner?
- Implementation: By now, do you understand the new system configuration and customization? How will business processes be executed in your target system? Have you implemented validation and verification steps to ensure correct data mapping?
- Go-Live Preparation: Have your end users been trained in the new system? Have you performed dry runs of the migration?
- Go-Live: Have you answered all the above questions? Are you prepared to go live?
 PROSTEP PLM Migration Process Roadmap Understanding the PLM migration roadmap and how it will affect business and IT is crucial to your success. With this big-picture scenario, three strategies that will help your data migration run smoothly include:
- Ensure your user base is well informed, and obtain early buy-in from them. Your user base will benefit from a full understanding of the new system and its features. Executing an enterprise public relations campaign can help spread the word.
- Understand that migration requirements include not only what you’ll need for the new system, but also how you want to decommission the old system, and whether you will archive your data.
- Lastly, find a migration strategy that supports and aligns with your business needs. Does a one-time (“Big Bang”) data migration make sense? Can you afford and run a quick migration over a weekend? What about a co-existence/incremental migration? This style of migration can move at the pace of your business, and it allows users to migrate in stages.
 Big Bang vs. Incremental Data Migration Scenario Walterscheid’s migration project with PROSTEP was highly successful. Kirk Jones, Product Engineering Supervisor, Walterscheid Powertrain Group adds “The proposed project timeline was realistic, reasonable, and ultimately achieved to within a week of the original outlined schedule.”
SONACA Group’s Luc Detollenaere, Manager PLM & Digital Projects indicates that the “…reason for choosing PROSTEP was the powerful tools and functions for automating the migration process and controlling the quality of the results.” In the end, PROSTEP helped to successfully migrate SONACA Group’s Enovia VPM instances to Teamcenter.
Data migration success at these and many other companies couldn’t occur without PROSTEP’s OpenPDM Migrate – the PLM migration and integration platform that allows PDM information exchange between different systems. Learn more about OpenPDM Migrate and the toolkit to enable product data exchange in this guide to data migration, PROSTEP’s Data Migration Blueprint.
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Tuesday, October 15th, 2019
The shipbuilding experts at PROSTEP had a “hot” autumn with a wealth of events. Our new flagship product OpenPDM SHIP was always with us. The integration platform, which connects special applications for shipbuilding with classic mechanical CAD applications and common PDM/PLM and ERP systems via standardized connectors, attracted attention everywhere.
We officially introduced OpenPDM SHIP at ICCAS 2019 in Rotterdam, the world’s largest vendor-neutral conference for computer applications in shipbuilding. Of course, visitors to the AVEVA World Conference Marine Europe in Malmö, the ShipConstructor EMEA Conference in Lisbon and to number of other events at which we were represented were also able to take a look at the integration platform and its most important components. With OpenPDM SHIP, PROSTEP underscores its claim to be the leading specialist for the creation of end-to-end digital processes in shipbuilding and shipping.
With approx. 150 participants from shipyards, suppliers, classification societies, universities and software manufacturers, ICCAS was the ideal forum for presenting OpenPDM SHIP. We were not only represented in Rotterdam with a booth but were also able to inform the visitors in two lectures about the potential benefits of the integration platform when using Best in Class tools and setting up a digital thread for shipbuilding and shipping. The digital thread is the prerequisite for the digital twin, which was a dominant topic at ICCAS. In addition to the technical challenges, the question of who really owns the data and who may use it was also discussed. Shipyards, ship owners, operators, suppliers and classification societies still have to agree on a common usage model.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) were also important topics in Rotterdam, with this year’s discussion focusing on possible applications in production and operation. This showed that the effort required to process the data is still an important obstacle to the wider use of the technology. Between the presentations, we had interesting discussions with shipyards and with our partners about weak points in the tools and processes, which provided us with important suggestions for the further development of OpenPDM SHIP.
