Closed-loop PLM

Hong-Bae Jun, Dimitris Kiritsis & Paul XirouchakisSwiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: This paper reports on work developed under PROMISE, an IMS (01008) andEuropean Commission Framework Programme 6 Integrated Project (507100). PROMISE willdevelop appropriate technology, including product lifecycle models, Product Embedded Informa-tion Devices with associated firmware and software components and tools for decision makingbased on data gathered through a product lifecycle.

Recently with emerging technologies such as wireless sensors, telecommunication, and productidentification technologies, product lifecycle management (PLM) has been in the spotlight. PLMis a new strategic approach to manage product-related information efficiently over the wholeproduct lifecycle. Now, the whole product lifecycle can be visible and controllable by tracking andtracing the product lifecycle information with product embedded information device (PEID). Theseinformation flows during whole product lifecycle now have closed-loops, with the informationbeing transmitted back to designers. Thanks to the closed-loops, PLM can streamline severalproduct lifecycle operations. This environment is called closed-loop PLM. In this study, the conceptof closed-loop PLM is examined and the gaps between traditional PLM and closed-loop PLM aredescribed.

Keywords: Closed-loop PLM, Product lifecycle, Product identification.

1 INTRODUCTION

In general, the product lifecycle consists of three main phases: beginning-of-life (BOL), includingdesign and production; middle-of-life (MOL), including logistics (distribution), use, service, andmaintenance; and end-of-life (EOL), including reverse logistics (collecting), re-manufacturing(disassembly, refurbishment, re-assembly, etc.), reuse, recycle, and disposal as shown in Figure 1.

During BOL, the information flow is quite complete because it is supported by several systemslike CAD/CAM, product data management (PDM), and knowledge management systems. However,the information flow becomes vague or unrecognised after BOL. In other words, the informationflow after BOL phase is interrupted. This prevents the feedback of data, information, and knowledgefrom service and maintenance and recycling experts back to the designers and producers [PROMISE2004]. Therefore, several lifecycle phases after BOL such as maintenance, service, recycling,reuse, and disposal have limited visibility of information flow. Actors involved in each lifecyclephase make decisions based on incomplete and inaccurate data, which gives rise to the operationalinefficiency (IMTI 2002).

However, over the last decade, a rapid development of Internet, wireless technologies with mobiletelecommunications, and the introduction of smart tags that can be embedded in the product, havechanged the stereotype view of the product lifecycle.

In particular, thanks to recent product identification technologies (please refer to table 1)such as RFID (Schneider 2003) and AUTO ID (Parlikad et al. 2003), the whole product life-cycle can be visible and controllable using these technologies, in the form of product embeddedinformation device (PEID). These new technologies become an important driving force that is

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Figure 1. Closed-loops of product, process, and resource.

needed in the propagation of product lifecycle management (PLM) because they can tackle the prob-lems of PLM that have previously been obstacles to progress. The PLM under this new environmentallows all actors across the whole product lifecycle to access, manage, and control product-relatedinformation, especially, the information after the delivery of a product to a customer and up to itsfinal destiny, without temporal and spatial constraints. This information can be used to streamlineoperations of MOL and EOL. This information also goes back to the designer and producer at BOLso that the information flow can be horizontally closed over whole product lifecycle. In addition,the control of information flow is vertically closed. This means that based on gathered data, productrelated information can be analysed and decisions taken on behaviour of products, which will affectdata gathering again. This concept and relevant systems is called closed-loop PLM in this study.

To co-ordinate and efficiently manage complex PLM implementation activities, it is necessaryto clarify the concept for closed-loop PLM. This concept is very important because it is a basicsketch for developing a closed-loop PLM system. This can help achieve consensus about how PLMsystems should be built.

For this purpose, in this study, the focus is on clarifying the concept of closed-loop PLM. Therest of the paper is organised as follows: In section II, the state-of-the-art regarding enterprise andPLM modelling framework is discussed. Section III introduces the concept of closed-loop PLM.In Section IV, the main components of closed-loop PLM are introduced. In section V, the gaps

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Table 1. Product identification technologies.

Product lifecycle

Technologies Definition BOL MOL EOL

Auto-ID: EPC (Parlikad et al. Electronic Product Code: Product 2003) unique code

Auto-ID: PML (Brock et al. Physical Mark-up Language: Mark-up 2001) language for product information

Auto-ID: ONS (Foley 1999) Object Naming Service: Telling computer systems locationinformation on the Internet aboutany object that carries an EPC.

