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INFORMATICS
Advanced Engineering Informatics 22 (2008) 307316 www.elsevier.com/locate/aei

Interfacing heterogeneous PDM systems using the PLM Services

Soonhung Han

ICAD Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea Received 20 August 2007; accepted 20 August 2007

Abstract A PDM (Product Data Management) system allows improved management of the engineering process through better control of engineering data, engineering activities, engineering changes and product congurations. There are dierent commercial PDM systems and each company uses a PDM that supports the companys needs. To collaborate with parts suppliers, companies frequently need to interface their PDM systems with those of their suppliers. There are two ways of interface: direct translation between PDM systems and translation based on a standard format. In this study two dierent PDM systems are interfaced based on the PLM Services standard of OMG (www.omg.org), which is itself based on Web Services. The PLM Services enables the data exchange via the Internet. The main objective of implementation is to use the PLM Services standard for PDM data exchange via Internet. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Collaborative design; PDM; Synchronous data exchange; Internet

1. Introduction In todays highly competitive global manufacturing environment, a company should deliver and support their products and service at time convenient to the customer. These requirements put tremendous pressure on the engineering function to improve product quality while reducing lead times. One way to meet these demands is to increase the productivity of individual engineers by through the introduction of CAD. Another way is to improve the coordination between activities by through concurrent engineering [1]. The web-enabled PDM systems support collaborative approaches [2]. A product data management (PDM) system is a software tool that helps engineers and others to manage data and to manage the product development process.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 (0)42 865 4765; fax: +82 (0)42 861 6080. E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Gunpinar). 1 Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Mechatronics Center, 103-28, Munji-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-380, Korea. 1474-0346/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aei.2007.08.009

PDM tools provide comprehensive management capabilities for data associated with a product, covering concept formulation, design, manufacture, maintenance and disposal [2]. The main information in PDM systems are the product (P), process (P) and organization (O) information. PDM software manages these PPO information in a company and manages the relationship among dierent types of PPO information. There are ve basic components of a PDM system; product structure management, database and classication, project management, workow management, and the electronic vault [3]. There are commercial PDM software systems. An OEM (original equipment manufacturer or an assembly maker) cooperates with many parts suppliers. Suppliers generally use dierent PDM systems. Accordingly, it is dicult to use product data that comes from suppliers to OEM without data conversion. There is a need to interface the PDM systems of OEMs and their parts suppliers. Faster data exchange is an important issue for companies. Faster data exchange enables speeding up the time-to-market tasks by making data instantly avail-

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able as it is needed, supporting concurrent task management, improving design productivity, and allowing authorized team members access to all relevant data with the assurance that it is always the latest version [4]. The aim of this study is to interface two dierent PDM systems based on the OMG PLM Services standard, which enables PDM data access through the Internet. This paper introduces usage of OMG PLM Services as a middleware between two heterogeneous PDM systems. 2. Related works Together with ProSTEP of Germany and PDES of the USA, ISO has developed the STEP PDM Schema for the PDM data exchange. The STEP PDM Schema is a reference information model for the exchange of a central, common subset of the data being managed within a PDM system. It has been established to promote interoperability between STEP APs (application protocols) in the area of product data management such as AP203 for CAD, AP212 for electronics, AP214 for automotive, and AP232 for technical data package [5]. The PDM Enablers is a standards-based application programming interface (API), specied in IDL (interface denition language) that makes PDM services available in a CORBA environment to other systems [6]. The PDM Enablers provides direct interfaces to support document management function, product structure implementation specications, and includes support for views, eectivities, and baselines [7]. In addition, there are webbased PDM systems that enable the integration of heterogeneous PDM systems and that carry PDM data to the web. Examples of web-based PDM systems that are now on the market are OpenPDM by ProSTEP of Germany, PLM Cockpit by PartMaster GmbH of Germany, MetaPDM by ETRI of Korea. Oh [8] proposed an UML-based mapping methodology for the product data models between CAD and PDM systems. Shin [9] proposes a data enhancement approach to integrate heterogeneous CAD databases on the Internet. Burkett [10] designed a product data markup language, a set of XML vocabularies and a usage structure for deploying product data on the Internet. Xu and Liu [11] designed a web-enabled PDM system. The architecture is based on the use of open data standards to allow users on a wide variety of platforms to access product data and other
Table 1 Comparison table for related works Burkett Composed of Based on Integration speed Visualization ability Application scope Framework Document download Data de. lang. XML, STEP Slow No Wide No Abromovici

