No description available.

As E-commerce continues to take market share from traditional brick and mortar businesses, there are few choices left for managers apart from migrating their sales online. While the topic of online adoption has been studied extensively, this thesis attempts to investigate one of the major drivers of complexity within the industry - the role of structured product data. The study was performed on a major Nordic online retailer, and identified a set of six guiding propositions on the topic of structured product data in e-commerce from interviews with industry professionals. Contemporary data science literature contributes to the body of evidence suggesting a strategically prioritized focus on creating and maintaining structured product data is the way of the future for ecommerce, aligning with much of the interview results. Furthermore, the propositions were thoroughly examined through multiple linear regression analysis on data from the same firm. The study gives empirical support for significant positive impact on most studied metrics from having structured product data available on the website as well as within the internal systems, with slight discrepancies across product categories. / I takt med att e-handeln fortsätter att ta marknadsandelar från traditionella fysiska butiker finns det få alternativ för ledningsgrupper förutom att migrera sin försäljning online. Online-migrering som ämne har studerats i stor utsträckning tidigare, men denna uppsats försöker utforska en av huvuddrivarna till branschens komplexitet – rollen av strukturerad produktdata. Studien gjordes på en större nordisk e-handlare, och identifierade sex ledande teman inom ämnet för strukturerade produktdata i e-handel genom intervjuer med experter på bolaget. Kontemporär litteratur inom datavetenskapen bidrar till belägg för att ett strategiskt prioriterat fokus på att skapa och managera strukturerad produktdata är vägen framåt för e-handeln, vilket ligger i linje med resultaten från intervjuerna inom studien. Vidare analyserades de identifierade temana genom multipel linjär regression genom data från bolaget. Studien ger empiriska belägg för att strukturerad produktdata på e-handlarens hemsida samt i de interna systemen ger signifikant och positiv påverkan på de flesta responsvariabler, med vissa diskrepanser mellan produktkategorier.

To meet the fast-change market, products have to be improved continuously through design change processes. The design change process is the most frequent activity in its life cycle. When a change for a design is initiated, its related components need to be changed and that results in the changes of other related components. This starts a chain reaction. The product data usually include the data that may be generated throughout its life cycle, such as the design chart, manufacturing/production information, user¡¦s information, etc. The data formats varied at each stage of the product and its amount is too large for a simple database to handle. We need a system to manage these data which is called a Product Data Management¡]PDM¡^system. When a chain reaction occurs, it may cause a series changes among enterprises. We need a method to constrain the affected domain, and provide necessary data to proceed the change process. In this research, we are dealing with the design change issues by sharing product information stored in PDM systems. The purpose of this research is to construct a product data-sharing framework so that design change process can be carried out through the computer network. A product data search engine¡]PDES¡^will be used as the core of this framework. The PDES consists of several algorithms and assembly rules. The major function of the PDES is to find out proper parts, and then get their data through the network to meet the design change requirements. The design change processes are usually result in decision-making problems caused by distributed data and inconsistency of data formats. These problems can be solved by the proposed framework. The configurations of a personal computer and a bicycle are used as examples to demonstrate the analysis and modeling procedures.

Feature based modelling represents the future of CAD systems. However, operations such as modelling and editing can corrupt the validity of a feature-based model representation. Feature interactions are a consequence of feature operations and the existence of a number of features in the same model. Feature interaction affects not only the solid representation of the part, but also the functional intentions embedded within features. A technique is thus required to assess the integrity of a feature-based model from various perspectives, including the functional intentional one, and this technique must take into account the problems brought about by feature interactions and operations. The understanding, reasoning and resolution of invalid feature-based models requires an understanding of the feature interaction phenomena, as well as the characterisation of these functional intentions. A system capable of such assessment is called a feature-based representation validation system. This research studies feature interaction phenomena and feature-based designer's intents as a medium to achieve a feature-based representation validation system.

The AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry has been undergoing a significant digitaliza-tion process in the last years. This transformation implies new challenges and adaptation concerning the ex-change of data between different software applications. Therefore, in response to this problem the benefits of IFC as a solution for the exchange of data have been investigated. However, the current versions of IFC cannot achieve semantic clarity in mapping entities and relationships. Therefore, there have been several attempts to develop solutions and optimizing methods to improve the exchange of information of product data. This paper aims to identify and investigate the challenges of using product data templates (PDT) for exchange of infor-mation and different PDT has been evaluated and compared. The necessary data was collected through literature review and document analysis. Five challenges and five initiatives were identified during the literature review. The five initiatives are Semantic web and linked data, CoClass, Buildingsmart, COBie and Cobuilder. The result showed how these initiatives could solve the identified challenges.

Dagens företagsklimat skapar ökad press på företag att minska sin tid till marknad för nya produkter, samtidigt som konstnader ska minskas och en hög produktkvalitet skall hållas. Ett resultat av detta är att tillverkningsföretag måste utveckla och producera produkter fortare, till en lägre kostnad, med ökande kvalité för att upprätthålla sin konkurrenskraft. Inom marknaden för informations- och kommunikationsteknik sker det snabba förändringar, detta göra att produktutvecklingen är allt mer viktig. Hanteringen av produktdata är en viktig aspekt av produktutvecklingen, men också en av de mest  utmanande.  Målet  med  denna  forskningsuppsats  är  att  undersöka  vilka  processer  inom industrialisering som används för att samla och hantera produktdata. Produktdata och hanteringen av den är en viktig del av industrialiseringsprocessen samt produktutvecklingsprocessen. PIM   (Product   Introduction   and   Maintenance)   RBS   (Radio   Base   Station)   Kista   är   en industrialiseringssite och har valts för denna fallstudie – då de representerar en ledande del av produktutvecklingen för utsedda produkter inom Ericsson som är ett världsledande företag inom informations-och kommunikationstekniks industrin. Denna forskning har utförst i linje med det valda fokusområdet att undersöka, beskriva och analysera de viktigaste metoderna som används inom PIM RBS Kista för att samla in, lagra och använda produktdata under produktutvecklingen i industrialiseringsprocessen.   Syftet   med   forskningen   är   att   bidra   till   forskningsområdet produktdatahantering. Fokus har legat inom Operations, där nya produkter realiseras under olika aktiviteter och från vilken produktdata är det viktigaste resultatet. De  arbetsmetoder  som  har  identifieras  under  fallstudien  diskuteras  och  skapar  insikt  hur produktdatahantering  används  under  förverkligandet  av  nya  produkter  –  med  koppling  till produktionsverkstadsgolvet. Denna forskingsuppsats diskuterar även de huvudsakliga implikationera relaterat till produktdatahantering inom organisationen som är vald för denna fallstudie. Detta för att bidra med förbättringsförslag gällande nuvarande produktdatahanteringsmetod och system, samt verktyg, som finns implementerade idag. / In today’s market there is an increasing pressure on companies to reduce their time-to-market and lower their cost whilst maintaining a high quality on their products. As a result, manufacturing firms have to develop and produce products faster, at lower costs, and with increased quality in order to maintain their competiveness. The information and communications technology (ICT) market is a fast  changing  market,  which  makes  the  development  process  all  the  more  important.  The management of product data is an important aspect of the product development process, but also one of the most challenging. Product data and product data management (PDM) are important aspects of the new product introduction (NPI) process and in turn the product development process. This research is based on a case study research conducted at PIM (Product Introduction and Maintenance) RBS (Radio Base Station) Kista. PIM RBS Kista is a lead-site responsible for NPI and product development for certain appointed products within Ericsson, a world leading multinational corporation in the ICT industry. In alignment with the research focus the main processes used within PIM RBS Kista to gather, store, and use product data during product development in the NPI process has been described and analysed – in order to contribute to the PDM research field. The focus has been within the Operations department, in which new products are realised during different activities and from which product data is the main output. The processes identified and analysed provides insight how PDM is used during product realisation and its connection to the production shop floor. The thesis also discusses the main complications within the case organisation and suggests improvements regarding the current PDM processes and systems/tools used.