ID@URI (Huvio et al. 2002) Identifying physical product items and linking to the product agentsthat handle their information

RFID (Schneider 2003) Radio Frequency Identification: Communication technology forcollecting and transferringinformation via radio waves

GPS (Evers and Kasties 1994) Global Positioning Systems: Satellite navigation system usedfor determining precise locationsand providing a highly accuratetime reference

GIS (Evers and Kasties 1994) Geographical Information System: Information system capable of assembling,storing, manipulating, and displayinggeographically-referenced information

between traditional PLM and closed-loop PLM are described. Finally, the paper concludes withdiscussion and identification of further research topics.

2 STATE-OF-THE-ART

There have been much previous work dealing with enterprise architecture or enterprise model, asshown in Table 2. Some of these have been developed for special purpose. For example, CIMOSAwas provided for modelling computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems. Architecture forintegrated Information System (ARIS) has been developed to model and integrate the informa-tion system of enterprise level that is more business-oriented. Recently, for general purpose, theGERAM methodology (Generalised Enterprise ReferenceArchitecture and Methodology) has beendeveloped by IFAC/IFIP. GERAM essentially was built on results from CIMOSA, GRAI Inte-grated Methodology (GIM), and Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture (PERA). The purposeof GERAM is to serve as a reference for the whole community concerned with the area of enter-prise integration providing definitions of the terminology, a consistent modelling environment, adetailed methodology, promoting good engineering practice for building reusable, tested, and stand-ard models, and providing a unifying perspective for products, processes, management, enterprisedevelopment, and strategic management (Vernadat 1996). For more detailed information of enter-prise model or architecture, please refer to Vernadat (1996) and the work of Lillehagen and Karlsen(2004).

On the other hand, some have dealt with PLM related models. For example, CIMdata (2002)addressed a high level PLM definition, describing its core components, and clarifying what

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Table 2. Previous research.

Classification Previous research

Enterprise IDEF (Integrated computer aided manufacturing DEFinitions methodology)architecture or model (Mayer 1994)

IEM (Integrated Enterprise Modelling) (Vernadat 1996) PERA (Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture) (Vernadat 1996) CIMOSA (Open System Architecture for CIM) (Bruno and Agarwal 1997) ARIS (Architecture for integrated Information System) (Scheer 1998a, 1998b) GERAM (Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology)

(Vernadat 1996) UEML (Unified Enterprise Modelling Language) (Vernadat 2002)

PLM model High level PLM definition (CIMdata 2002) New business model in virtual enterprise (PLM) (Ming and Lu 2003) Conceptual lifecycle modelling framework with IDEF (Tipnis 1995) Conceptual architecture and the key components for total product

lifecycle design supporting system (Kimura and Suzuki 1995) Conceptual product lifecycle model which consists of a product model

and a process network for lifecycle simulation (Nonomura et al. 1999) IPPD (Integrated Product and Process Development) methodology: conceptual

mathematical model for describing product lifecycle with a simple graphdescription technique (Yan et al. 1999)

is and is not included in a PLM business approach. CIMdata mentioned three core conceptsof PLM:

1) Universal, secure, managed access and use of product definition information;2) Maintaining the integrity of product definition and related information throughout the life of

the product or plant;3) Managing and maintaining business processes used to create, manage, disseminate, share and

use the information.

Ming and Lu (2003) proposed the new business model in virtual enterprise to tackle issues ofproduct development in the scope of PLM. They proposed the framework of product lifecycle pro-cess management for collaborative product-services. The framework consists of industry specificproduct lifecycle process template, product lifecycle process application, abstract process lifecyclemanagement, supporting process technology, supporting standards, and enabling infrastructure.

Although there has been much previous work on enterprise or PLM related modelling, few haveaddressed the concept for closed-loop PLM that focuses on the integration between PEID andPLM. Most did not consider PEID in PLM. Although some of enterprise modelling methodologiescontained the concept of lifecycle in their methodologies, e.g. CIMOSA and PERA, however, theirlifecycle concepts are focused on the development lifecycle of manufacturing systems or enterpriseso that they are not suitable to represent the concept of product lifecycle. The GERAM frameworkgives a very good overview of enterprise modelling, but it is too general to design the characteristicsof the closed-loop PLM. In addition, the previous PLM modelling methods are also not suitableto describe the closed-loop PLM. In summary, previous enterprise modelling frameworks are toosizeable to describe the closed-loop PLM. On the other hand, the previous PLM modelling worksare too conceptual and implicit.

