Manufacturing Goes Digital

Manufacturing Goes Digital May 2006

A CIMdata White Paper

Manufacturing Goes Digital

May 2006

Prepared by CIMdata, Inc.

®

http://www.CIMdata.com

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Copyright © 2006 by CIMdata, Inc. All rights reserved.

Manufacturing Goes Digital – A CIMdata White Paper Page 1

Manufacturing Goes Digital

1. Introduction Manufacturers are going digital. By implement-ing Digital Manufacturing software-based solutions, producers around the world are placing themselves in a stronger position to meet the forces encountered in an increasingly demanding and challenging global manufactur-ing environment. The relentless pressures to continuously improve productivity, lower costs, compress delivery times, and enhance quality of products must be met, while at the same time, internal business objectives must be achieved. Enlightened firms are incorporating more efficient processes, digital manufacturing software-based solutions, and other technologies to create an efficient and lean production operation and prosper on the world stage. Digital manufacturing solutions are based on an integrated set of software capabilities that utilize a digital product model and work with product definition data to support part and assembly planning, process design, visualization, simula-tion and other analyses to digitally plan, validate and optimize a manufacturing process. Through implementation, manufacturers are addressing their business needs by:

• Continuously improving the efficiency of manufacturing processes to ensure production flexibility, high perform-ance and superior quality

• Commonizing and re-using parts, assemblies, equipment, and processes

• Assurance that compliance with appropriate industry and government standards is being met

• Managing and synchronizing product and process information from idea conception to the end of product life

The benefits of Digital Manufacturing have been clearly demonstrated in many successful imple-mentations around the world and include:

• Shortened development cycles • Reduced production costs and

improved quality

• Support of lean manufacturing and agility

• Enabled DFx initiatives • Support of product knowledge

dissemination This report provides a perspective on Digital Manufacturing; the pressures that motivate its use, an introduction to Digital Manufacturing and its role, and an overview of the benefits companies have experienced from its use.

2. Pressures on Manufacturers

Manufacturers are faced with increasingly intense internal and external pressures from shareholders and the market. Shareholders demand steadily-growing revenues and profitability on a quarter-by-quarter basis while the market expects product innovation and aesthetic appeal; greater product functionality, performance, and usability; and a longer, useful life for products. Producers are caught in this confluence of forces that places an onerous squeeze on executives, managers, planners, and workers to lower costs, shorten lead times, and improve quality in order to effectively compete in a worldwide economy. Globalization has increased the stress placed on producers. Outsourcing, insourcing, and offshoring have become ubiquitous, and manufacturers in all areas of the world now compete aggressively for end user buyers or to be an integral component in a product supply chain. Those competing in global manufacturing are continually faced with a series of challenges such as:

• Limited resources of people, time and funding

• Production risk and a lack of confidence in being able to meet program objectives in a timely manner

• An excessive amount of time spent locating relevant information and ineffective oral, written and electronic communications within an operation, an enterprise and a supply chain

Page 2 Manufacturing Goes Digital – A CIMdata White Paper

• Engineers and production personnel having difficulty visualizing and optimizing a future production process

• Discovery of design or manufacturing problems late in the cycle when the cost and time impact is the greatest and spending too much time and money in re-design and re-working a production process to achieve program and business objectives

Global supply chains are increasingly critical to a firm’s well-being. They typically include multiple firms from multiple geographies throughout the world. As one example, Dell Computer has six assembly plants: Ireland, China, Brazil, Malaysia, and Austin, TX and Nashville, TN in the U.S. Their Intel microprocessors are built in the Philippines, Costa Rica, Malaysia, and China and their computer memory comes from factories in Korea, Taiwan, Germany, and Japan. The Dell supply chains exemplify the inherent global composition, interdependence of one supplier upon another, competition among suppliers, and the intense pressure to meet customer requirements. Manufacturing is a worldwide race favoring those firms that are cost-efficient, agile, lean, structured, process-oriented, technology-oriented, and have created a culture that incessantly strives for excellence. Competing in a global workplace demands continuous improvements in processes, operations, people, and technology. Manufacturing productivity must be ever increased and producers must constantly look for ways to meet the faster, better, cheaper mantra of today’s economy. To

meet these pressures and remain competitive, leading manufacturers are going digital. (Figure 1) By going digital, producers:

