Product Lifecycle Management System: CAD attached

In comments to our previous article , quite logical claims were made, mostly from those in the subject. Say, we give an example of designing the details of the computer case in the CATIA system - it is shaped nailing with a microscope. Indeed, if you translate the analogy into more familiar IT solutions to Habr users, it’s like setting a photoshop only for resizing a picture. For example, a simpler computer-aided design system can cope with a computer case, but we wanted to start with some simple example.

We now turn to the more complex and more realistic. One of the customers of Dassault Systemes (a French company) is the French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen. In the development of cars of this alliance is used not only 3D CAD-system CATIA, but also many other software solutions. Together they make up the whole system, which is commonly called PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) - Product Lifecycle Management System. Actually designing any product is only a small part of the whole system.

Great attention is paid to the issue of managing a large enterprise, which may have thousands of employees who are in any way responsible for a specific project, hundreds of contractors and dozens of problems that occur every minute and need to be solved. In fact, the PLM system is so multifaceted that it includes many elements of other (also complex) software packages, the names of which also consist of three letters: CRM, ERP, and so on. Only here the product is put at the head, which means such a solution is for companies creating something that can be touched. For example, cars.
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Inside - the beginning of the story about the PLM system from the point of view of the project manager, as well as a simple example of designing a car design in CATIA V6.


The administration does not sleep!

Let's start with the analysis of the project from the point of view of management. What are the typical tasks for a project manager? If in general terms, then: to assemble a team of performers, to formulate a common task, to assign areas of responsibility and monitor implementation, periodically intervening and solving emerging problems. And this - if it is already clear what and how we will produce. And if not?

For example, a company in the recent past had one successful product (well, for example, a tablet), and now it wants to make even more money by presenting an updated model on the market (say, Tablet 2). Already at the planning stage you need to take into account many factors. Feedback from users of the previous product (they want a built-in video camera, three weeks of battery life and a memory card slot), economic feasibility (the first model was released less than a year ago, and it is generally well purchased), the requirements of top management (demoralize competitors, win 100% , no - 110% of the market!), the cost of components (sawing a hole in the case for a memory card will increase the cost by 10%).

The analysis of such information in the Dassault Systemes PLM system is the responsibility of the ENOVIA solution. In essence, this is a system of joint development and planning, where each participant has access to “his” data, and the authorities also have the opportunity to see the big picture, and also with one click draw beautiful graphs of overfulfilment of plans for even steeper authorities. When applied to the auto industry, such a system might look like this:



Please note that the project is open in the browser. Provides a remote access system: a trip does not hurt you to monitor their subordinates. Numerous menus can tell about the stages of the project: the tasks assigned, the design, the creation and testing of the prototype, the procurement of components from third parties, the production and maintenance. ENOVIA stores the entire history of the car, starting with a fundamental decision on the development and production and ending with the date of the termination of the release of the latest spare parts for the model that has long been discontinued. It is always possible to trace how effectively work was done in certain areas, what to do next, and who is to blame. On the right there is a list of project participants - development managers and simple engineers.



It is an obvious thing: timeline project. It is clear that the same can be drawn in the "Outlook". The difference is that it takes into account the development time of the smallest details: right down to the last light bulb. ENOVIA stores data on the success of each small task, and, in general, reduces the total amount of inconsistencies that inevitably arise in large organizations to reasonable limits.

Back to CATIA
However, let's go down a few levels down to where the desire of the leadership (to do better, more, more money) is realized by talented engineers and designers. I want to show how the CATIA 3D design system is used to develop real, and very complex products. This time we are dealing with a Peugeot 206 car, in which you need to refine the built-in audio system. To do this, we open the necessary set of parts, in this case - the door where you need to place the speakers.



Compare this with the example from the previous article : here we are dealing with thousands of elements grouped together: body parts separately, electricians separately, mechanics, and so on. Even the opening of such a project, on a powerful multiprocessor workstation, takes a long time, so the new version of CATIA V6 has invented a special mechanism that helps to choose the very structural element that is needed now. Just not to waste time.



We increase the necessary detail: here also other elements of the electrics built into the doors are visible: a glass-raising mechanism, buttons in the driver's door, limit switches, etc.



There is no need to design the speaker separately: we simply select it from the list of pre-made elements.



And indicate the modification of the car (five-door), as well as the type of configuration.



Place the speaker in the door. Naturally, this is not all limited: you need to think about connecting the speaker and cable output in the car.



For the cable already provided an intermediate mount inside the case.



It remains to indicate the main reference points for the harness. The first option is not very successful: the harness is tightly tensioned and may burst due to vibration, or the mount may fly off.



Therefore, we move the intermediate fasteners to a new location.



And we get a more reliable design. Here is the full video of this design stage (it is better to open the link and look in 720p format):



It remains only to update the project, after which our contribution will be available to other participants in the development of the car. That's all for now, but in the next article we will show work on the suspension of the car from this project, and also give some more examples of project management with the help of Dassault Systemes solutions.