PDM enabled Interoperability @ Ford - GPDIS

PLM-Driven 3D 

Interoperability @ Ford 

Strategy & Opportunities 

Ilan Weitzer 

Ford Motor Co. 

BOEING is a trademark of Boeing Management Company 

Copyright © 2012 Boeing. All rights reserved. 

Copyright © 2012 Northrop Grumman Corporation. All rights reserved. 

GPDIS_2012.ppt | 1

Topics 

Global Product Data Interoperability Summit | 2012 

• PLM Interoperability 

• Current Architecture 

• Opportunities 

– Product Visualization 

– CAE Visualization 

– Engineering 3D Efficiency 

– Suppliers Integration 

– 3D Mobility 

– Openness and Standards 

• Discussion 

BOEING is a trademark of Boeing Management Company 

Copyright © 2012 Boeing. All rights reserved. 

Copyright © 2012 Northrop Grumman Corporation. All rights reserved. 

GPDIS_2012.ppt | 2

1.Geometry and 

Topology 

1.Geometry and 

Topology 

3.CAD metadata 

(PMI, 

annotation , 

Weld, layers & 

groups) 

4. Interface to ancillary 

products (CAx, 

EESE, etc.) 

PLM Interoperability - Overview 

• A Global product strategy relies on a global PLM strategy 

• A global PLM strategy is enabled by interoperability 

• Interoperability must be achieved at all levels 

• Visualization as key enabler 

Primary Target 

Next: Re-mastering 

9. Common user 

interface, 

common data 

model 

7 PDM driven data 

exchange, PMI 

independent of CAD tool 

5. Design-in-Context 

– Tessellation, 

Precise, On- 

Demand 

2. Assembly 

Hierarchy 

6. Associativity support 

(change notification) 

8. CAD History Tree, Design 

Intent, geometry 

supporting info 

2. Assembly 

Hierarchy 

Level 

1 

2 3 4 

5 

6 7 8 

• Increasing Levels of complexity 

Level-1 

Data & Tools Interoperability 

across core design and 

engineering activities 

• Product Definition (Geometry) 

• PMI & Metadata 

• CAD Attributes 

• PDM-Enabled 

8 

9 

Level-2 

Interoperability across 

all PLM Components, 

Processes & users 

• PDM 

• BOM 

• MFG Systems and Processes 

• Requirements & Assumptions 

• Functional, Logical & Physical 

• Concept/Styling/Marketing/Sale 

Level-3 

Interoperability across 

global vehicle programs 

• Global Platform 

• Global Commodities 

• Global Release & Change 

Management 

• Enabled by Standard 

Information Model 

Copyright © Ford Motor Company, 2012 - Ford Proprietary 3

PLM Driven Interoperability 

Design/Styling 

TCe 

JT 

JT 

Copyright © Ford Motor Company, 2012 - Ford Proprietary

JT Enabled Multi-CAD Design in Context 

• Visualization-based interoperability 

• Reuse of existing assets 

• Multi-CAD / Single PDM Environment 

• JT Generation via Tce Translation Services 

• Seamless and Transparent 

• On the fly JT read capabilities in V5 and IDEAS 

• Seamless Integration on consumption 

• C2C is still around, but in diminishing capacity 

Teamcenter Engineering 

JT Read/Write 

IDEAS 

CATIA V5 


Evolution of Visualization at Ford 

Key Milestones 

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 

2009 

2010 

2011 

2012 

Clearance Management 

Systematic analysis of clearance / clash 

Immersive Buck 

Digital Human with motion capture 

Web-Based PC Access 

Broad web-based access to Digital Mockup 

Automatic Tessellation 

Continuous, automatic generation of a general purpose digital mockup 

Distributed Visualization 

More frequent generation of the digital mockup available on numerous visualization servers 

Manual Digital Buck 

Periodic manual generation of the digital mockup to support major program milestones 

JT for CAD Interoperability 

Design-in-context 

PDM based Visualization 

Visualization imbedded in the PDM 

TCBuck 

LTDR 

Enhanced PDM Vis 

Suppliers Integration 


Current Ford PLM Environment 


Integrated C3PNG Digital Environment 

TCe 

Mfg Rich Client 

BOM 

Authoring 

Rich Client 

Thin Client 

FIDES 

AVBOM 

ICM - Integrated Clash 

Management 

Issue 

Management 

IDEAS 

CATIA V5 

Multi-CAD 

TC Vis 

Clash Mgmt 

Req. Mgmt 

Digital Prototyping 

Integrated 

Reporting 


JT Pipeline – DPA Process View 

Digital Pre-Assembly: Geometric Verification & Compliance to Standards 

DPA Assessments 

DPA 0 

Function 

• Dynamic 

displacement 

• Movement 

• Heat 

Clearances 

• Variation 

DPA Owner: 

Block Leaders 

DPA 1 

Static 

Nominal 

Taisen 

• Clearances 

• Positional 

correctness 

• Interface 

completeness 

DPA Owner: 

Block Leaders 

DPA 2 DPA 3 DPA 4 DPA 5 

Craftsmanship Tolerance Service 

Mfg/ 

Assembly 

• Design 

Appearance 

• Margins/ 

Flushness 

• Grains / Gloss 

DPA Owner: 

