Modern products are becoming increasingly smart, complex and connected and often require a multi-disciplined approach to design and engineering. As such a single, accurate and complete BOM structure, along with the associated content that defines the product, is increasingly important for companies to manage this complexity. LEAP recently ran a webinar discussing how Windchill PLM allows companies to manage a complete multi-disciplinary BOM incorporating data from MCAD, ECAD, Software and other sources.
To begin the webinar, PTC Business Manager at LEAP, Paul O’Shaughnessy gives a brief overview of LEAP Australia, integration specialists XPLM and the concept of the Digital Thread – using technology to connect the products, people, places and processes within an organisation.
Next, LEAP’s PTC Technical Manager, Allan Thompson provides an overview of Windchill PLM – an enterprise system for your product data built upon the three pillars of:
- Digital Product Definition: Management of all of the digital content that is created in the product design process.
- Strategic Processes: How the digital content and associated data is managed as it moves through different areas of the organisation.
- Visualisation: How the product data is then viewed by different areas of the organisation.
Allan then goes on to explain Windchill’s object-based digital data model and how all information pertaining to a product structure, its associated CAD data, assemblies, derived content, version histories and so on can be managed using Windchill.
Allan then takes a closer look at how ECAD data can be managed within a BOM using windchill. The first way this data can be incorporated into a BOM is through documents which can then be related to the BOM item. This approach is generally used when the electronics design is done externally and the ECAD data is acquired from a 3rd party.
The second approach is to use an ECAD document which automatically builds a BOM structure and can include derived data. This approach is more appropriate when the electronic components of the product are designed in-house and the associated data needs to be managed as part of the overall product data.
Allan then introduces integration specialists XPLM and their tool, Integrate2 which allows for seamless data transfer between your ECAD software and Windchill. This integration allows for users to continue working within the ECAD environment while still benefiting from Windchill features such as checking in and out files and synchronising product development data. Allan shows how this looks in practice, providing examples of how the one would go about setting up your ECAD project inside Windchill using the XPLM interface. Watch the video below to see for yourself.
Finally Allan explains how you can manage Software data in Windchill, either by managing the source code directly or bringing in binary files as a document. He then demonstrates live in Winchill, how the different types of data – MCAD, ECAD, Software and other documents – come together within Windchill to form a complete BOM.
We hope you found this presentation informative. If you would like any further information about Windchill or XPLM’s integration solutions for managing ECAD data please contact LEAP and one of our experts will be in touch to discuss your needs.
