Implementation of systems engineering model into product lifecycle management platform

Abstract

Manufacturing companies are facing the challenge of increasing product complexity while at the same time reducing cost and time in a highly competitive global market. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Systems Engineering have the potential to provide solutions for these challenges. The two concepts not only share many common characteristics, but also complement each other. Even though systems engineering and PLM have become closely related in the past few years, implementation of systems engineering models into a PLM platform has rarely been conducted. In this study, the key portion of a model-based system engineering model was implemented into a PLM platform, and the implementation was validated. The results shows that the current implementation can help capture and reflect stakeholders’ requirements and changes in product design process promptly and accurately; and reduce the time and potential mistakes in creating a new systems engineering model.