related information. Abramovici [12] combined dierent product data management (PDM) systems into a homogenous virtual PDMS-environment. Table 1 compares related works for PDM data exchange and integration. Burkett designed a data denition language which is based on XML and STEP. By using the international standards, the integration is slow as the data denition language is used as a middleware module for the data exchange. Abromovici designed the PDM systems with connectors based on XML and STEP. Xu and Liu designed a web-enabled system based on HTML and STEP. The proposed method has a web-based PDM system and connectors. Connectors translate the data into a new standard (PLM standard) which is based also on XML and STEP. The integration is fast as the change is done in data level. The updated data can be accessed as soon as the changes are completed. Moreover, related documents can be accessed after the changes are completed. Our implementation is based on the PLM Services reference implementation software, so the related document to the product can be downloaded, however, it cannot be visualized directly, i.e. the PLM Services reference implementation is not integrated with CAD programs. Xus system has visualization ability, the product can be visualized from PDM system. Burketts data denition language has wider scope for product data exchange. We have used Part identication, BOM (bill of material) information, document identication, document item relationship, document download as the PDM implementation scope.

3. Interfacing dierent PDM systems using the PLM Services There are three aims of this study: 1. Application of the new international standard, PLM Services which is also used for the PLM Services reference implementation, for the PDM data exchange. Using the PLM Services reference implementation as integration tool. 2. Meet the needs of OEMs: Access suppliers PDM data for design collaboration. 3. Meet the needs of suppliers: Interface suppliers PDM system to the international standard enabling them to trade with multiple OEMs from dierent countries.

Xu System HTML, STEP Fast Yes Normal No

Our method System + Connectors XML, STEP Fast No Normal PLM Services Yes

System + Connectors XML, STEP Fast No Normal No

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There are two methods of PDM data translation for design collaboration: Direct translation. Translation based on the standard le formats. For the direct translation, three dierent ways are represented by D1, D2, and D3 in Fig. 1. Translator can be located on dierent sides (ST = SmarTEAM, REF = PLM Services reference server, C = PLM Services reference client, TR = Translator). In D1, the translator is on the ST side. In D2, the translator is on the REF side, and in D3, there are translators on both sides. For all these three cases (D1, D2 and D3), communication between ST and REF is achieved via the Internet. In D1, the translator is on the ST side. TR connects to ST and captures the data from ST; nally TR connects to REF through the Internet and puts data into REF. C can then access and visualize the ST data, which has already been sent to REF by TR. In D2, TR is on the REF side. TR connects to ST through the Internet and captures data. Finally TR connects to REF and sends data to REF. In a manner similar to D1, C can access and visualize the ST data. In D3, there are two translators: TR1 and TR2. TR1 connects to ST and captures data. TR2 communicates TR1 through the Internet. After receiving the ST data from TR1, TR2 send this data to REF. Similar to D1 and D2, C can access and visualize the ST data. Fig. 2 shows a translation based on the standard le formats. The SmarTEAM data is translated into the standard le format by Translator 1 and Translator 2 translates back the standard le format into the PLM Services reference implementation. There are two translators in this case (for translation based on the standard le formats). The rst is located on the ST side; the second is located on the REF side. TR1 connects to ST, writes the data into the standard le format and saves it to a proper place. TR2 reads this standard le from the proper place and sends data to REF. C can then access and visualize the ST data which has already been sent to REF by TR1 and TR2.

Fig. 2. Translation based on standards.

The proposed implementation (OM) uses both the direct translation and the standard PDM le format (PLM Services standard). The commercial PDM software system and the PLM Services reference server are on the same side as seen in Fig. 3. TR connects to ST and captures data. TR then writes the data into the PLM Services le format and saves it to REF. The data in ST is transported to REF by TR. Therefore C, which is on the remote side, can access and visualize the ST data. Table 2 shows a comparison result among the dierent methods for the PDM data translations. The comparison was performed for four issues; a synchronous data exchange, the limitation of PLM Services reference implementation, study-aim 2 (objective 2), and study-aim 3 (objective 3). Translation based on standard formats (SFr) is not a synchronous data exchange method. In SFr, data is translated asynchronously. The XPDI (eXtended Product Data Interface) Client of Fig. 4 is only for read purposes. It cannot write to the reference server. The XPDI Client can recognize two entity types; items and documents, is not implemented for other entity types such as work management data. As the usage of the API functions of the PLM Services reference

Fig. 3. Proposed method.

Table 2 Comparison table for PDM data translation methods D1 Synchr. date exc Limit. of ref. impl. Aim 2 Aim 3 YES NO YES YES D2 YES YES YES NO D3 YES YES YES NO S NO YES YES YES OM YES YES YES YES

Fig. 1. Direct translation.

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Fig. 4. Architecture of PLM Services reference implementation.

Fig. 5. Carrying PDM data to Internet.

Fig. 7. Modular architecture of Translator 1.

