Engineering Data Management

What is Engineering Data Management?
Why is Engineering Data Management important?
How can Datamat help? What methodology does Datamat use?
What software products might Datamat recommend?

What Is Engineering Data Management?

You've undoubtedly heard lots of acronyms and buzzwords called "Engineering Data Management." Let's zero in on exactly what it is.

Engineering Data Management is simply the organizing and control of the information created to design, sell, manufacture, and maintain a product. And it continues over the entire lifetime of the product.

Starting with the conceptual design, digital engineering information about a product is generated by marketers, designers, and engineers. This information is an important asset of the company, but too often it is simply left on the hard drive of the author, where no one else in the organization can use it.

Usually, there is little or no control over changes or sharing of the data until the product is released and the information is manually entered into a MRP or ERP system and manufacturing information is added. Then any changes in the engineering department have to be coordinated with the manufacturing information in the MRP or ERP system.

Why Is Engineering Data Management Important?
• cost • product quality • regulatory • cycle time •

• Cost	80% of a product's cost is determined by the first 20% of the design work. So this is when it is crucially important to have current information shared within the organization. A good EDM system ensures collaboration with manufacturing early on to ensure the design is the most cost effective it can be. Engineers spend nearly 3 hours each day looking for information. An EDM system provides a single vault location for all documents, coupled with easy search tools so any document can be found quickly.
• Product Quality	How many times does marketing get a product design back from engineering only to say, "That's not what I wanted." Miscommunication is common and expensive. The best way to ensure collaboration is to have everyone involved and provide easy to use visualization tools so even casual users can picture what the product looks like and how it is designed. These tools are built into EDM systems.
• Regulatory	Manufacturing companies have to operate under the regulatory oversight of governments. Meeting those regulations can be a major expense if done manually. The risk and liability of not meeting those regulations is even higher. EDM systems provide a relatively painless way to provide structure, control documents, and create audit trails sufficient to meet regulatory audits. All US companies must meet Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for financial records, which might be interpreted to include some product development records. Most manufacturing companies are ISO-9000 certified, which requires documenting the process and controlling the documents used. In some industries, such as aerospace (FAA), defense (MIL-SPEC), pharmaceuticals (FDA), and medical products (FDA), additional regulatory requirements exist. Many companies selling in Europe must meet additional DIN or ISO standards for records management and control of product data.
• Cycle Time	Throughout a product's lifetime, there will be many changes. Whether driven by customer satisfaction, product enhancement, or cost reduction, these changes represent a better bottom line to the manufacturer. The quicker each change can be made, the sooner the cashflow improvement will be seen. EDM replaces paper-based ECO processes with electronic processes, so typical cycle times can be reduced from weeks to days. Better collaboration improves the quality and reliability of the changes. And built-in audit trails ensure that all changes can be tracked after the fact.

How Can Datamat Help?

Our analysts call on their extensive experience to review your situation and then recommend a solution. Datamat will take the lead role for you in planning and executing the implementation. Your invidualized solution may involve software products from Datamat or elsewhere. Although custom programming may be part of the solution, we recommend avoiding that whenever possible.

Datamat's proven implementation methodology removes the uncertainty and results in quicker production. The implementation includes:

Objectives definition - what measurable benefits will the EDM implementation deliver?
Data modeling - what data is important to you and how is it organized, searched, and reported? What standardized nomenclature is used?
Process modeling - what is your workflow? How could it improve?
Legacy data loading - capture all of your investment in existing data, both digital and paper.
Training - provide end users with knowledge to effectively use the system; provide managers with tools to control the process.
Production rollout - conversion from existing systems and initial live use
Monitoring - measure results and compare to objectives

We are always looking at the software market to determine the best products to offer to our customers. Currently for EDM, Datamat resells:

Autodesk® Vault – a tool built into many Autodesk CAD programs to control versions and enable searching.

Autodesk® Productstream® – a complete EDM system designed around the Autodesk line of CAD tools that provides change workflow and controls BOMs.

Cyco AutoManager® TeamWork – a departmental EDM system with application integration to Autodesk CAD products as well as Solidworks and Microstation. It includes standardized workflows and ability to manage product structure.

AM TeamWork Product Description (pdf)

Cyco AutoManager® Meridian – an enterprise EDM system with application integration to Autodesk CAD products as well as Solidworks and Microstation. It includes user-defined workflows and ability to manage product structure. BOM capabilities as well as an open architecture enables integration with other enterprise solutions.

AM Meridian Product Description (pdf)

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