• Can synchronize data and minimize data re-entry and translation through integrated application solutions

• Share and collaborate on intellectual property within a supply chain

• Visualize and digitally simulate operations • Optimize cells, assembly lines, plants,

enterprises, and supply chains • Quickly accommodate and adjust for

changes in demand and product • Effectively manage product and

manufacturing information

3. What is Digital Manufacturing?

Digital Manufacturing can be defined as a proven software-based solution that supports effective collaborative manufacturing process planning between engineering disciplines, such as design and manufacturing. This requires access to the full digital product definition, including tooling and manufacturing process data. Integrated tool suites working off this product definition are used to support visualiza-tion, simulation, and other analyses necessary to optimize the product and manufacturing process design. Requirements from across different engineering disciplines are also supported through this process.

Figure 1. Manufacturers are Going Digital

Internal PressuresProduct ComplexityDelivery Lead-Times

Cost Constraints Quality Imperatives

Demand for InnovationProfitability & Growth

Market Share

External PressuresGlobalization

Supply ChainsNew Competition

Customer RequirementsGovernment Regulation

ResultMore Lean

More NimbleMore ResponsiveMore CompetitiveMore Successful

Manufacturers Go DigitalUtilize new Digital Manufacturing

technologies to enableprocess improvement and

business transformation

Internal PressuresProduct ComplexityDelivery Lead-Times

Cost Constraints Quality Imperatives

Demand for InnovationProfitability & Growth

Market Share

External PressuresGlobalization

Supply ChainsNew Competition

Customer RequirementsGovernment Regulation

ResultMore Lean

More NimbleMore ResponsiveMore CompetitiveMore Successful

Manufacturers Go DigitalUtilize new Digital Manufacturing

technologies to enableprocess improvement and

business transformation


As shown in Figure 2, the six major Digital Manufacturing functions typically include:

• Data synchronization from design through manufacturing in an enterprise information management environment, including linkage and data integration among CAD, CAM, tool design, ERP, MES, and other software applications.

• A systematic, structured, visual, and analytical approach to part and assembly computer-aided process planning to obtain an optimal process solution. Establishing and cataloging manufacturing constraints, costs, throughputs, and best practices is also performed.

• Detailed line, cell, station, and task design for part manufacturing and assembly process management, including plant design and creation of mechanical assembly-line layouts.

• Discrete event simulation of manufacturing operations and material flows to visualize, validate, and

optimize processes, including production line balancing, measurement and verification of line performance. Simulation and assessment of worker movement, ergonomics, safety and performance is provided to assure compliance with government and industry standards.

• Maintaining and managing information on manufacturing resources, including software to support commonization and re-use of parts, assemblies, equipment, and processes. The software also provides manufacturing documentation, shop floor instruction, improved visualization, effective communication, and collaboration among workers.

• Programming of robots, welding, painting, coordinate measuring machines, and other factory equipment, as well as creation, testing, optimizing, and managing printed circuit boards and product assemblies. Quality planning, product inspection, control of dimensional variation, and continual assessment of production quality is also provided.

4. The Role of Digital Manufacturing

Digital Manufacturing software-based solutions are utilized by manufacturing engineers to determine how to build products, synchronize engineering and manufacturing operations, and unify the production environment. (Figure 3) An optimized production environment is established by more automated and effective process planning, plant design, and workflow simulation; the cost of inventory, direct labor, manufacturing engineering, plant and equipment is reduced.