Abstract Data is becoming more critical success factor as business processes rely increasingly on information systems. Product data is required to produce, sell, deliver, and invoice a product in information systems. Traditionally, product data and product data management (PDM) studies have focused on product development and related activities, with less attention being paid to PDM in other lifecycle phases. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to clarify challenges and prerequisites for company-wide PDM. The study covers the entire product lifecycle and provides potential solutions for developing company-wide PDM and enhancing PDM understanding as a company-wide action. The study was realised by collecting and analysing data from those ICT companies that are seeking for better ways to manage a wide product-range, technologically complex products and comprehensive solutions by enhancing their data management practices. The empirical practitioner’s experiences and perceptions are seen to have increased the knowledge in company-wide PDM. This study adopted a case study approach and utilises interviews as the main data collection method. This study indicates that company managers have already realised that successful business operations require a higher-level understanding of products and related product data. In practice, however, several challenges hinder the ability to achieve the goal of higher-level business-driven PDM. These challenges include product harmonisation, PDM process development requirements and information systems development requirements. The results of this research indicate that product harmonisation is required to better support efficient product data management. Understanding the true nature of product data, that is combination of product master data and other general product data, and the content of product data from different stakeholder perspectives are prerequisites for functional company-wide PDM. Higher-level product decisions have a significant impact on product data management. Extensive product ranges require general guidelines in order to be manageable, especially as even single products are complex. The results of this study indicate that companies should follow a top-down approach when developing their PDM practices. The results also indicate that companies require a generic product structure in order to support unified product management. The main implication of this dissertation is the support it provides for managers in terms of developing true company-wide product data management practices. / Tiivistelmä Tiedosta on tullut tärkeä liiketoiminnan menestystekijä liiketoimintaprosessien hyödyntäessä yhä vahvemmin tietojärjestelmiä. Tuotteisiin liittyvä tieto on olennaista, jotta tuote voidaan valmistaa, myydä, toimittaa ja laskuttaa. Tuotetietoa ja sen hallintaa on perinteisesti tarkastelu tuotekehityslähtöisesti kun tämä tutkimus pyrkii ymmärtämään tuotetiedon hallintaa kattaen myös edellä mainitut yrityksen toiminnot. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tunnistaa haasteita ja perusedellytyksiä yrityksenlaajuisten tuotetiedonhallinnan käytäntöjen kehittämiseksi. Tuotetiedon hallinta yrityksen laajuisena toimintona vaatii ymmärrystä eri toimijoista, jotka käyttävät tuotetietoa; tiedon luonteesta sekä tiedon hyödyntämisestä eri prosesseissa. Tutkimus toteutettiin ICT yrityksissä, joissa tuotetiedon käytäntöjä tehostamalla haetaan keinoja hallita laajaa tuotteistoa, teknologisesti monimutkaisten tuotteita sekä kokonaisratkaisuja. Käytännön toimijoiden kokemukset ja käsitykset ovat ensiarvoisen tärkeitä lisätessä tietoa yrityksen laajuisesta tuotetiedonhallinnasta. Tutkimus toteutettiin tapaustutkimuksen menetelmin, joissa pääasiallisena tiedonkeruu menetelmänä hyödynnettiin haastatteluja. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa, että liiketoimintalähtöisen tuotetiedon hallinan kehittäminen on ajankohtaista yrityksissä. Tutkimuksessa tunnistetaan lukuisia haasteita, jotka ovat estäneet liiketoimintalähtöisen tuotetiedonhallinnan saavuttamisen. Näitä haasteita ovat: tuotteen harmonisointi yrityksen eri toiminnoissa, tuotetiedon hallinnan prosessien kehittämisen vaatimukset sekä tietojärjestelmien kehittämisen vaatimukset. Tutkimustulosten mukaan tuotteiston harmonisointi on yksi perusedellityksistä tehokkaalle tuotetiedon hallinnalle. Yrityksen kattava tuotetiedoen hallinta vaatii myös tuotetiedon todellisen luonteen ymmärtämistä, joka koostuu tuotteen master datasta sekä muusta tuotetiedosta. Lisäksi on olennaista ymmrättää tuotetiedon sisältö sen todellisten käyttäjien näkökulmasta käsin. Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat myös, että tuotetiedon hallinnan kehittäminen pitäisi edetä ”top-down” eli ylhäältä-alas periaatteen mukaan. Tulokset myös viittaavat siihen, että geneerinen tuoterakenne tukee yhdenmukaisia tuotehallinta käytäntöjä. Nämä tulokset tarjoavat työssä esitettyjen kuvausten ja mallien ohella tukea tuotetiedon hallinnan käytäntöjen kehittämiseen yrityksen laajuisesti.