Fig. 6. Two translators.

implementation is dicult due to poor documentation, the PLM Services standard format of OMG is used for the implementation. The PDM data is translated into the PLM Services standard format and directly saved to the

PLM Services reference implementation database in that format. In this situation, D1 in Fig. 1 is not the best method, as saving the output le to a remote side directory is dicult. Objective 2 of this study is to access suppliers PDM data from the OEMs PDM for design collaboration. This can be implemented for both translation methods. The objective 3 of this study is to interface suppliers PDM system to an international standard. In this case, the D2 and D3 methods are not feasible and only the D1 method can be used.

E. Gunpinar, S. Han / Advanced Engineering Informatics 22 (2008) 307316 Table 3 Mapping based on the PDM schema PLM Services ENTITY.ATTRIBUTE Item.id Item.name Item.veision id Item.id Item.name Item_veision.id Next_higher_ass.def Next higher ass ref Doc.id Doc.name Doc_assign.is_assigned_to Doc_assign.assigned_doc External_source.id SmarTEAM CLASS.ATTRIBUTE Items.CN_PART_NO Items CN_ITEM_DESC Items.REVISION ltems.CN_PART_NO Items.CN_ITEM_DESC Items.REVISION Item.PARENT Item.CHILD Documents.CN_ID Documents.CN DESC Documents.LINKED_PART Documents.LINKING_DOC Documents.DIRECTORY DynaPDM

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CLASS.ATTRIBUTE P_product.md$number P_product.md$description P_product.vf$version Part.md$number Part.md$description Part.vf$version ProductStuc.PartOfProd-i.End 1 Product Stuc.PartOfProd-i.End 2 Document.md$number Document.md$ description Document.DocAndPart.End 2 Document.DocAndPart.End 1 File.id

Fig. 8. Modular architecture of Translator 2.

4. The PLM Services The OMG PLM Services 1.0 standard is a working result of ProSTEP iViP of Germany and is standardized by the Object Management Group (OMG). It is the rst standard comprising the current XML and Web Services technologies together with the STEP data model thus providing both syntax and semantics. It also constitutes the rst model-driven architecture (MDA) standard of

OMG. Scenarios for web-based collaboration that function across dierent PDM platforms can be created for the automotive industry [13,14]. ProSTEP has implemented the OMG PLM Services reference implementation based on the OMG PLM Services standard. The current PLM Services reference implementation does not cover the full life cycle of a product. Fig. 4 shows the architecture of the PLM Services reference implementation. The PLM Services reference implementation encompasses two modules; the XPDI client and the reference server. The reference server contains Tomcat as the web server, and Axis as the SOAP toolkit [15]. The XPDI client is an interface through which users can access data in the reference server [16]. Communication between the client and the server is performed with SOAP messages through the Internet. Thus if there is an XPDI Client on the remote side, it can access the reference server by using an ID and password created by reference server administrator. XPDI Client is a GUI connecting the

Fig. 9. Translated parts.

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remote PLM Services server, showing part and BOM information and downloading the document (CAD, Microsoft Word, etc.) related to the part. The usage step is as follows and also can be seen from Fig. 4: 1. Write IP of the remote PLM Services server and connect to the server. 2. View the product data into the server (BOM, part information, documents related to product). 3. Download the document related to product.

5. Interfacing two commercial PDM systems Two PDM systems have been tested. The rst is Smar` mes of France and the second is TEAM of Dassault Syste DynaPDM of iNOPS of Korea. In the integration scenario, one company uses SmarTEAM and the other company uses DynaPDM. These two companies are parts suppliers of an assembly maker (OEM). The OEM wants to access the PDM data of its suppliers through the XPDI (eXtended Product Data Integration) client.

Fig. 10. BOM data translation from DynaPDM to OMG PLM Services.

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Fig. 11. BOM of Autohelm [20].

Fig. 12. Airvane and mast and base assembly [20].

Fig. 5 shows the role of the PLM Services reference implementation in transferring PDM data to the Internet. The product data inside the PDM system is translated to PLM Services reference server by the data transfer module. The data transfer module captures the PDM system data by using APIs and translates it into the format which PLM Services reference implementation can read and visualize. Any permitted XPDI client of PLM Services from the remote side can access the translated PDM data in the PLM Services server. Therefore, to access the data stored in SmarTEAM or DynaPDM, the PLM Services reference

server is used on both sides to enable the data accessing from remote side. For the integration, two translators are implemented, as shown in Fig. 6. The rst translates the SmarTEAM data into the OMG PLM Services reference implementation and the second translates the DynaPDM data into the OMG PLM Services reference implementation. Each translator connects to SmarTEAM or DynaPDM and captures the data. It then writes data into the PLM Services le format and onto the PLM Services reference server.

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In a company, the product information ows with a document. The document is the important part of a PDM system, and contains detailed information about the product. To interface PDM systems between two companies, documents should also be exchanged between the companies. In this study, the scope of the PDM interface is selected as Part identication. BOM information. Document identication. Documentitem relationship. Document download.