FACTORYPROGRAMMING

& QA

RESOURCE &INFORMATIONMANAGEMENT

SIMULATION OFOPERATIONS &

MATERIAL FLOW

DESIGN OFCELLS, STATIONS,LINES & PLANTS

PROCESSPLANNING

DATASYNCHRONIZATION

DIGITALMANUFACTURING

FACTORYPROGRAMMING

& QA

RESOURCE &INFORMATIONMANAGEMENT

SIMULATION OFOPERATIONS &

MATERIAL FLOW

DESIGN OFCELLS, STATIONS,LINES & PLANTS

PROCESSPLANNING

DATASYNCHRONIZATION

DIGITALMANUFACTURING

Figure 2. Six Major Functions in Digital Manufacturing

Characteristic

What to Build

How to Build

When, Where and How Many to Build

Organization Responsible

Design Engineering

Manufacturing Engineering

Manufacturing Operations

Primary Software Support Tools

Employed

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

Digital

Manufacturing

Enterprise Resource Management

(ERP)/Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)

Figure 3. Determining How to Build


A common digital model is employed in Digital Manufacturing to bring together information on products, processes, plants, tools, and resources to enhance operational efficiency, establish best practices, and provide a consistent manufactur-ing solution. Utilization of a digital model provides a basis for collaboration, synchronization of processes, and highly efficient workflows. Digital Manufacturing is an integral component of a PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solu-tion. Maximum integration of product design, manufacturing engineering, and production operations is achieved and effective use of information is established up and down a supply chain. cPDm (Collaborative Product Data Management) capabilities for collaboration, change management, document management, workflow management, process management, resource management, and version and product variation management can be implemented and integrated with Digital Manufacturing to create a highly effective enterprise-wide product lifecycle solution. Digital Manufacturing’s domain of sup-port within the overall digital product lifecycle is illustrated in Figure 4.

5. Management Drivers As manufacturers go digital, four management drivers often executed in progressive manufacturing firms are:

• Improving production efficiency • Commonizing components and processes

• Assuring compliance • Implementing enterprise data

management. Digital Manufacturing plays a critical role in execution of each of these important manage-ment initiatives. This role is discussed below for each of the four themes to exemplify the impor-tance of aspects of this technology to each of the themes and to the continued viability of manufacturing firms worldwide.

Improving Production Efficiency Improving production efficiency is a continuous process in which the design of the product and the design of the process continually evolve as design and manufacturing processes are opti-mized within a Digital Manufacturing environ-ment. This interactive process is illustrated in Figure 5. The following are key aspects of Digital Manufacturing that primarily contribute to improving production efficiency. Computer-Aided Process Planning—A major British automaker utilizes computer-aided

process planning (CAPP), an element of Digital Manufacturing, to define detailed manufacturing, assembly and test process sequences and instruc-tions for load and capacity planning. It is also used to collect as-made and as-built technical data for re-use of best practice process planning knowledge, and for delivery of manufacturing, assembly, and test instructions to the shop floor.

Figure 4. Digital Manufacturing as a Component of PLM

ProductPlanning

ConceptualDesign

DesignEngineering Manufacturing

Engineering

Simulation& Validation

ManufacturingOperations

Test &QualitySales &

DistributionAfter-Sales

Service

Disposal &Recycling

Full Product Lifecycle

Domain ofDigital Manufacturing

ProductPlanning

ConceptualDesign

DesignEngineering Manufacturing

Engineering

Simulation& Validation

ManufacturingOperations

Test &QualitySales &

DistributionAfter-Sales

Service

Disposal &Recycling

Full Product Lifecycle




The Systems Implementation Manager for CAPP at the firm asserted, “The strategic benefits en-abled by CAPP within a Digital Manufacturing environment have included a better response to market opportunities by reducing the time-to-market, establishing common business and infor-mation systems, permitting knowledge and process re-use, and improving cost competitiveness through product cost manage-ment and organizational efficiency.”

Evaluating Alternatives—With Digital Manufacturing, the “what if’s” of production are considered quickly and completely to obtain an optimal process. Through virtual manufacturing, multiple plant and process designs are evaluated and validated before mockups or prototypes are produced and documentation is released to manufacturing. Discrete Event Simulation—Discrete event simulation of material flow, part manufacture, and assembly operations is performed within Digital Manufacturing to permit visualization of processes, verification of cell and plant design, obtaining time and cost measurements for all functions, and operation optimization. A manufacturing engineer can “see” a process in advance and identify potential problems before they occur. Plant Design—Digital Manufacturing enables manufacturing engineers to design plants more efficiently, improve factory layout, and avoid collisions and assembly problems. A plant design is optimized and maximum equipment utilization is established as a function of the resources employed. Quality Management—An interactive environ-ment is provided for controlling dimensional variation, improving product quality, and

communicating quality data throughout an enter-prise. Fit, finish, and functionality can be assured while still in a digital environment and before the expense of creating hard tooling is incurred.

