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ADVANCED ENGINEERING

www.elsevier.com/locate/aei

Advanced Engineering Informatics 22 (2008) 307–316

INFORMATICS

Interfacing heterogeneous PDM systems using the PLM Services

Erkan Gunpinar *,1, 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 engi-neering data, engineering activities, engineering changes and product configurations. There are different commercial PDM systems andeach company uses a PDM that supports the company’s needs. To collaborate with parts’ suppliers, companies frequently need to inter-face their PDM systems with those of their suppliers. There are two ways of interface: direct translation between PDM systems and trans-lation based on a standard format. In this study two different 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 objectiveof 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 today’s highly competitive global manufacturingenvironment, a company should deliver and supporttheir products and service at time convenient to the cus-tomer. These requirements put tremendous pressure onthe engineering function to improve product qualitywhile reducing lead times. One way to meet thesedemands is to increase the productivity of individualengineers by through the introduction of CAD. Anotherway is to improve the coordination between activities bythrough concurrent engineering [1]. The web-enabledPDM systems support collaborative approaches [2]. Aproduct data management (PDM) system is a softwaretool that helps engineers and others to manage dataand to manage the product development process.

1474-0346/$ - see front matter � 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.aei.2007.08.009

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 (0)42 865 4765; fax: +82 (0)42 8616080.

E-mail address: kg.er@samsung.com (E. Gunpinar).1 Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Mechatronics Center, 103-28,

Munji-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-380, Korea.

PDM tools provide comprehensive management capabil-ities for data associated with a product, covering con-cept formulation, design, manufacture, maintenanceand disposal [2].

The main information in PDM systems are the product(P), process (P) and organization (O) information. PDMsoftware manages these PPO information in a companyand manages the relationship among different types ofPPO information. There are five basic components of aPDM system; product structure management, databaseand classification, project management, workflow manage-ment, and the electronic vault [3].

There are commercial PDM software systems. AnOEM (original equipment manufacturer or an assemblymaker) cooperates with many parts suppliers. Suppliersgenerally use different PDM systems. Accordingly, it isdifficult to use product data that comes from suppliersto OEM without data conversion. There is a need tointerface the PDM systems of OEMs and their parts sup-pliers. Faster data exchange is an important issue forcompanies. Faster data exchange enables speeding upthe time-to-market tasks by making data instantly avail-

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able as it is needed, supporting concurrent task manage-ment, improving design productivity, and allowingauthorized team members access to all relevant data withthe assurance that it is always the latest version [4].

The aim of this study is to interface two different PDMsystems based on the OMG PLM Services standard, whichenables PDM data access through the Internet. This paperintroduces usage of OMG PLM Services as a middlewarebetween two heterogeneous PDM systems.

2. Related works

Together with ProSTEP of Germany and PDES of theUSA, ISO has developed the STEP PDM Schema for thePDM data exchange. The STEP PDM Schema is a refer-ence information model for the exchange of a central, com-mon subset of the data being managed within a PDMsystem. It has been established to promote interoperabilitybetween STEP APs (application protocols) in the area ofproduct data management such as AP203 for CAD,AP212 for electronics, AP214 for automotive, and AP232for technical data package [5].

The PDM Enablers is a standards-based applicationprogramming interface (API), specified in IDL (interfacedefinition language) that makes PDM services availablein a CORBA environment to other systems [6]. ThePDM Enablers provides direct interfaces to support docu-ment management function, product structure implementa-tion specifications, and includes support for views,effectivities, and baselines [7]. In addition, there are web-based PDM systems that enable the integration of hetero-geneous PDM systems and that carry PDM data to theweb. Examples of web-based PDM systems that are nowon the market are OpenPDM by ProSTEP of Germany,PLM Cockpit by PartMaster GmbH of Germany, Meta-PDM by ETRI of Korea.