3 THE CONCEPT OF CLOSED-LOOP PLM

The concept of closed-loop PLM can be defined as follows:

A strategic business approach for the effective management of product lifecycle activities by usingproduct data/information/knowledge which are accumulated in the closed-loops of product lifecycle

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ProductProduct

PLM agentPLM agent

PLM Knowledge agentDiagnosis

Decision making

EmbeddedDevice

PLM SystemPLM System

Data/Info

Data/Info

InfoAdvice

Data/Info

Info

Info request

PEID (Product Embedded Information Device)On-board computer or RFID tag (incl. Data processing, Memory, Power unit, Communication unit Sensor reading unit)

PDKM(Product Data

Knowledge Management)

PEID reader PDAFixed reader built in

antenna

Data/Info

ProductProduct

PLM agentPLM agent

PLM SystemPLM System

Info

-

Figure 2. Framework of closed-loop PLM

with the support of product embedded information device (PEID) and product data and knowledgemanagement (PDKM).

The objective is to streamline product lifecycle operations, based on the seamless flow of productinformation, through a local wireless connection to PEIDs and through remote Internet connectionto knowledge repositories in PDKM, after the delivery of the product to the customer and up toits final destiny (disassembly, re-manufacturing, re-use, recycling, disposal, etc.) and back to thedesigner and producer.

Figure 2 shows the framework of closed-loop PLM. The operations in the closed-loop PLM arebased on the interactions among three organisations (PLM agent, PLM system, and product). PLMagent can gather the product lifecycle data from each product at a fast speed with a mobile readingdevice, or a fixed reader with built-in antenna. It also sends information gathered at each site(e.g., retailers, distribution sites, and disposal plants) to a PLM system. The PLM system provideslifecycle information or knowledge built by design-for-X (DFX) agent whenever requested byrelated persons and organisations. To implement the concept of closed-loop PLM, the followingare necessary conditions.

Every product has a PEID to manage its lifecycle data. If necessary, sensors can be built inproducts and linked to the PEID for gathering its status data.

Each lifecycle actor accesses to PEIDs with its reader or accesses to a remote PLM system forgetting necessary information.

Closed-loop PLM should have decision support systems, and PDKM systems for providinglifecycle actors with suitable advice at any time.

In the closed-loop PLM, information flow is horizontally closed, which means that informationflow is closed over product lifecycle phases: BOL, MOL, and EOL.

Designers will be able to exploit expertise and know-how of the other players in the productlifecycle such as the modes of use, conditions of retirement, and disposal of their products andthus improve product designs.

Producers will be provided in a real-time way with not only operation data form the shopfloorbut also the usage status of product until its disposal phase.

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Service and maintenance experts will be assisted in their work by having not only product designinformation but also an up-to-date report about the status of the product during product usage.

Recyclers and re-users will be able to obtain accurate information about value materials arrivingthrough end-of-life (EOL) routes by the analysis of modes of use and conditions of product.

Moreover, the information control flow is vertically closed, which means that information aregathered and controlled in the vertical loops of hardware, software, and business process.

PEID gathers product related data under specific conditions or periodically or in a real-time wayover the whole product lifecycle.

PEID sends gathered data to database under specific conditions or periodically or in a real-time way.

Based on gathered data, information and knowledge are generated and stored at knowledgerepository in PDKM system. They are based on decision making of lifecycle actors.

Based on analysis and decision making, if there is any need to update product information, PLMserver sends updated information to PEID directly or via PLM agents.

The core of closed-loop PLM is the information management of lifecycle objects such as productrelated data, processes, and resources over the whole lifecycle since it can support the ability toanalyse data and make decisions in fast and consistent ways. For this, closed-loop PLM shouldsupport the following.

Management of whole product lifecycle activities, Management of product related data and resources, Collaboration among customers, partners, and suppliers, and Enterprises ability to analyse challenges and bottlenecks, and make decisions on them.

4 MAIN COMPONENTS FOR CLOSED-LOOP PLM

PEID:This stands for product embedded information device. It is defined as a device embeddedin (or attached to) a product, which contains product related information (e.g. product identi-fication), and which is able to provide the information whenever requested by external agentsduring the product lifecycle.

PDKM:This manages information and knowledge generated during the product lifecycle. It isgenerally linked with decision support systems and data transformation. PDKM is a process andtechnologies to acquire, store, share and secure understandings, insights and core distinctions.PDKM should link not only product design and development such as CAD/CAM but also otherbackend software (legacy systems), e.g., enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain man-agement (SCM), and customer relationship management (CRM) to achieve the interoperabilityof all activities that affect a product and its lifecycle.

Decision making/support:This streamlines the lifecycle operations by providing suitable infor-mation and knowledge through analysis of gathered lifecycle data. There can exist several typesof decision making/support: automatic, semi-automatic, and manual. Moreover, according to theapplication area, there can exist many applications, e.g. for predictive maintenance, for designfor X-ability, and for maximising the value of EOL product.

Data transformer: This takes a role of converting raw data gathered by PEID to necessaryinformation and knowledge.