Commonizing Components and Processes Digital Manufacturing provides for commoniza-tion, standardization, and re-use of components by enabling parts, assemblies, and equipment to be re-used or developed in multiple contexts. Processes are commonized by establishing best practices, creating templates, and re-using the processes as appropriate. The following aspects of Digital Manufacturing help companies substantially improve their ability to commonize both components and processes. Information illusiveness—Locating the right data when needed can be a major issue as a massive amount of data is generated in produc-tion operations. Manufacturing engineers typically spend 30-40% of their time searching for the up-to-date information needed. Effective information storage and retrieval as provided in Digital Manufacturing is one of the keys to achieving enhanced productivity and a lean production environment. Best Practices—With Digital Manufacturing, best practice processes are graphically created in automated process planning. They are visualized, simulated, verified, modified, optimized, and then captured electronically for subsequent use in the same or similar circumstances. Use of best practices in manufacturing minimizes production risk, reduces lead time in planning and produc-tion, lowers product cost, provides consistency of production, minimizes product variation, improves overall product quality, and further promotes a lean operation. Resource Management—Digital manufacturing provides a single source for accessing manufacturing resource information so that proper resources are readily identified and avail-able for re-use as components or in a process. A Guiding Principle—A Director of Manufacturing Planning at a Tier One U.S. automobile supplier stated, “A guiding principle in our firm is to commonize, standardize, re-use, and analyze within our operations.” This supplier uses a single integrated, global system for all

Figure 5. Improving Production Efficiency

Product designProcess planning

Plant designCell design

Material flow

Process simulationProcess optimization

Product designProcess planning

Plant designCell design

Material flow

Process simulationProcess optimization


product lines and commonizes the approach for use of the system.

Assuring Compliance Digital Manufacturing helps manufacturers assure compliance with government, industry, and company standards at minimum cost. Product and manufacturing designs are tested to verify compliance with standards. Ways in which Digital Manufacturing contributes to compliance assurance are discussed in the following para-graphs. Genealogy and Traceability—Digital manufac-turing software can be integrated with software that provides assembly and product genealogy and traceability. This permits a user to establish and verify the source, characteristics, and test results for all materials, components, and manufacturing and quality processes utilized in producing an end product. Mitigating Risk—Use of Digital Manufacturing mitigates risk by simulating the impact of deci-sions prior to committing physical resources for production. Through automated process plan-ning, simulation, and visualization, Digital Manufacturing ensures that production flexibil-ity, performance, and quality objectives are met, that the designed processes will achieve the desired business result, and that compliance is achieved. Ergonomics—Ergonomic considerations are addressed within a Digital Manufacturing solu-tion as these factors often require compliance with government standards. Worker conditions are simulated to assure that factory worker visibility, lifting, and movement can be accomplished and do not cause undue physical strain. Tolerance Analysis—A major U.S. electronics firm ensures that compliance with standards is being met by utilizing tolerance analysis to measure the degree of dimensional variation and the source of variation. A Lead Dimensional Engineer at the company commented, “Through the Digital Manufacturing program, we have been able to eliminate manufacturing bottle-necks, reduce tooling and metrology costs, and establish looser tolerances on most parts.”

Implementing Enterprise Information Management Experience has shown that implementing Digital Manufacturing in combination with other applications in an enterprise information management environment and as part of a PLM initiative is more effective than employing Digital Manufacturing as a point solution. When a proven knowledge management foundation is brought together with Digital Manufacturing, it is a powerful and unique combination. Integration with Information Management—All applications throughout a PLM environment, including conceptual design, product design, tool design, engineering analysis, digital manufactur-ing, numerical control, quality assurance, and collaborative product data management are inte-grated. Tools are available for workflow management, change management, integrated visualization options, configuration manage-ment, collaboration, and product data manage-ment. Management and synchronization of product and process information throughout the product life cycle from idea conception to the end of life is accomplished. (Figure 6)

Legacy Manufacturing—Continued support of legacy manufacturing functions is often desired or required. With open architecture information management systems, integration of these functions within a new or updated manufacturing process is accomplished.