Oh [8] proposed an UML-based mapping methodologyfor the product data models between CAD and PDM sys-tems. Shin [9] proposes a data enhancement approach tointegrate heterogeneous CAD databases on the Internet.Burkett [10] designed a product data markup language, aset of XML vocabularies and a usage structure for deploy-ing product data on the Internet. Xu and Liu [11] designeda web-enabled PDM system. The architecture is based onthe use of open data standards to allow users on a widevariety of platforms to access product data and other

Table 1Comparison table for related works

Burkett Abromovici

Composed of Data de. lang. System + CoBased on XML, STEP XML, STEPIntegration speed Slow FastVisualization ability No NoApplication scope Wide NormalFramework – –Document download No No

related information. Abramovici [12] combined differentproduct data management (PDM) systems into a homoge-nous virtual PDMS-environment.

Table 1 compares related works for PDM data exchangeand integration. Burkett designed a data definition lan-guage which is based on XML and STEP. By using theinternational standards, the integration is slow as the datadefinition language is used as a middleware module for thedata exchange. Abromovici designed the PDM systemswith connectors based on XML and STEP. Xu and Liudesigned a web-enabled system based on HTML andSTEP. The proposed method has a web-based PDM sys-tem and connectors. Connectors translate the data into anew standard (PLM standard) which is based also onXML and STEP. The integration is fast as the change isdone in data level. The updated data can be accessed assoon as the changes are completed. Moreover, related doc-uments can be accessed after the changes are completed.

Our implementation is based on the PLM Services refer-ence implementation software, so the related document tothe product can be downloaded, however, it cannot bevisualized directly, i.e. the PLM Services reference imple-mentation is not integrated with CAD programs. Xu‘ssystem has visualization ability, the product can be visual-ized from PDM system. Burkett‘s data definition languagehas wider scope for product data exchange. We have used‘‘Part identification, BOM (bill of material) information,document identification, document – item relationship,document download’’ as the PDM implementation scope.

3. Interfacing different PDM systems using the PLM

Services

There are three aims of this study:

1. Application of the new international standard, PLMServices which is also used for the PLM Services refer-ence implementation, for the PDM data exchange.Using the PLM Services reference implementation asintegration tool.

2. Meet the needs of OEMs: Access supplier’s PDM datafor design collaboration.

3. Meet the needs of suppliers: Interface supplier’s PDMsystem to the international standard enabling them totrade with multiple OEMs from different countries.

Xu Our method

nnectors System System + ConnectorsHTML, STEP XML, STEPFast FastYes NoNormal Normal– PLM ServicesNo Yes

Fig. 2. Translation based on standards.

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There are two methods of PDM data translation fordesign collaboration:

• Direct translation.• Translation based on the standard file formats.

For the direct translation, three different ways are repre-sented by D1, D2, and D3 in Fig. 1. Translator can belocated on different sides (ST = SmarTEAM, REF = PLMServices reference server, C = PLM Services reference cli-ent, TR = Translator). In D1, the translator is on the STside. 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), communica-tion between ST and REF is achieved via the Internet. InD1, the translator is on the ST side. TR connects to STand captures the data from ST; finally TR connects toREF through the Internet and puts data into REF. Ccan then access and visualize the ST data, which hasalready been sent to REF by TR. In D2, TR is on theREF side. TR connects to ST through the Internet andcaptures data. Finally TR connects to REF and sends datato REF. In a manner similar to D1, C can access and visu-alize the ST data. In D3, there are two translators: TR1and TR2. TR1 connects to ST and captures data. TR2communicates TR1 through the Internet. After receivingthe ST data from TR1, TR2 send this data to REF. Similarto D1 and D2, C can access and visualize the ST data.

Fig. 2 shows a translation based on the standard file for-mats. The SmarTEAM data is translated into the standardfile format by Translator 1 and Translator 2 translates backthe standard file format into the PLM Services referenceimplementation. There are two translators in this case(for translation based on the standard file formats). Thefirst is located on the ST side; the second is located onthe REF side. TR1 connects to ST, writes the data intothe standard file format and saves it to a proper place.TR2 reads this standard file from the proper place andsends data to REF. C can then access and visualize theST data which has already been sent to REF by TR1 andTR2.