Apart from ICCAS, we have been at numerous user conferences in recent weeks and months with the aim of intensifying cooperation with the respective software manufacturer and explaining the advantages of OpenPDM SHIP to its customers. The approx. 150 participants of the AVEVA World Conference Marine Europe showed great interest in the possibility of connecting AVEVA Marine very easily with common enterprise systems for controlling product development and manufacturing processes (PDM/PLM, ERP and MES) via our standards-based integration platform. In a workshop we were able to show them that our connectors not only reduce the integration effort, but also offer them maximum flexibility in selecting their CAx, PDM/PLM and ERP systems.
For the first time this year we attended the ShipConstructor EMEA Conference in Lisbon, also with OpenPDM SHIP and the new connector to SSI’s Autodesk-based ship development solution. With the latest expansion of our integration platform, we are addressing an interesting new customer base and consolidating our position as a leading integration specialist in the maritime industry. We presented two interesting integration scenarios to the participants of the event which met with great interest, namely the horizontal data exchange between NAPA Steel and ShipConstructor on the one hand and the connection to common PDM systems on the other hand. This enabled us to make interesting contacts with potential new customers.
We presented a somewhat different integration scenario to the approx. 100 participants at the User Seminar Korea organized by NAPA for the Korean shipyards, development offices and classification societies. The focus was on the loss-free exchange of feature information between NAPA Steel and AVEVA Marine Hull, but also on data exchange with mechanical CAD systems such as CATIA or NX. The interest of the participants has strengthened our decision to participate in the event in Korea. The cooperation with NAPA and the local user community is developing very positively from our point of view.
From Korea to Rostock, where the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft invited to the Go-3D again this year. The event, which was attended by numerous representatives of shipyards, design offices, the supplier industry, universities, software houses and of course PROSTEP, was primarily concerned with the application of 3D technology in industry and research. We impressed the participants with a lecture on “From a free data exchange format to a real design model”, which showed, using the example of the Meyer Turku use case, how native CAD models can be generated again from neutral IFC data for further processing. Impressive because our solution based on OpenPDM SHIP not only recognizes features, but also takes into account the different procedures of suppliers and shipyards.
It was a “hot” autumn, but participation in the events was worth it for all of us. We succeeded in generating the necessary awareness for OpenPDM SHIP and the uniqueness of our integration platform among the customers of the various software manufacturers.
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Friday, October 11th, 2019
Industry 4.0 is here, and it’s no secret that your business and product development processes will be affected. The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Additive Manufacturing (AM) and other innovative technologies add more dimension and depth to the never-ending amounts of data produced by the industry. How will you effectively manage and use this data to enhance your product development processes? It’s important to know the answer to this question, because Industry 4.0 shows no signs of slowing down.
What challenges will you face with Industry 4.0’s integration, implementation and education in your company? How will it affect your PLM infrastructure and product development processes? How will you adopt new business models and increase value by intelligently linking your products? Are you ultimately prepared for digital transformation?
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Saturday, October 5th, 2019
The full steering system supplier of thyssenkrupp, thyssenkrupp Presta AG, has embarked on an ambitious System Lifecycle Management project to shape its future engineering processes and IT landscape to enable Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). The first step towards SLM is to implement a new PLM solution. PROSTEP steers the SLM team through the technical specification and system evaluation process.
thyssenkrupp Presta AG in Eschen is the lead company of the thyssenkrupp Steering division which is part of the automotive business of thyssenkrupp. The automotive supplier is among the world’s largest manufacturers of steering systems and a technology leader in the field of cold forging. Every fourth car in the world runs with a thyssenkrupp steering system. Headquartered in Eschen, Liechtenstein, the company has 17 sites – four technology centers (two incl. manufacturing) and 15 manufacturing plants with approximately 9000 employees worldwide. Whereas mechanical design is mainly done in Liechtenstein, the development site in Budapest, Hungary, is the competence center for E/E hardware (Electrics/Electronics) and software development.