Figure 6. The Scope of PLM

DesignPlan ServiceProduce

Enterprise ProductLifecycle Focus

Across the supply chainThroughout the lifecycle

The Digital Product Lifecycle

DesignPlan ServiceProduce

Enterprise ProductLifecycle Focus

Across the supply chainThroughout the lifecycle

The Digital Product Lifecycle


6. Demonstrated Value CIMdata has conducted research to review and evaluate Digital Manufacturing implementations in many companies around the world. The results demonstrated by these companies have been very positive and have validated the potential value to companies that embrace Digital Manufacturing and make it a fundamental part of their overall product program. Figure 7 illustrates the range of benefits that have been achieved by a variety of companies with Digital Manufacturing implementations of various sizes. Clearly, substantial benefits are available for companies that make the investment.

As one example, a large U.S. aerospace firm employs Digital Manufacturing as part of a PLM environment (Teamcenter and Tecnomatix from UGS) within their 10,000 part number aircraft engine operations. Their Digital Manufacturing environment is used to manage approval, notification, and tracking of documents, establish routings and work instructions, and manage process templates. A head of manufacturing engineering at the firm stated that, “Through commonization, reduction in design changes, quality improvements, and productivity gains, we were able to obtain payback on our invest-ment in less than one year.”

7. Summary Producers in key industries and up and down supply chains are now faced with intense and challenging shareholder and market forces, including the unrelenting demands for innova-tion, sustained profitability, compressed product development times, minimum operating costs, and product functionality and quality that ex-ceeds expectations. Continuous and relentless operational improvement is mandatory. To sur-mount these worldwide pressures and for long-term viability, manufacturers are going digital.

Digital Manufacturing is a proven, critical, and effective technology-based solution that helps producers boost their global competitiveness and achieve their business objectives. It results in more effective manufacturing planning and production efficiency, and it facilitates and sup-ports lean production, concurrent engineering, use of best practices, commonization of compo-nents, compliance with standards, and collabora-tive information management throughout an enterprise. Leading companies are investing in Digital Manufacturing, and they will be among the winners in years to come.

About CIMdata CIMdata, an independent worldwide firm, pro-vides strategic consulting to maximize an enter-prise’s ability to design and deliver innovative products and services through the application of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions. CIMdata offers world-class knowledge, exper-tise, and best-practice methods on PLM solu-tions. These solutions incorporate both business processes and a wide-ranging set of PLM enabling technologies. CIMdata works with both industrial organiza-tions and suppliers of technologies and services seeking competitive advantage in the global economy by providing world-class knowledge, expertise, and best-practice methods on PLM solutions. In addition to consulting, CIMdata conducts research, provides PLM-focused subscription services, and produces several commercial publications. The company also provides industry education through international conferences in the US, Europe, and Japan that focus on PLM. CIMdata serves clients world-wide from locations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. To learn more about CIMdata’s services, visit our website at www.CIMdata.com or contact CIMdata at: 3909 Research Park Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA. Tel: +1 (734) 668-9922. Fax: +1 (734) 668-1957. In Europe: Siriusdreef 17-27, 2132 WT Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)23 568-9385. Fax: +31 (0)23 568-9111.

Figure 7. Demonstrated Value of Digital

Manufacturing

LargeMediumSmall

$5M-$10M$1M$200KInitial Investment

$5M-10M$1M$200KAnnual Investment

$50M-$100M$8M$1MAnnual Savings

10 to 18 to 15 to 1Annual Return on Annual Investment

Implementation SizeFactorLargeMediumSmall

$5M-$10M$1M$200KInitial Investment

$5M-10M$1M$200KAnnual Investment

$50M-$100M$8M$1MAnnual Savings

10 to 18 to 15 to 1Annual Return on Annual Investment

Implementation SizeFactor

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Manufacturing Goes Digital