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  AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING |  FEBRUARY 2012 25

Plexus takes PLM and MRP data to auto produce analytical supply chain maps that can overlay design anddata dependencies: Seen here are MBOM view (blue), Supplier view (yellow) and Geographical view (red)

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SUPPLY CHAIN I PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

Professor Jim Scanlan: Founder, Plexus Planning

 within the aerospace sector. Thecompany offers Siemens’ Teamcentersoftware, implementation, support andmaintenance services.

“The aerospace industry is highlycompetitive and exists as a complexmulti-tiered supply chain requiringsuppliers to work closely together onaircraft components,” explains ResourceEngineering Projects’ director, Paul

Martin. “A PLM solution gives them greater control over their productlifecycle and achieve a reduction inmanufacturing costs though efficiency gains such as improved BoM accuracyand reduced time to market of a productthough increased global collaboration.

“With Teamcenter, you can establisha single source of product and processknowledge that connects all globalteam members everywhere, all the time.Your teams can access this single source

to find needed information quickly,reducing the time it takes to search forinformation by up to 65%, resulting inR&D costs being dramatically reducedand enabling companies to maintainan acceptable profit. Teamcenter alsoprovides decision makers with better visibility into the most up-to-dateproduct lifecycle information to makefaster, more informed decisions.”

Enterprise application and servicespecialist Infor helps customers improve

operations, drive growth and quickly

adapt to changes in business demands. The company’s director of businessconsulting for aerospace & defence, Arsenin Rodrigues says that the use ofPLM in aerospace is based on efficiency,control and profitability.

“As these concerns ‘filter’ throughthe supply chain they have a wide rangeof effects,” he reveals. “However onecontinuous theme is that the risks beingfaced by large aerospace companies isbeing ‘shared’ throughout the supplychain – this risk management must

be co-ordinated and PLM is a keytechnology in that.

“The main benefits in adopting PLMare improvements in product qualityand a faster time to market – or to therequired scale. The key is to then gobeyond what one system can offer bylooking at its integration – PLM linkedto ERP or other elements of a supplychain management system. At this pointthe possible improvements in termsof reduced inventory and improved

profitability can leap significantly, butonly if the data flows across the systemsthat may indeed be across different sitesor even suppliers.”

 Taking on new systems to replace

legacy ones can often be a headache for

employees that have become reliant onthem. Some are sceptical whilst others welcome the new solution with open arms.

“There is indeed great reluctancefor organisations to implement newsystems without very good justification,”agrees Scanlan. “This is, in many ways,a good litmus test of how importantthe new solution is perceived to be.Plexus has been introduced into manylarge aerospace organisations with greatenthusiasm. This is largely because thetool is very easy to use, but also reflects

the fact that it provides a unique solutionto a complex high priority problem inthe aerospace industry.

“Plexus is welcomed by everyone thatuses it. Where there is a legacy PLMsystem then this can be retained. Plexus will interact with this system and builda complete database of product andproject data by adding supplier, BoM,and know-how from project knowledge workers and other sources to give amodel that visualises the complete

 value chain. This type of complete valuechain picture is normally only achievedpainfully through an unstructured massof separate spreadsheets, meetings andpost-it note sessions.”

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SUPPLY CHAIN I PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

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Infor’s Rodrigues says his companyoffers two approaches: “One for thoselooking to add to existing systems – where either the weight of those legacy

systems is enough to demand anyadditional investment and follows thepath already laid out, or the need is foradditional systems rather than a newsolution, and another for those lookingto actually move over to a new platform.Infor10ION is our new middlewareoffering that enables integration witha whole range of Infor and non-Inforsystems – it’s lightweight, incrediblyquick to install and based on openstandards.

“For those companies looking to

actually implement an entire newsystem, our new strategy of basing suitesof software around an industry ratherthan a product has resulted in Infor10 Aerospace and Defence – a system thatincludes ERP, CRM and SCM/PLMcapabilities.”

Meanwhile, Resource EngineeringProjects’ Martin explains that there aremany different approaches to handlingthe legacy data issue: “We generally findthat companies initially feel the need

to import all their old project data intotheir ‘new database’. However, throughtalking to other companies who hadalready adopted PLM software, they feltthis would perhaps not be the best thing

to do, and decided that importing theirold data into the ‘new system’ on an ‘asand when required basis’ was found tobe the most efficient and cost-effectiveapproach. This does, however, vary fromcustomer to customer, dependent ontheir data security model.”

Let’s get digital The conversation now turns to ‘digital

manufacturing’ and the kind of role itis playing in an aerospace company’sPLM set-up. Scanlan believes thatthis philosophy has a number ofinterpretations.

“It ranges from the exchange of geometry data with the supply chain todirectly produce manufactured geometryusing CNC machines to the interchangeof design data in the supply chain in orderto collaborate in the creation of a design,”he says. “A recent trend is the increasing

use of ‘direct digital manufacturing’ – also known as rapid prototyping. Aerospace companies are starting toexploit this technology to develop parts with sophisticated geometries that would be impossible to manufactureusing conventional CNC processes. Thiscapability changes the dynamics of thesupply chain and can dramatically reducedevelopment lead-times.”

Rodrigues says that while digital designhas been used for many years now, digitalmanufacturing is a much broader subject.

“From a PLM view, the manufacturingcapability is very important inunderstanding how the product willbe built and produced,” he avows.“Design decisions have an impact onmanufacturing capability. Embodimentpoints for design changes are moreeffective if the operational data, i.e.progress per tail number, configurationbeing produced, inventory, procurementetc, is viewed. Our strategy withWorkspace and in the context of

capabilities means that people don’t haveto leave their systems environment to view information from other domains –this is important to the decision makingprocess. This increases the quality of the

decision and naturally, the speed thattranslates into lead-time reduction andcost control of design decisions.”

It’s Martin’s belief that digitalmanufacturing enables OEMs to designthe entire manufacturing process digitallyat the same time that designers aredesigning the next product/concept.

“Consequently, manufacturingengineers are able to provide immediate

feedback to designers if there are anyconstraints in the part manufacturability,”he points out. “This type of collaborationbetween manufacturing engineers anddesigners creates a holistic view ofproduct and process design and cansave millions of pounds in costly reworkhaving to be done.

“For example, a company tenderingfor new contracts could use a digitalmanufacturing system to create a 3Dsimulation of a complete production

line and analyse the different production variants and concepts as part of therequest for quote (RFQ) process. Thiskind of transparency and precision inplanning and proposal preparation canhelp a company gain greater customerconfidence – and ultimately help it quoteaccurately and win new contracts.” ❙www.plexusplanning.com

www.infor.com

www.resource-engineering.co.uk/plm

Paul Martin: Director, Resource Engineering Projects

Siemens Teamcenter software: Managing thecomplexity of products in the real world