Craftsmanship 

• Formability 

• VSA Focus 

• Removal 

• Assembly 

studies agreed 

• Process 

Access 

by Design, 

• Plant Floor 

• Damageability 

Program & VO 

Ergonomics 

DPA Owner: 

Craftsmanship 

DPA Owner: 

FCSD 

DPA Owner: VO 

& SBU ME 

DPA 6 

Package/ 

Ergo 

• Ingress/egress 

• Reach 

• Vision 

• Accessibility 

• Spatial 

Relationships 

DPA Owner: 

Basic Design 

Package 

UN & UP UN & UP UP 

UP 

UN & UP UN & UP UN & UP 

Requirements 

Verification 

Functional 

Specifications 

• Material 

• Key Life 

• Component 

Nominal Taisen 

• Component 

System & 

interface 

requirements. 

Craftsmanship 

Specifications 

• Exterior 

• Interior 

• Under Hood 

Appearance 

Tolerance 

• Acceptance 

Criteria for 

Component 

Variation 

Service 

Specification 

• Component 

Standards for 

Service 

Mfg/Assembly 

• Component Mfg 

Standards 

• Control specs 

• DFA Req 

Package/Ergo 

• Component 

Ergo Req 

• Component 

Package 

Standards 


JT Pipeline - Systems View 

JT Enabled Interoperability across the product creation tool sets 

TCe 

PD/KBE 

Color Buck 

PDV 

Jack 

TCe 

TC Buck 

E2Ks 

Indirect 

Jack PDV 

Jack TCe 

Services 

IsoDraw 

3DVia Composer 

Adobe Illustr. 

PDV 

3DsMax 

AutoTrol 

TCViTransCabels 

TCVis 

VisJack 

VSP 

Marketing 

& Sale 

JT pipeline 

Mfg 

TCM 

eMS 

Jack 

FIDES 

Flexible PartViewer 

EMS Planner 

PTO 

CAE Mashing 

TessOnDemand 

ePEds 

PTO Buck 

Corp Design 

ICIDO 

Opticore 

Bunkspeed 

Showcase 

MotionBuilder 


Significance of Interoperability 

Full Vehicle 

Buck 

(1996) 

PD and Mfg 

Illustrations 

(2007) 

Plant 

Visualization 

(1998) 

Marketing 

For 20 Vehicles 

(2007) 

1 st Buck 

“On Road” 

(1999) 

1 st Marketing 

Process from JT 

(2006) 

Photo-Realistic, Engineering 

LIVE Reviews 

(2007) 

Ergo-based 

Serviceability 

(2000) 

Service Tools 

“InClass” 

(2006) 

Mfg PMI 

(2000) 

Released 

Content 

(2000) 

Digital 

Pre-Assembly 

(2005) 

Service 

Manuals 

(2001) 

Warranty Part 

Support Desk 

(2001) 

Ford GT 

Marketing 

Swept Volume (2004) 

for Serviceability 

(2005) 

Dealers 

Catalogs 

(2003) 

“Shadowed” 

Under hood 

Drawings 

(2007) 

Interactive 

Service Pubs 

(2008) 

Web-based Build 

and Price 

(2008) 

PDM-bases 

Visualization 

(2009) 

Future: 

HD3D, AWS, 

Mobility 

Immersive Buck 

(2007) 


Summary: Visualization Is Interoperability 

• Product Visualization - Lightweight product data everywhere 

– Ability to move native geometry interactively to the visualization tool, enabling 

real-time viewing and analysis 

• Verification and Digital Prototyping 

– Digital Pre Assembly (DPA) Process enabler 

• Visualization-based CAD Interoperability 

– Data sharing and collaboration across multiple design and engineering disciplines 

using efficient product data representation. 

– Design-in-Context with reference data 

• Ability to work with geometry in one CAD tool with reference geometry from another 

CAD tool 

• Geometry pipeline to engineering applications and products (CAD, KBE, 

CAE, Illustration, etc.) 

• Product pipeline to Manufacturing applications 

• Product representation for photo-realistic and VR applications 

• Legacy Migration & Archival 

– Bridging between next generation and carryover systems and Long-term data 

retention 

– IDEAS and PDGS archived as JT 


What are some of the Opportunities 

• PLM Interoperability 

• Current Architecture 

• Opportunities 

– Product Visualization 

– CAE Visualization 

– Engineering Efficiency 

– Suppliers Integration 

– 3D Mobility 

– Openness and Standards 

• Discussion 


• Product Visualization Supports Decision making 

• Interoperability is manual and customized 

• Integration with PLM is just kicking off 

Product Visualization 

Concept 

Design and 

Simulation 

Marketing 

Sale 

Styling 


Example: Advanced Material Interop 

• In the PLM today, CAD applications and 

Technical Visualization (Mock-up) 

applications have been integrated with PDM. 

• Other visualization applications supporting 

High End Visualization, Photo-Realistic 

Rendering, Video Animation, Virtual Reality 

have not been integrated. 

• Most of the HEV systems are typically used 

standalone with repetitive manual effort 

required to manage and update information. 

