Linking the Phases, Closing the Loops

CL2M and PROMISE-enabled technologies herald a new era of PLM, and Lifecycle Management in general, by creating compelling new business, application and services opportunities, especially in the middle of life (MOL) and end of life (EOL) lifecycle phases.
PROMISE proved that the collection of detailed information about products at individual serial number level, and its transformation into product knowledge, can also significantly impact beginning of life (BOL), and therefore the traditional PLM processes and applications. Now, established PLM software vendors, consultants and service providers should be examining how CL2M can increase their opportunities and competitive edge.  Meanwhile, newcomers to this market can seize the opportunity to be first with offerings developed from the outset to exploit CL2M and PROMISE technologies and methodologies.
The scope of opportunity is enormous. Each one of the diverse set of commercial demonstrators developed during the PROMISE Project focused on a single lifecycle phase, beginning, middle or end of life, as its primary target for innovation. So we saw, for example, applications as diverse as adaptive production and Design for X (DfX) at BOL; dynamic, adaptive or preventive maintenance in MOL; and re-use of motor parts, plastics recycling and engine remanufacturing at EOL. Also in the course of the project it became clear that the results could be applied beyond PLM to a much wider variety of lifecycles including asset management, healthcare, logistics, pedigree and supply chain integrity to name but a few.
It has already been noted that PLM applications at BOL are mature, and have well established data and interchange standards. The exciting challenge - and huge opportunity - of linking the lifecycle phases comes from the quite different application needs in each of these phases. First of all, the types of applications are specific to each phase, and then the data needs are quite different. For example, the applications in the automotive industry that support BOL are quite different to
those needed in MOL (e.g. CRM, parts and service management) and different again at EOL (dismantling, re-use, recycling and disposal). “Linking the phases” depends upon the ability to bridge different application types, and the PROMISE Messaging Interface (PMI) can be used as a common exchange interface between those different application types and different information sources.

Closing the loops was achieved for each demonstrator by identifying the actors in each phase and using process flow and information flow modelling to identify exactly when and what data needed to flow between each phase and in what direction. This of course turned out to be quite application specific and could involve many items of data or just a few.

The versatility of the PMI links the phases, and closes the loops, by addressing the wide range of requirements demanded of it. Its web-based services subscription approach makes it easy to limit information to only that which is needed and that which is permitted. It flexibly supports many different usage models such as point-to-point; multiple objectsto base and vice versa; object to object; database to database; plus both intranet and internet configurations.
Linking the phases and closing the loops inevitably implies different organizations, whether intra or inter-enterprise. The latter of course raises important issues of information security and confidentiality which I will address in a later article.
In the next article we will take a brief look into how the PROMISE PDKM/DSS systems influence the transformation of lifecycle information into knowledge and its subsequent exploitation.
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David Potter is Chief Technical Officer, Promise Innovation International Oy., and former Chairman of the Project Steering Board of the EU PROMISE Project.