Fig. 1. Direct translation.

The proposed implementation (OM) uses both the directtranslation and the standard PDM file format (PLMServices standard). The commercial PDM software systemand the PLM Services reference server are on the same sideas seen in Fig. 3. TR connects to ST and captures data. TRthen writes the data into the PLM Services file format andsaves it to REF. The data in ST is transported to REF byTR. Therefore C, which is on the remote side, can accessand visualize the ST data.

Table 2 shows a comparison result among the differentmethods for the PDM data translations. The comparisonwas performed for four issues; a synchronous dataexchange, the limitation of PLM Services reference imple-mentation, study-aim 2 (objective 2), and study-aim 3(objective 3). Translation based on standard formats(SFr) is not a synchronous data exchange method. InSFr, data is translated asynchronously.

The XPDI (eXtended Product Data Interface) Client ofFig. 4 is only for read purposes. It cannot write to the ref-erence server. The XPDI Client can recognize two entitytypes; items and documents, is not implemented for otherentity types such as work management data. As the usageof the API functions of the PLM Services reference

Fig. 3. Proposed method.

Table 2Comparison table for PDM data translation methods

D1 D2 D3 S OM

Synchr. date exc YES YES YES NO YESLimit. of ref. impl. NO YES YES YES YESAim 2 YES YES YES YES YESAim 3 YES NO NO YES YES

Fig. 4. Architecture of PLM Services reference implementation.

Fig. 5. Carrying PDM data to Internet.

Fig. 6. Two translators.

Fig. 7. Modular architecture of Translator 1.

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implementation is difficult due to poor documentation, thePLM Services standard format of OMG is used forthe implementation. The PDM data is translated into thePLM Services standard format and directly saved to the

PLM Services reference implementation database in thatformat. In this situation, D1 in Fig. 1 is not the bestmethod, as saving the output file to a remote side directoryis difficult.

Objective 2 of this study is to access supplier’s PDMdata from the OEM’s PDM for design collaboration. Thiscan be implemented for both translation methods. Theobjective 3 of this study is to interface supplier’s PDMsystem to an international standard. In this case, the D2and D3 methods are not feasible and only the D1 methodcan be used.

Table 3Mapping based on the PDM schema

PLM Services SmarTEAM DynaPDM

ENTITY.ATTRIBUTE CLASS.ATTRIBUTE CLASS.ATTRIBUTEItem.id Items.CN_PART_NO P_product.md$numberItem.name Items CN_ITEM_DESC P_product.md$descriptionItem.veision id Items.REVISION P_product.vf$versionItem.id ltems.CN_PART_NO Part.md$numberItem.name Items.CN_ITEM_DESC Part.md$descriptionItem_veision.id Items.REVISION Part.vf$versionNext_higher_ass.def Item.PARENT ProductStuc.PartOfProd-i.End 1Next higher ass ref Item.CHILD Product Stuc.PartOfProd-i.End 2Doc.id Documents.CN_ID Document.md$numberDoc.name Documents.CN DESC Document.md$ descriptionDoc_assign.is_assigned_to Documents.LINKED_PART Document.DocAndPart.End 2Doc_assign.assigned_doc Documents.LINKING_DOC Document.DocAndPart.End 1External_source.id Documents.DIRECTORY File.id

Fig. 8. Modular architecture of Translator 2.

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4. The PLM Services

The OMG PLM Services 1.0 standard is a workingresult of ProSTEP iViP of Germany and is standardizedby the Object Management Group (OMG). It is the firststandard comprising the current XML and Web Servicestechnologies together with the STEP data model – thusproviding both syntax and semantics. It also constitutesthe first model-driven architecture (MDA) standard of

Fig. 9. Transla

OMG. Scenarios for web-based collaboration that functionacross different PDM platforms can be created for theautomotive industry [13,14]. ProSTEP has implementedthe OMG PLM Services reference implementation basedon the OMG PLM Services standard. The current PLMServices reference implementation does not cover the fulllife cycle of a product.

