Assignment CAED 1/4/2012 Patrick Wulliamoz Patrick.wulliamoz@dit.

ie
Submission date: Friday 27th April.
A maximum of 3000 words is required (10 to 15 pages)

Product data management systems are a vital tool in the timely dissemination of product information to design and manufacturing personnel within and without a company involved in new product development.

(a) What are the potential benefits to a company which implements such as system.

(b) What are the pre-requisites which have to be present for successful

(c) Are there any common pitfalls or problems which could occur during the migration to a fully fledged PDM system.

Case Study.
A small but successful Irish company designs, manufactures and sells compact forklifts.

*They use a parametric feature based CAD package (Solidworks). They also carry out complex assembly based finite element stress analysis.

*Many parts and assemblies are manufactured in Asia and Central Europe and shipped back to Ireland for assembly.

*The forklifts are used throughout the world. Maintenance manuals and maintenance bulletins have to be translated and distributed throughout the world. Describe what type of PDM system would be suitable.

Some of the factors to consider are: Cost. Complexity of implementation. Simplicity of use (Consider web based implementation).

Resources:
Use google scholar

Check out the white papers at the solidworks website, PTC and solidedge site.

Design for Manufacturability Handbook (2nd Edition) from Knovel http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=3311

Dimensioning and Tolerancing Handbook

http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=330

Finite Element Analysis for Design Engineers

http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=3411

Rapid Prototyping - Principles and Applications

http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=2484&Vertica lID=0

Hatamura, Yotaro (2006). Decision-Making in Engineering Design - Theory and Practice.. Springer Verlag. Online version available at: http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=2666&Vertica lID=0

Usher, John M.; Roy, Utpal; Parsaei, Hamid R. (1998). Integrated Product and Process Development Methods, Tools, and Technologies.. John Wiley & Sons. Online version available at: http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=1407&Vertica lID=0

Kamrani, Ali K.; Nasr, Emad S. Abouel (2008). Collaborative Engineering - Theory and Practice.. Springer - Verlag. Online version available at: http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=2611&Vertica lID=0

Watts, Frank B. (2000). Engineering Documentation Control Handbook - Configuration Management (2nd Edition).. William Andrew Publishing/Noyes. Online version available at: http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/browse/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=62&VerticalID =0