PDM from a PLM Perspective

I want to address the difference between PDM and PLM as it came to mind while starting to read “Virtually Perfect” by Michael Grieves who has been very formative in my understanding of PLM. PDM stands for Product Data Management and PLM stands for Product Lifecycle Management. Now in my journey over the past few years in this space, I initially was just looking for a PDM. I needed a solution that was digital and could manage all my engineering drawings. On my initial searches, PDM is what came up the most and that's what I thought I needed; I had not yet heard of PLM. It was only since reading the book “Product Lifecycle Management: Driving the Next Generation of Lean Thinking” by Michael Grieves that I realized that what I needed was a PLM strategy for managing how all the information for the whole lifecycle of the product is being handled.

A PDM focuses mainly on the engineering data. This includes storing the CAD models, organising them relationally, managing documents, and then archiving other artifacts, usually in a folder-like structure. It might have some change management and it might have an approval process. This all is a big and important step forward when wanting to work with multiple engineers on 3D models at the same time or if you're wanting to have more control and structure over your engineering documents compared to using Microsoft SharePoint or a folder-based structure.

A PLM, however, is concerned about the whole lifecycle of building products. It's concerned with creating, building, supporting, and disposing of the products. Its goal is to have the right information at the right time so that there are less wasted parts. So, in a way, the PDM is part of the PLM because for the PLM to have all the information about the product, it needs a strategy to manage all the product data. This includes: the 3D model, the documents, and a framework to allow multiple team members to all work on a product at the same time. The massive difference is that PLM is not simply software and is not just a feature. PLM is made up of software, but just as importantly made up of people and processes. So in a way, if a company had a robust PLM strategy, they may be using a PDM software as one link in the chain along with other supporting processes and connected systems, or a PLM software with connected systems. Or, the PDM may be one function in a PLM software suite.

From my perspective, the more all the tools in the loop can integrate, the better opportunity to capitalize on the savings and efficiencies. If someone was to ask me, should I get a PDM or PLM software what would I say? If they were in the product space, whether it's medicine, defence, oil and gas, mining, industrial, or a startup research and development, I would say a PLM. The reason is, getting a PDM is only one aspect of managing your products. The bigger area is managing the product during it’s whole life of changes from concept, to design, to manufacture, to improvements to decommissioning. A PLM digital product structure is what ties all the parts of the product information together to work in a lean manner.

 So let's say that we have an electric bicycle we design and manufacture. If we had a robust PLM strategy all the information for the bike, and how we managed all changes to the bike through its whole design, would be captured in the PLM. The product structure has all the parts of the bicycle. The product structure might have the 3D model of the bicycle, design calculations on the frame, stress analysis and the checklist that's used for quality during manufacture. If it's got some software that controls the battery, that software is a digital part in that structure because that ties into what's embedded on the chip on the bike to control the electric bike. The PLM might have a system for managing options and variants so that the different configurations of the bike, whether it's got a battery, no battery, off-road tires, road tires, large handlebar, small handlebar, can all be driven from the software and linked together to make it easy to manage.

The PLM, as part of the strategy, can link those digital part structures to the ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning software, such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, so that there's a link from the design through to purchasing procurement. A PDM alone rarely links to other departments of software tools much at all. The PLM system can link to software including the Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) suite so that when work packs are made, the PLM can drive how the sub-assemblies will be built up in the factory as the bikes make their way through and are built up. So coming back to PLM, the process is critical and training people how to use it effectively is essential. You could have a PLM strategy that had a separate PDM. However, I think there would be big challenges trying to connect them and get them to work smoothly. I do wonder if it is worth the investment of even a simple PLM software that already has those integrations between CAD or electronic circuit board or other aspects that can then build the digital part structure in the PLM, which is then used throughout the rest of the process.

I think terminology matters. I'm interested to hear your thoughts. What do you think about the differences between the terminology on PDM and PLM? And if you were setting up a PLM strategy, would you go for a separate PDM software or would you go for an integrated PLM software that can also do PDM?