The Essential Role of PLM in the Adoption of Additive Manufacturing (AM) into Mainstream Production
A Complimentary CIMdata Educational Webinar with James White, Director, Additive Manufacturing Strategy Consulting Practice, CIMdata
May 25, 2017
11:00 EDT | 08:00 PDT | 17:00 CET
Replay Webinar About our Speaker
Do any of the following statements sound a little too familiar?
- The workflow for Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) is flawed.
- Mixed human, generative, simulation, optimization stages are not seamlessly connected which leads to span-of-control issues, lost time, and the increased risk for error.
- There’s a perceived lack of governance.
- PLM templates, forms, roles, states don’t contemplate AM; rather, they are designed for traditional manufacturing.
- Design authority rests with the CAD engineer so who chooses, supervises, how to manage physical and digital sources?
Over decades, Additive Manufacturing (AM) has been primarily used to produce models, prototypes, and one-off parts made of non-production ready materials, so governance of enterprise solutions such as PLM wasn’t necessary. Now, with recent advances in material science, new high performance AM machines, improved CAD and simulation tools, together with commercial pressures to make things in lower volumes but faster/lighter/stronger/cheaper, an exciting new era for AM is emerging. To fully adopt AM into production, however, AM needs to be assimilated into an organization’s main processes and business solutions such as PLM, CAD, ERP, and Supply Chain (SC), but also a different approach to design is needed. Engineers approach design using the 5,000-year-old paradigm that parts are made, then assembled, and eventually become products. Adopting Design-for-Additive-Manufacturing (DFAM) principles, closely coupled with AM manufacturing processes, is essential.
Additionally, Master Data Management (MDM), which comprises processes, governance, policies, standards, and tools, is different for AM parts and workflows, yet MDM must accommodate AM data into the corporate model that was built to serve traditional manufacturing.
This webinar will highlight some known issues in managing AM data, risks of doing nothing, the role of PLM to mitigate the risks, and will offer a pragmatic step-by-step plan to implement PLM to manage AM parts.
What will I learn by attending this webinar?
- You will learn that AM is a viable option for many traditional production parts and products you didn’t realize
- You will learn how to reduce the risk of not preserving the as-designed, as-built record
- You will come away with ideas and guidance for adopting AM into production
- You will be able to set expectations correctly about how AM can contribute in your production environment
- You will gain practical tips to help in the adoption of AM; avoid land mines, find low hanging fruit to prove success
- You will gain ideas about creating business cases to justify AM adoption for your company
Join us for this webinar if you want to:
- Better understand the role of PLM and why it’s essential to support adoption of AM within a small workgroup up to a large enterprise
- Start thinking about how to adopt DFAM principles, what to stop doing, what to do differently etc.
- Find out how CIMdata can help you adopt AM into production engineering
Who should attend?
- VP's of strategy
- CIO's
- CTO's
- IT leaders including systems analysts and architects for ERP, PLM, and SC
- Support managers
- VP's of manufacturing
- Manufacturing planners
- Supply chain and procurement professionals
- CAD/PLM senior management
- Anyone who wants to learn more about adoption of additive manufacturing into mainstream manufacturing
During the webinar you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the topics discussed.