5 Ways PLM Can Make Your Mechatronics Systems Work as One

Mechatronics is present in wide variety of industries, such as Aerospace, Automotive, High-Tech, Life Science and even Consumer Retail.

Coordinating an array of disciplines in the service of a single product can be intimidating. But software and technologies have been developed in conjunction with Mechatronics to help support this process.

Here are 5 ways PLM systems can make your Mechatronics systems work as one:

Join up processes between multiple departments

Integrated processes get disparate departments working as a single unit.

Efficient Mechatronics production depends on multidisciplinary teams working in harmony. One of the key benefits of a PLM system is its ability to interlock separate procedures, so they all become part of the same operation.

Define processes, key stages and stakeholders, and track progress across the entire product lifestyle – so planning can be adjusted to account for changes upstream.

Encourage collaboration between departments

Frictionless communication makes it easier to work together.

Joined up processes, combined with integrated communication tools, shared data and simultaneous working (see below) nurture collaboration between previously siloed departments.

The effect is to craft a single team culture within an organization, where people who may never have interacted before can share their expertise. So, questions can be answered by the person most-qualified to answer – rather than whoever’s closest-to-hand.

Share data between everybody working on the project

A single source of truth can eliminate errors and miscommunications.

Within a PLM system, all data is stored in a single database. This removes the potential for error thanks to multiple copies and variations of the same data.

It also means that everyone involved is always up to date with the latest changes. So, there won’t be any surprises later down the line, when you discover an electrical component won’t fit in its mechanical housing because someone was working from an old design.

Enable simultaneous working

Simultaneous working reduces delays from waiting on other departments.

By storing everything in the same place, everybody can work on the same files at the same time. This can significantly tighten production cycles in two ways.

First, because Electronics needn’t wait for Electrical and Mechanical to send the latest changes, before they get to work. Second, because designs can always be assessed from every Mechatronic angle – rather than finding a fault further downstream and having to circle back.

Identify bottlenecks in advance

Bird’s eye visibility makes production bottlenecks predictable – and solvable.

Thanks to the intuitive dashboards of PLM systems – and the multi-department view – Project managers can see progress across the production cycle.

This enables managers to see if there are likely to be any blockages due to inter-departmental dependencies. Preventative measures can then be put in place so that the product can still be delivered to schedule.

Final thoughts…

PLM systems are designed to unify the increasingly scattered teams and procedures involved in designing, developing, producing and distributing products of all kinds.

The multi-disciplinary nature of mechatronic products makes them particularly susceptible to the problems that such a dispersed production process can have.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform from Dassault Systèmes can overcome these issues, putting everybody in your team in the same virtual space – so they operate in perfect harmony towards a singular goal.