The STEP PDM schema of ISO (international standard organization) contains product, BOM, document, product document relationship, organization, workow management information [17]. The workow management is not implemented in our implementation. Also the PLM Services implementation is neither implemented for the workow management. It only enables part, BOM, document information. 6. Implementation The modular architecture of Translator 1, which translates the SmarTEAM PDM data into the PLM Services reference implementation, can be seen in Fig. 7. Translator 1 initially connects to the SmarTEAM database. By using SmarTEAM API functions, the data inside the SmarTEAM database is captured. The data is then translated into the OMG PLM Services standard format. Finally, the translated data is saved as an XML le into the PLM server database. Mapping based on the ISO PDM Schema

is important during the stage of the SmarTEAM data translation into the OMG PLM Services standard format. The mapped entities can be seen from Table 3. The modular architecture of Translator 2 can be seen in Fig. 8. For the translator, DynaPDM scripts are used, which are compiled inside DynaPDM. By using API functions, the data inside the DynaPDM database can be captured. The data is then translated into the OMG PLM Services standard format. Finally, the translated data is saved as an XML le in the PLM server database. Mapping based on the ISO PDM Schema mapping is important during the stage of the DynaPDM data translation into the OMG PLM Services standard format. The mapping based on the PDM Schema can be seen in Table 3. The PLM Services standard format is similar to STEP, and resembles XML. SmarTEAM and DynaPDM have their own PDM Schema. Item is an entity and id is an attribute in the PLM Services standard. For SmarTEAM, Items is a class, CN_PART_NO is attribute, and for DynaPDM, P_product is a class and md$number is an attribute. All these in the following form: Item.id, Items.CN_PART_NO and P_product.md$number refer to the identication of the product. 7. Experiments For the implementation, the rear lower arm of the wheel axle product and the Mulde part of the Trego product [16] were used. Fig. 9 shows the parts which were used for the experiments. The outer arm part of the rear lower arm product data and the Mulde part of Trego product data have been translated from SmarTEAM to the PLM Services reference implementation. The mid axle part of the

Fig. 13. Rudder assembly and mounting components [20].

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Fig. 14. Translation of Airvane part to PLM Services standard.

rear lower arm product data has been translated from DynaPDM to the PLM Services reference implementation. As is seen in Fig. 9, the outer arm is composed of two parts: the main and the pin. The mid axle is composed of three parts: The mid bearing, the upper bearing and the lower bearing. Fig. 10 shows the translation from DynaPDM to the PLM Services reference implementation. The BOM information of the mid axle product, the product information of each part (mid axle, mid bearing, upper bearing and lower bearing) and the linked documents information has been translated. In addition, the linked document can be downloaded by using a reference client. DynaPDM and SmarTEAM have a new menu button for the PLM Services. After making product changes in DynaPDM or SmarTEAM, the OMG PLM Services button in DynaPDM or SmarTEAM should be clicked. Following this, all information regarding the product and linked documents are sent to the reference server can be downloaded by using the XPDI client. Then, the data is ready to be accessed by a PLM Services reference client. To carry documents from DynaPDM or SmarTEAM to the PLM Services reference server, a synchronization of folders is utilized. The product document folder of DynaPDM or SmarTEAM and the product document folder of PLM Services reference server are synchronized via a synchronization program. Another test data, Autohelm, is used for the data exchange, which can be seen from Fig. 11. It is an automobile part consisting of sub-assemblies [18]. Airvane assembly, mast and base assembly, rudder assembly and mounting components are tested in our implementation (Figs. 12 and 13). The PLM Services standard le for the Airvane Blade part is shown in Fig. 14 after translation. The standard le contains part, BOM, document information shown from the Fig. 3. 8. Conclusion Design collaboration is an important issue in reducing the time to market [19]. If an OEM and its parts suppliers use dierent PDM systems, the PDM data ow between them presents problems. This study attempts to interface the PDM product data of suppliers to a state in which

the product information and related document can be accessed in real time and downloaded. To access the data inside two dierent PDM systems, we have used the PLM Services reference implementation, which is based on Web Services. The PLM Services reference implementation allows the transport of the PDM data to Internet. The data in PDM systems has been translated into the OMG PLM Services standard format, which is based on STEP and XML. A wheel axle assembly and Trego parts have been utilized for the experiments, and the data exchange has been tested through the pilot implementation. The main objective of the implementation is using the PLM Services standard for PDM data exchange. Our implementation can be used for any product data. Companies who do not want to change their own PDM system which is not web based, can use our approach to carry their PDM data to the Internet via a web-based support system such as the PLM Services reference implementation. As the future work, the same implementation can be established using the OpenPDM software instead of the PLM Services reference implementation. In addition, the scope of the implementation can be wider with the OpenPDM implementation. The PDM workow management data, which is also an important part of PDM systems, can be included in the implementation scope. References
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