• So best in class capabilities are typically custom-made with data conversion optimized for 

each company. 

• There is a growing need to improve integration and work flows for visualization 

applications that utilize current data from the PDM/PLM environment. 

• There is a case for PDM/PLM driven Visualization with a goal that applications integrated 

with PDM/PLM systems have a consistent and predictable set of visualization behaviors. 

• There are no industry wide requirements for PLM integration of Visualization Systems & 

Tools 


Advanced Color Material - Automotive POCs 

GM’s POC Phase 1 

GM, Autodesk, RTT, Siemens 

Upstream/Downstream Vis 

Ford’s POC Phase 2 

Ford, Autodesk, Theorem, Siemens 

• JTOpen’s effort 

• Feasibility for using GUMID as a 

persistent color attributes index for 

consistent visualization 

• Feasibility to interop, associate, use and 

maintain the color attributes during 

engineering workflows phases 

(Teamcenter, TCVis, V5) 

• GAAG’s Product Visualization 

TCe 

Engineering Vis 


CAE Visualization 

• Functional Buck 

• Better communication of CAE results 

into the PD decision making process 

• Improved robustness and efficiency of CAE 

model build process via closer link to the 

PDM system 

• Improved quality of CAE analysis based 

on better integration on geometrical 

and non-geometrical data 

• Improved consistency of the design/ 

package assessment by enabling a 

integrated geometrical and functional 

assessment 

• Improved communication of complex 

CAE results by enabling a visualization 

in an immersive VR environment 


Visualization in the Digital Buck 

What is possible today (a CFD Example) 

EnSight geom EnSight results CAD geom 

Clip plane 

y const. 

Color: Velocity 

Elevated surface 

@ Outlet 

Color: TKE 

Iso surface 

Vel = 15 m/s 

Color: Pressure 

Clip plane 

z const. 

Color: Velocity 


Functional Buck: Requirements 

Animated section cut: 

Animated streamline: 

Animated iso surface: 

LOD 3: 4000 facets 




OEM/Supplier Integration 

• A repetitive iterations where reference geometry and 

updated design geometry is exchanged until a final 

design solution is agreed on. 

Supplier Product 

OEM Environment 

A small set of parts to design: 

In an extremely complex environment: 

•11 End Items 

•80 CAD Files, 399 Versions 

•Average of 0.44 versions per day 

•43 CAD Assemblies and multiple versions 

•Average of 1.73 versions per day 

•~30 minutes per download 

•4.3 hours per week for downloads 


JT Enabler Supplier Integration (cont.) 

• Simplified product representation such as JT just make sense. 

• Suppliers use it anyways 

• Immediate benefits are fairly clear (just to list a few): 

– Size and performance 

– IP protection 

– Available as asset 

– Streamline the process 

• Not Always, but in many design iteration scenarios Devil in the details 


Engineering 3D Efficiency 

• Engineers need modeling capabilities but don’t have time to become and maintain 

proficiency in parametric modeling 

Engineering 

Request 

CAD 

Approval? 

Marked up 

Released 

Final Design in PDM 

PDM 

• Engineers are actually isolated from the design process by the 

CAD system 

• Engineers regularly waiting for CAD Designer to execute design 

• Mark up is not communicating in 3D – It’s marking 3D 


3D Design Capable Engineer (cont.) 

• Direct Modeling – Intuitive, Simple to use with a short learning curve. 

• Direct Modeling addresses users that need to be engaged in the design process but are not full 

time CAD users which: 

• Work with the CAD the whole day 

• Require extensive CAD training 

• Regularly interact with the CAD tool to retain proficiency 

• So for engineers that’s great. 

– No need to master a complicated CAD whose most capabilities they don’t need 

– Don’t have to wait to get the CAD folks to make a simplified model or modified a fully-featured model 

because they can do it themselves. 

• Engineers could… 

– Perform a rapid product creation, modification and analysis. 

– Simplify design to meet CAE analysis 

– Develop proposals and studies 

– Perform most functions in a discoverable manner 

– Don’t have time so minimal or no training is desirable 

Enabling non CAD users with 3D data by: 

Enabling some level of editing in the visualization tools 

Enabling Direct Modeling integration with CAD data management 


Mobility 3D Visualization 

• Preliminary technical assessment 

• JT-enabled mobile devices 

• Tablet apps in the PLM space 

• Ford's 3D geometry and product data 

• Tablet overall role as engineering tool 

• Very promising, It’s just a matter of time and it’s just 

around the corner 

• So we need to prepare. 


Key Enabler: 

Open Standards 

• Openness enables Innovation 

• Standards enables Openness 

OEM Commitment to Support ISO JT Standardization (Oct, 2010) 

JT and STEP - Automotive view: 

• Industry requires standard-based visualization solutions: JT 

• JT needs an XML-backbone: STEP 

CODEX of PLM Openness 

STEP AP 242 XML and JT will enable lightweight data exchange 

STEP AP 242 XML for product structure , meta, kinematic data etc. 

JT as lightweight visualization format for 3D industrial data 


iweitzer@ford.com

PDM enabled Interoperability @ Ford - GPDIS

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