Many of the challenges thyssenkrupp is facing are due to the actual trends in the automotive industry like autonomous driving, e-mobility and car-to-car connectivity, but also due to stricter safety and environmental requirements. Steering can do a lot to reduce Co2 emissions. Customers need new steering technology for autonomous vehicles and want the steering feel to be customizable. They foster cross-platform developments to reduce costs which on the downside require a higher degree of modularity and standardization of the steering systems. Consequently, the company has evolved over time from a component manufacturer to a supplier of complex mechatronic and cybertronic systems which today employs more hard- and software engineers than mechanical designers.
PLM as the cornerstone for SLM
New steering functions are mostly driven by E/E and software which makes products and product development a lot more complex. With product complexity increasing the need for integrated processes and a digital thread becomes crucial, as Dr. András Balogh, Chief Technology Officer E/E Competence Center in Hungary points out. “We can’t design tomorrow’s products with yesterday’s engineering methods and technology. In the future, the target development process will be much closer to Model Based Systems Engineering and the mechatronic V-model-based approach. This is the long-term goal which we address with SLM.”
Defining the SLM strategy and roadmap was a longer process, because the project team first had to develop a common understanding of where they wanted to go and what they needed for their journey to digitized engineering. A good deal of PROSTEP’s consulting work consisted in moderating the team’s alignment process and in elaborating a system neutral SLM concept as prerequisite for the PLM selection process. „The most important contribution of PROSTEP was to help us understand what we needed and, secondly, to provide a vendor-neutral opinion of what the solutions on the market are capable to deliver“, says Wolfgang Xander, who is responsible for semi-central development and business process.
Replacement of the existing Agile e6 PLM installation is a major necessity as the software is quite outdated and thyssenkrupp Presta does not see improvements anymore. The idea is not to have a single-vendor solution, but to implement a modular architecture. „We need a stable PLM platform as core of SLM to be able to build a backbone that should integrate all other subsystems used in engineering and that provides an information access to connected, clear and consistent data,” explains Klaus Brandner, SLM Project Manager
The IT infrastructure of the company is quite heterogeneous and far from being integrated. It consists of different CAD systems for mechanical design, Altium for E/E development with only a rudimentary integration into Agile e6 PLM and various tools for software development which are linked to a homegrown Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) environment. The company has made a great effort to integrate the tool chain to comply with ASPICE and other standards that require traceability from requirements classification to test and validation. “Nevertheless, software development is still separated from the PLM world”, as András Balogh and Patrick Schäfer, IT Architect Engineering IT explain.
Starting with a proof of concept
With the help of PROSTEP the project team elaborated a long list of requirements to select a short list of PLM vendors with whom the company will start a proof of concept early next year. „We have defined test cases along the whole product lifecycle, starting with Requirements Engineering up to Functional Modeling and regarding the Bill of Material (BOM), a Multi-BOM Management,” explains Brandner. At present the company is handling just one (Manufacturing) BOM in the PLM system, “which means a tremendous effort for the engineers as every change in the supply chain, in logistics or in manufacturing falls back on them”, says Xander.
After the proof of concept, thyssenkrupp Presta will do a longer pilot phase using the old and new PLM systems in parallel. The idea is to migrate functional areas like Requirements Engineering or Master Data Management (MDM) to the new environment and roll it out globally to all domains involved in the process. “A migration by projects or sites would cause to much disruption in the organization as there are many legacy data being reused in new projects,” explains Brandner.
A common Requirements Engineering from the system level down to the domain-specific requirements will be one of the key functions of the new PLM solution and an important enabler of MBSE. Customer requirements are generally managed in DOORS, but – except for hardware and software – there is no traceability to design an implementation. For software the company uses a proprietary AutoSAR tool integrated with requirements management and test specification, as Balogh says: “Ideally, we would like to use the same environment for the management of customer requirements, internal system requirements and software- and hardware requirements to ensure cohesive traceability over the whole process down the (left side) of the V-model.”
