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Phases of product lifecycle and corresponding technologies (1,2)



Many software solutions have been developed to organize and integrate the different phases of a product’s lifecycle. PLM should not be seen as a single software product but a collection of software tools and working methods integrated together to address either single stages of the lifecycle or connect different tasks or manage the whole process. Some software providers cover the whole PLM range while others a single niche application. Some applications can span many fields of PLM with different modules within the same data model.

An overview of the fields within PLM is covered here. It should be noted however that the simple classifications do not always fit exactly, many areas overlap and many software products cover more than one area or do not fit easily into one category. It should also not be forgotten that one of the main goals of PLM is to collect knowledge that can be reused for other projects and to coordinate simultaneous concurrent development of many products. It is about business processes, people and methods as much as software application solutions. Although PLM is mainly associated with engineering tasks it also involves marketing activities such as Product Portfolio Management (PPM), particularly with regards to New product introduction (NPI).


Phase 1: Conceive

Imagine, Specify, Plan, Innovate
The first stage in the development of a product idea is the definition of its requirements based on customer, company, market and regulatory bodies’ viewpoints. From this a specification of the products major technical parameters can be defined. Although often this task is carried out using standard office software packages there are for the field of requirements management a number of specialized software tools available.

Parallel to the requirements specification the initial concept design work is carried out defining the visual aesthetics of the product together with its main functional aspects. For the Industrial Design, Styling, work many different medias are used from pencil and paper, clay models to 3D CAID Computer-aided industrial design software.

Phase 2: Design

Describe, Define, Develop, Test, Analyze and Validate

This is where the detailed design and development of the product’s form starts, progressing to prototype testing, through pilot release to full product launch. It can also involve redesign and ramp for improvement to existing products. The main tool used for design and development is CAD Computer-aided design. This can be simple 2D Drawing / Drafting or 3D Parametric Feature Based Solid/Surface Modelling, Such software includes technology such as Hybrid Modeling, Reverse Engineering, KBE (Knowledge-Based Engineering), Assembly construction.

It covers many engineering disciplines including: Mechanical; Electrical; Electronic and Architectural. Along with the actual creation of geometry there is the analysis of the components and product assemblies. Simulation, validation and optimization tasks are carried out using CAE (Computer-aided engineering) software either integrated in the CAD package or stand-alone. These are used to perform tasks such as:- Stress analysis, FEA (Finite Element Analysis); Kinematics; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); and mechanical event simulation (MES). CAQ (Computer-aided quality) is used for tasks such as Dimensional Tolerance (engineering) Analysis. Another task performed at this stage is the sourcing of bought out components, possibly with the aid of Procurement systems.

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