Fig. 4 shows the architecture of the PLM Services refer-ence implementation. The PLM Services reference imple-mentation encompasses two modules; the XPDI clientand the reference server. The reference server containsTomcat as the web server, and Axis as the SOAP toolkit[15]. The XPDI client is an interface through which userscan access data in the reference server [16]. Communicationbetween the client and the server is performed with SOAPmessages through the Internet. Thus if there is an XPDIClient on the remote side, it can access the reference serverby using an ID and password created by reference serveradministrator. XPDI Client is a GUI connecting the

ted parts.

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remote PLM Services server, showing part and BOM infor-mation and downloading the document (CAD, MicrosoftWord, etc.) related to the part. The usage step is as followsand also can be seen from Fig. 4:

1. Write IP of the remote PLM Services server and connectto the server.

2. View the product data into the server (BOM, part infor-mation, documents related to product).

3. Download the document related to product.

Fig. 10. BOM data translation from D

5. Interfacing two commercial PDM systems

Two PDM systems have been tested. The first is Smar-TEAM of Dassault Systemes of France and the second isDynaPDM of iNOPS of Korea. In the integration sce-nario, one company uses SmarTEAM and the other com-pany uses DynaPDM. These two companies are partssuppliers of an assembly maker (OEM). The OEM wantsto access the PDM data of its suppliers through the XPDI(eXtended Product Data Integration) client.

ynaPDM to OMG PLM Services.

Fig. 11. BOM of Autohelm [20].

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

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Fig. 5 shows the role of the PLM Services referenceimplementation in transferring PDM data to the Internet.The product data inside the PDM system is translated toPLM Services reference server by the data transfer module.The data transfer module captures the PDM system databy using APIs and translates it into the format whichPLM Services reference implementation can read and visu-alize. Any permitted XPDI client of PLM Services from theremote side can access the translated PDM data in thePLM Services server. Therefore, to access the data storedin SmarTEAM or DynaPDM, the PLM Services reference

server is used on both sides to enable the data accessingfrom remote side.

For the integration, two translators are implemented,as shown in Fig. 6. The first translates the SmarTEAMdata into the OMG PLM Services reference implementa-tion and the second translates the DynaPDM data intothe OMG PLM Services reference implementation. Eachtranslator connects to SmarTEAM or DynaPDM andcaptures the data. It then writes data into the PLM Ser-vices file format and onto the PLM Services referenceserver.

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In a company, the product information flows with a doc-ument. The document is the important part of a PDM sys-tem, and contains detailed information about the product.To interface PDM systems between two companies, docu-ments should also be exchanged between the companies.In this study, the scope of the PDM interface is selected as

• Part identification.• BOM information.• Document identification.• Document–item relationship.• Document download.

The STEP PDM schema of ISO (international standardorganization) contains product, BOM, document, productdocument relationship, organization, workflow manage-ment information [17]. The workflow management is notimplemented in our implementation. Also the PLM Ser-vices implementation is neither implemented for the work-flow management. It only enables part, BOM, documentinformation.

6. Implementation

The modular architecture of Translator 1, which trans-lates the SmarTEAM PDM data into the PLM Servicesreference implementation, can be seen in Fig. 7. Translator1 initially connects to the SmarTEAM database. By usingSmarTEAM API functions, the data inside the Smar-TEAM database is captured. The data is then translatedinto the OMG PLM Services standard format. Finally,the translated data is saved as an XML file into the PLMserver database. Mapping based on the ISO PDM Schema

Fig. 13. Rudder assembly and

is important during the stage of the SmarTEAM datatranslation 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 inFig. 8. For the translator, DynaPDM scripts are used,which are compiled inside DynaPDM. By using API func-tions, the data inside the DynaPDM database can be cap-tured. The data is then translated into the OMG PLMServices standard format. Finally, the translated data issaved as an XML file in the PLM server database. Map-ping based on the ISO PDM Schema mapping is importantduring the stage of the DynaPDM data translation into theOMG PLM Services standard format.