“The biggest challenge on the technical side will be the integration of the different tools into the new Presta System Lifecycle Management Backbone”, as Brandner continues. thyssenkrupp Presta will probably have to replace some of the existing tools that might not be designed for easy integration. Even bigger will be the challenge to adapt the organization to the new ways of cross-domain collaboration and communication which might require changes in responsibility and new roles. “It does not make sense to work in the new environment with an organization which is 30 or more years old;” concludes Balogh.
* SysLM or SLM in thyssenkrupp Steering specific wording.
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Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019
Being among the top 100 suppliers to the automotive industry, Webasto generated sales of 3.4 billion euros and had more than 13,000 employees at over 50 locations (with 30 of these being manufacturing plants) during financial year 2018. The core business comprises a wide range of products for vehicle manufacturers: sunroofs, panorama roofs and convertible roofs, heating systems for cars and commercial vehicles with all types of drive systems, together with battery systems and charging solutions for hybrid and electric vehicles. Webasto moreover has a strong market position in the aftermarket business and provides dealers and consumers with customized solutions and services for thermo management and e-mobility.
In the last ten years Webasto has also grown strongly through company takeovers. Important milestones were the acquisition of the convertible division of Edscha, the North American business of Karmann, the Diavia air conditioning business of Delphi Italia and the Efficient Energy Systems (EES) business of AeroVironment, which today manufactures charging solutions under the name Webasto Charging Systems Inc. In addition, the company has recently bought the shares of its long-standing South Korean joint venture partner. The joint venture Webasto Donghee, with headquarters in Ulsan (South Korea) that previously focused on production and sales of panorama roofs, is now part of Webasto’s worldwide development and production network, thus strengthening its position in Asia further.
Heterogeneous PDM landscape
One consequence of the takeovers is that the company today has a heterogeneous PDM system landscape. The roof and thermal systems division uses PTC Windchill, the convertible division SAP PLM, Webasto Charging Systems Inc. Oracle Agile PLM and the former South Korean joint venture, the Teamcenter software from Siemens PLM. The development and change processes of the various divisions are not uniform either, which makes it more difficult to handle global development and production projects.
Particularly in the field of roof systems, Webasto faces the challenge of developing products for global customers and manufacturing them at various locations. “Whereas we used to develop roof systems for a specific vehicle, we now offer our customers platforms that can be installed in several vehicle types or brands of an automobile manufacturer with certain adaptations,” explains Jorge Ortiz, who is responsible for user training in the central PLM project team. This saves development costs, but also means that every change must be coordinated with all development departments involved.
Another challenge is that Webasto is becoming a mechatronic focused company that develops and manufactures its own software and electronic components. The basis for this was laid, among other things, by the takeover of the electronics service provider Schaidt Innovations. This necessarily requires a closer connection of software development to the product development process and the IT systems supporting it.
The Webasto strategy is therefore to establish a uniform organization and implement a globally uniform product development process for all divisions, which can be mapped in a uniform system environment. This process will also support Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) in the future, as Ortiz explains: “We want to create a CAD/PLM development environment with uniform data structures and enable users to access data quickly and easily via a single point of truth, regardless of their location and region.
Approach to production
When selecting the new PLM solution, Webasto was faced with the alternative of either looking for greater proximity to the CAD landscape with CATIA V5 and Dassault Systèmes’ 3D experience platform as the target system, or approaching the SAP ERP system. None of the existing PDM systems met the requirements of an enterprise-wide PLM platform. In the case of Windchill, it was an older version that was gradually being phased out of maintenance and with which users were no longer satisfied with the usability.
After a longer selection phase, the project team decided to introduce the SAP-based PLM solution 4PEP from ILC GmbH, a decision that was backed by the assessment of an independent consulting firm. “4PEP gives us the opportunity to better integrate development and production processes by providing all information digitally,” says Ortiz, explaining the main reasons for the decision. The flexibility of the software and the willingness of the software manufacturer to consider Webasto’s special needs on the basis of the automotive-specific reference approach also spoke in favor of ILC. The software house also had a strong partner in PROSTEP AG for the integration of 4PEP and 3DExperience.
