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DamianCastillo1-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 5, 2012
Question

Windchill, Is it PDM or PLM

  • July 5, 2012
  • 16 replies
  • 10560 views

I am a little confused by the branding of Windchill.


Windchill seems on the surface to be PTC's PLM solution. When I look at our Windchill 10.1 information, what we are installing is actually Windchill PDMLink.


Why is it called PDMLink and not PLMLink?


When does Windchill make the transition from a PDM to a PLM system?


Do we need certain modules installed to make Windchill a PLM solution?


Is PDMLink 10.1 truly a full capable PLM solution?


I know Windchill is a platform just like Creo but when I install Creo Parametric, it's very clear what I have. Windchill as a platform seems to be PTC's PLM solution but then I install PDMLink which suggest it's a Product Data Management solution. So when does Windchill become PLM?


If I look at it from a Platform I can see the similarity to Windows. I don't go around telling people I am a Windows 7 user. I simply say we use Windows. Creo is no different. We use Creo which is understood as a Product Design Platform. If I specifically told you we use Creo Parametric, you would know exactly what that means and how it works. I don't get that same clarify when talking about the Windchill platform. If I tell you we specifically run PDMLink, it seems that we are not running a PLM product but a PDM product.


I am just confused by this.


Any clarification on this wold be appreciated.


"Too many people walk around like Clark Kent, because they don't realize they can Fly like Superman"

16 replies

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SimonHeath1-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 6, 2012
One reason is that PTC wanted to “own” the concept and more or less invented the term PDM when everyone else was using PLM. I think that now they have accepted PLM is the industry term and use that. When I talk to lay people about what I do, they might have heard about ERP so I say

PLM=Creating the product
ERP=Making the product

A huge simplification but is a good starting point

Simon

M
22-Sapphire I
MikeLockwood22-Sapphire I
22-Sapphire I
July 6, 2012
Just another 2 cents (maybe 3)…

One can look at this also a bit like “crawl before you walk,” “walk before you run” and so on.

At its core, “Engineering Data Management” for CAD-based design requires that any electronic representation of product data be retrievable at any future time. This remains one of PDMLink’s core “responsibilities.”

We still do this simple exercise with many users:

- Create a simple block and check it in >> PRT A.1

- Create a drawing showing this block DRW A.1 (shows block)

- Check out the block, add a hole, check it in >> PRT A.2

- Clear workspace

- Search for the Drawing and Add to Workspace. Default: Drawing shows the block with the hole (DRW A.1 shows PRT A.2)

- Clear workspace

- Search for the Drawing and Add to Workspace, but select AS STORED. Drawing shows the block with no hole (DRW A.1 shows PRT A.1)

- In general, you need to do all development LATEST, but need to do business AS STORED

On top of this, PDMLink allows for controlled state changes to the last Iteration of each Revision, then repeating this for the next Revision.

Continue the simple block exercise.

- Cause both the Part and Drawing to change state essentially locking Rev A. PRT A.2 Released DRW A.1 Released

- Revise the model and conceptually work on it >> PRT B.1 In Work

- Still need to be able to do business on the Drawing at Rev A. Also may need to provide the PRT A.2 model to a vendor at any time.

- Note that the use of visualization with publishing AS STORED is an almost essentially part of this.

- And it goes on and on….

So, Product Data Management seems to be primarily:

- Manage the relationships between files as “Windchill Documents,” allowing users to retrieve sets of data according to the business purpose of using that data

- Controlled Processes for changing states

- Controlled processes for introducing new Revisions / alternate components to an assembly

Product Lifecycle Management then addresses all the 1,001 other elements of info and processes related to products.

D
DamianCastillo1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
July 6, 2012

Mike Lockwood,


Thank you for the great information on this post. Most of it is over my head because I am just learning but you example is something that is helping me understand how things work.


One area we will need to change in our Windchill Implementation is how Revisions work. The out of the box method will not work for us and we must come up with a different process that works inside Windchill while providing us the benefits we need as far as control goes.


"Too many people walk around like Clark Kent, because they don't realize they can Fly like Superman"

B
23-Emerald III
BenLoosli23-Emerald III
23-Emerald III
July 6, 2012
Damian,

Explain to us what your revision requirements are so maybe we can offer some suggestions for you to consider.
Also some information on why the OOTB revision method will not work.

Thank you,

Ben H. Loosli
USEC, INC.
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DamianCastillo1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
July 6, 2012

Our products live and die by revision letters. Our customers can see the revision on our product and they use it as a reference for what they have. We make Steel Castings for Construction and Mining GET (Ground Engaging Tools). We also manufacture the Buckets for Construction and Mining machines.



Our policy is that if you change the "Form, Fit or Function" of the product, it's considered a "major revision" and It get's a new revision letter. If we change something that does not affect "Form, Fit or Function", it will get a "minor revision". This means that I can add a missing note to a drawing or add a datum point to a model and it's NOT a revision.



In Windchill, if we have a model/product in Released state and needed to check it out to add a note to the drawing. It must be checked back in without a revision change. It get's a minor revision instead.



Dash ( - ) is for new parts


A, B, C, etc are major revisions


A1, A2, B1, B2, etc are minor revisions


Our castings only show Major Revisions. Minor Revisions are not known to our customer because it does not affect "Form, Fit or Function".


So we must configure Windchill to allow for the Major and Minor revision process.


It's very important that we control the Major revisions for only those situations were something has changed on the product that affects it's "Form, Fit or Function". If a customer has Rev. B of a product and they start to have some failures. We will look into it. If a Design Change is needed to improve the product, it becomes Rev. C and the customer must see the Revision letter on the Casting to know that it's the new version of our product. They will return all their inventory of Rev. B to us. This is why keeping major revisions separated from minor revisions is so important to us.


If we where to change a part from Rev. B to Rev. C without letting the customer know. They will receive the new Rev. C parts and will ask why it has changed because the Rev. B parts are working just fine. We must provide a Service News to notify them of the change and the reason for it.


Sometimes we have to improve a product because a particular site is having issues and we must update all our other customers on what we did and make sure they understand that it's an improvement and will not change how the part performs for them.


The bottom line is that changing the Major revision of our products is not something we can just do without getting the customer involved and creating a service news.


Since our revisions are cast to the parts, it requires tooling change to updated our molds every time we change a revision letter.


Windchill out of the box would force everything at "Release" state to be a revision change if we were to check it back in with any change at all, to include something as small as a datum point. This would not work for us.



Long explanation, but there you have it. 🙂


Any suggestions would be appreciated.


"Too many people walk around like Clark Kent, because they don't realize they can Fly like Superman"

M
22-Sapphire I
MikeLockwood22-Sapphire I
22-Sapphire I
July 6, 2012
Some relatively important things to consider but it's entirely possible to do this for example:

...
A.1 In Work
A.2 In Work (Iterated by general designer with Modify permission at In Work state)
A.2 Released (state change via some process)
A.3 Released (iterated by "superuser" designer with Modify permission at Released state)
B.1 In Work (Revised by general designer)
Cycle same for Rev B...
...

This depends only on permissions by state and may be the path of least resistance and may be practical.

If certain things are triggered by getting to Released, these will of course happen above only on A.2, not on A.3; need to accommodate. This also leaves both A.2 and A.3 at Released. For this reason, you may instead choose:

...
A.2 at Released as before
A.2 set back to In Work (via Set State command by superuser with this permission - requires Lifecycle Set State transition)
A.3 In Work (Iterated by general designer with Modify permission at In Work state)
A.3 Released (as before)
...

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