The mapping based on the PDM Schema can be seen inTable 3. The PLM Services standard format is similar toSTEP, and resembles XML. SmarTEAM and DynaPDMhave their own PDM Schema. ‘Item’ is an entity and ‘id’is an attribute in the PLM Services standard. For Smar-TEAM, ‘Items’ is a class, ‘CN_PART_NO’ is attribute,and for DynaPDM, ‘P_product’ is a class and ‘md$num-ber’ is an attribute. All these in the following form: Item.id,Items.CN_PART_NO and P_product.md$number refer tothe identification of the product.

7. Experiments

For the implementation, the rear lower arm of the wheelaxle product and the Mulde part of the Trego product [16]were used. Fig. 9 shows the parts which were used for theexperiments. The outer arm part of the rear lower armproduct data and the Mulde part of Trego product datahave been translated from SmarTEAM to the PLM Ser-vices reference implementation. The mid axle part of the

mounting components [20].

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

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rear lower arm product data has been translated fromDynaPDM 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 threeparts: The mid bearing, the upper bearing and the lowerbearing.

Fig. 10 shows the translation from DynaPDM to thePLM Services reference implementation. The BOM infor-mation of the mid axle product, the product informationof each part (mid axle, mid bearing, upper bearing andlower bearing) and the linked documents information hasbeen translated. In addition, the linked document can bedownloaded by using a reference client.

DynaPDM and SmarTEAM have a new menu button forthe PLM Services. After making product changes in Dyna-PDM or SmarTEAM, the OMG PLM Services button inDynaPDM or SmarTEAM should be clicked. Followingthis, all information regarding the product and linked docu-ments are sent to the reference server can be downloaded byusing the XPDI client. Then, the data is ready to be accessedby a PLM Services reference client. To carry documents fromDynaPDM or SmarTEAM to the PLM Services referenceserver, a synchronization of folders is utilized. The productdocument folder of DynaPDM or SmarTEAM and theproduct document folder of PLM Services reference serverare synchronized via a synchronization program.

Another test data, Autohelm, is used for the dataexchange, which can be seen from Fig. 11. It is an automo-bile part consisting of sub-assemblies [18]. Airvane assem-bly, mast and base assembly, rudder assembly andmounting components are tested in our implementation(Figs. 12 and 13). The PLM Services standard file for theAirvane Blade part is shown in Fig. 14 after translation.The standard file contains part, BOM, document informa-tion shown from the Fig. 3.

8. Conclusion

Design collaboration is an important issue in reducingthe time to market [19]. If an OEM and its parts suppliersuse different PDM systems, the PDM data flow betweenthem presents problems. This study attempts to interfacethe PDM product data of suppliers to a state in which

the product information and related document can beaccessed in real time and downloaded.

To access the data inside two different PDM systems, wehave used the PLM Services reference implementation,which is based on Web Services. The PLM Services refer-ence implementation allows the transport of the PDM datato Internet. The data in PDM systems has been translatedinto the OMG PLM Services standard format, which isbased on STEP and XML. A wheel axle assembly andTrego parts have been utilized for the experiments, andthe data exchange has been tested through the pilotimplementation.

The main objective of the implementation is using thePLM Services standard for PDM data exchange. Ourimplementation can be used for any product data. Compa-nies who do not want to change their own PDM systemwhich is not web based, can use our approach to carry theirPDM data to the Internet via a web-based support systemsuch as the PLM Services reference implementation.

As the future work, the same implementation can beestablished using the OpenPDM software instead of thePLM Services reference implementation. In addition, thescope of the implementation can be wider with the Open-PDM implementation. The PDM workflow managementdata, which is also an important part of PDM systems,can be included in the implementation scope.

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