4PEP is an industry-specific PLM solution with preconfigured processes and methods optimized for the supply industry. Among other things, it offers modules for product structure and variant management, configuration and change management, master data management, but also for requirements management, project control and cost management. Webasto thus simplifies variant handling, for example, by no longer defining color variants of roof systems during development, but only during production coordination, explains Ansgar Villis, Deputy Managing Director of ILC GmbH and project manager in the Webasto project.
Cooperation with PROSTEP
The partnership with PROSTEP was very helpful in winning and carrying out the demanding PLM project, as Villis continues. The company is a recognized integration specialist with a wealth of industry experience, process know-how and technological expertise, as well as strategic partnerships with leading CAx and PLM manufacturers, Ortiz confirms. Based on the OpenPDM integration platform, the company has developed standardized connectors for 3DExperience and 4PEP, which can be quickly adapted to customer-specific requirements. Based on PROSTEP technology, Webasto also intends to integrate the Rational RTC software, which is used in the electronics sector for configuration and software management.
In close cooperation with ILC, PROSTEP implemented the data mapping for the various integration cases – starting with the transfer of design orders to the 3D Experience platform. During the pre-delivery of development stages for the procurement process, models and drawings are then converted into the neutral formats JT and 3D PDF, transferred to 4PEP and stamped with the note that they may only be used for requests. Once the design is complete, OpenPDM triggers a complex approval workflow in 4PEP that integrates purchasing, manufacturing, costing and controlling. If everyone approves the release, the integration platform reports the status change back to 3DExperience and ensures that the derived neutral formats are automatically re-stamped. The most complex integration case is the exchange of change orders, because with Webasto individual parts can be changed without immediately versioning the product structure or the parts list. This only happens when the parts are installed.
The integration cases must be partially readjusted, firstly because the new development environment is still under construction and secondly because the processes to be mapped are extended so that changes to the processes in 3DExperience and 4PEP occur. The flexibility of the integration platform, which allows changes or extensions to be implemented with minimal effort, has therefore proven to be an advantage, as Ortiz emphasizes: “OpenPDM is a very robust platform that has been in reliable operation since it was first launched.
The challenge of data migration
In the first project phase, the new CAD and PLM solution was implemented together with the integration platform in the convertible division and tested in a pilot project, which will be followed by others. “However, everything we do here is coordinated with the other divisions, which are already working with the new systems and can contribute their experience,” says Ortiz. This is important in order to standardize processes across all divisions.
One of the potential hurdles that arose during the pilot project was the coordination of the product structures between the participating systems 3DExperience, 4PEP and SAP. In principle, Webasto wants to manage E- and M-BOM in 4PEP to ensure consistency between development and production. Which of the three systems, however, is to assume the leading role in the case of changes has not yet been finally clarified. It will be a compromise to ensure the strongest possible link between the systems, without limiting their flexibility too much, as Ortiz says.
The pilot project also showed that the effort for data migration was greater than expected. “Existing parts and standard components lacked certain attribute information that the new systems and processes expect,” says Ortiz. “Another critical topic is the handling of the kinematics functions, which are very important for the convertible division. It has changed greatly from CATIA V5 to V6, so that the changed processes had to be taken into account during the migration.”
Points in the direction of digitization
At the end of this year, the second project phase will start with a pilot project in the field of roof systems. The biggest challenge will be to completely migrate the Windchill data to 4PEP and then to correctly link it to the CAD data via OpenPDM, which will be migrated in parallel from ENOVIA VPM to 3D Experience. A lot of information, which is represented in the form of tables on the drawings, must be transferred to the models or the PLM system. “Our goal is to no longer have drawings in PLM, but only models and information from which the representations can then be derived,” concludes Ortiz. “The PLM project should help us set the course for digitization and industry 4.0.”
By Mirko Theiß
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