A engenharia simultânea e os sistemas de gerenciamento de dados de produto(PDM), apesar de serem uma ajuda preciosa para que as empresas enfrentem as novas condições de sobrevivência no mercado atual, não são muito conhecidos. Além disso, existem poucos trabalhos científicos relacionados à implantação e ao auxílio deste tipo sistema no gerenciamento de dados em ambiente de engenharia simultânea. Neste trabalho procura-se levantar, segundo a bibliografia, as necessidades de gerenciamento de dados em ambientes de engenharia simultânea, comparar as necessidades de gerenciamento de dados encontradas na bibliografia com as necessidades de um caso de implantação real, levantar quais funcionalidades de sistemas PDM (product data management) suprem as necessidades encontradas, e caracterizar um projeto de implantação real de um sistema PDM em um ambiente de engenharia simultânea. / The concurrent engineering and the product data management systems(PDM), although being a precious aid to allow the companies to face the new survival conditions in the current market, are not very well-known. Besides that, few scientific works related to the implementation of this kind of system and their usage in the data management of data in a concurrent engineering environment are available. The objectives of this work are: to rise, according to the bibliography, the needs of data management in a concurrent engineering environment, to compare those needs with the ones of a real implementation case, to rise which functionality of PDM (Product Data Management) systems supply the founded needs, and to characterize a project of a real PDM system implementation in an environment of concurrent engineering.

A engenharia simultânea e os sistemas de gerenciamento de dados de produto(PDM), apesar de serem uma ajuda preciosa para que as empresas enfrentem as novas condições de sobrevivência no mercado atual, não são muito conhecidos. Além disso, existem poucos trabalhos científicos relacionados à implantação e ao auxílio deste tipo sistema no gerenciamento de dados em ambiente de engenharia simultânea. Neste trabalho procura-se levantar, segundo a bibliografia, as necessidades de gerenciamento de dados em ambientes de engenharia simultânea, comparar as necessidades de gerenciamento de dados encontradas na bibliografia com as necessidades de um caso de implantação real, levantar quais funcionalidades de sistemas PDM (product data management) suprem as necessidades encontradas, e caracterizar um projeto de implantação real de um sistema PDM em um ambiente de engenharia simultânea. / The concurrent engineering and the product data management systems(PDM), although being a precious aid to allow the companies to face the new survival conditions in the current market, are not very well-known. Besides that, few scientific works related to the implementation of this kind of system and their usage in the data management of data in a concurrent engineering environment are available. The objectives of this work are: to rise, according to the bibliography, the needs of data management in a concurrent engineering environment, to compare those needs with the ones of a real implementation case, to rise which functionality of PDM (Product Data Management) systems supply the founded needs, and to characterize a project of a real PDM system implementation in an environment of concurrent engineering.

The product development today handles increasingly complex products and to be able to compete on the current market companies need an effective PLM/PDM system to manage the lifecycle, models, and data connected to their products. Three of the factors for success in product development are time, cost, and quality. Which need to be supported by the processes and tool used in a project. Product development often uses both physical and analytical prototypes. The analytical method of simulation is an important element in product development that has started to shift from being a validation and verification tool at the last stages in the development process to be more included in the early stages. Simulation models often generate a big amount of data and because of this, the storing and management of them can be troublesome. Therefore, there is a need to have closer integration between design and simulation. The purpose of the thesis is to do an inquiry about what a PLM system contributes to in a company regarding their product development and why and how simulation models can be connected to the company’s PDM system.The methods used during the study were literature reviews, interviews, workshops, and a survey. The results show that in the literature the benefits of using a PLM and PDM system are connected to the factors for a successful product development which are time, quality and cost. While the employees think traceability, reuse of data and storing is the most important benefits. Simulation models are beneficial to the product development process and should, therefore, be stored in a way that there is a connection between the simulation model and the design model. For the employees, the highest-ranking benefits with adding simulation models to the system are traceability, reuse of simulation models and control over simulation models. A manual for how the simulation engineer can utilize the system and add simulation models to it are presented.