Figure 3 shows the use case diagram of closed-loop PLM system. In the closed-loop PLM, PEID(Use case 2.1) is embedded into each product. PEID periodically sends data using communicationnetwork (Use case 2.8) to field DBs (Use case 2.3) directly or via PEID reader (Use case 2.2). Thedata transformer (Use case 2.5) transforms gathered data from field DBs to information to knowl-edge. The information and knowledge are generated with the help of several analysis tools (Usecase 2.4) and decision making/supporting tools (Use case 2.6). All information and knowledge gen-erated during product lifecycle will be managed by PDKM (Use case 2.7). Product (Actor 1.0) uses

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Figure 3. Use case diagram for generic closed-loop PLM

PEID and product user/operator (Actor 1.1) access to PEID directly. Maintenance/service engi-neer (Actor 1.4) can assess PEID with the PEID reader. Product engineer (Actor 1.2), productionengineer (Actor 1.3), and EOL actors (Actor 1.5) access to PDKM for getting necessary information.

5 GAPS BETWEEN TRADITIONAL PLM AND CLOSED-LOOP PLM

In this section, the difference between traditional PLM and closed-loop PLM are examined. Ingeneral, PLM is a new strategic approach to manage product-related information efficiently overthe whole product lifecycle. The concept appeared in the late 1990s targeting with moving beyondengineering aspects of product and providing a shared platform for creation, organisation, anddissemination of product related knowledge across the extended enterprise (Ameri and Dutta 2004).PLM is defined in various ways as follows:

A strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions in support of thecollaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information acrossthe extended enterprise from concept to end-of-life integrating people, processes, business systems,and information (CIMdata 2002).

A strategic business approach for the effective management and use of corporate intellectual capital,which is the sum of retained knowledge that an organisation accumulates in the course of deliveringits objectives (Datamation, 2002).

PLM facilitates innovation by integrating people, processes and information throughout theproduct lifecycle and across the extended enterprise. It aims to derive the advantages of horizontallyconnecting functional silos in the organisation, enhancing information sharing, efficient changemanagement, use of past knowledge, and so on (Macchi et al. 2004).

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Figure 4. Product information flow.

Compared to the generic concept of traditional PLM, closed-loop PLM uses PEID, and the infor-mation flow and control flow are horizontally and vertically closed, respectively. The closed-loopPLM focuses on the complete lifecycle of a product with more emphasis on tracking and managingof information across the whole product lifecycle, and possible feedback of information to eachproduct lifecycle phase. There are many lifecycle information flows among BOL, MOL, and EOL,as shown in Figure 4. Product lifecycle data, such as usage conditions, failure, and maintenance orservice events, etc., can be gathered by the PEID that is embedded in each product over the wholeproduct lifecycle. These data play an important role in analysing and making decisions of severaloperational issues in the product lifecycle. Based on the feedback information, closed-loop PLMcan support the decision making of several operational problems over the whole product lifecycle.This provides opportunities to improve several operations over whole product lifecycle.

6 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH

Total management of the product lifecycle is critical to creatively meet customer needs throughoutthe entire lifecycle without driving up costs, sacrificing quality, or delaying product delivery (Kirit-sis 2004). For this, it is necessary to develop a PLM system. Recently, with emerging technologies,it is possible to develop a closed-loop PLM. The closed-loop PLM system provides opportunities toreduce the inefficiency of lifecycle operations and gain competitiveness. To seize the opportunities,first and foremost, it is necessary to clarify the concept of closed-loop PLM. For this purpose, inthis study, a concept for closed-loop PLM has been proposed and distinguished from traditionalPLM. Implementation of this concept provides an opportunity to create leverage and synergies,and to avoid duplication and inconsistency in the product lifecycle operations.

Because of the short history of PLM and PEID technologies, the research on closed-loopPLM arestill in an early stage. Hence, there exist many research challenges an open issues, for example, thedevelopment of the general modelling and development framework for closed-loopPLM. Moreover,resolving the detailed design problems regarding PEID and PDKM also needs to be addressed.Although the work discussed may not provide the exhaustive result for the closed-loop PLM, itshould lay the foundations for further study of closed-loop PLM.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The work reported in this paper is based on the PROMISE project (FP6 IP 507100 and IMS 01008,www.promise.no). The authors express their deep gratitude to all PROMISE partners for theirassistance.

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Chapter 7: Closed-loop PLM1 INTRODUCTION2 STATE-OF-THE-ART3 THE CONCEPT OF CLOSED-LOOP PLM4 MAIN COMPONENTS FOR CLOSED-LOOP PLM5 GAPS BETWEEN TRADITIONAL PLM AND CLOSED-LOOP PLM6 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCHACKNOWLEDGEMENTREFERENCES