SAP PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT (SAP PLM) FOR CLOSED-LOOP PLM

Product Lifecycle Management describes the management of an end2end product lifecycle across all its phases. The product lifecycle is understood to begin with the very first product idea. It then continues through engineering, validation, manufacturing, marketing, sales and after-sales service and on to recycling.

In all these phases, product-related data must be managed efficiently and consistently. This is where PLM comes in: It acts as a functional and administrative backbone for all the data and entities involved in product development.

SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) is better suited to this task than virtually any other solution, because SAP maintains a particularly strong focus on end2end coherence of data and therefore on seamless replicability of products.

For this reason, SAP PLM is also predestined for gathering and analyzing data generated during product use and reusing it in future product iterations. This makes it possible to implement a “Closed-loop PLM” form of digitalization strategy as a consistent evolution of the SAP PLM concept.

Benefits

  • Seamless management of the product lifecycle
  • Traceability of product data, releases and changes through to logistics processes and service
  • Total cost transparency throughout the product engineering process
  • Avoidance of data redundancies
  • End2end change management from requirements to end-of-life
  • Seamless integration of authoring systems with PLM processes
  • User-friendly applications with wide functional coverage
  • Modern, high-performing and high-availability IT infrastructure

Core functionalities of SAP Product Lifecycle Management

SAP Intelligent Product Design (SAP IPD)

  • With IPD, SAP integrates the very early phases of product development into its PLM landscape to enable true "closed-loop PLM". It permits cross-board use of model-based system development, from requirements management to the handover to manufacturing. In this way, businesses can exploit the potential of structured data and full traceability for downstream processes.

SAP Portfolio and Project Management (SAP PPM)

  • SAP Portfolio and Project Management supports your business in strategic and operative project and portfolio management. It provides assistance in planning, monitoring and administration of all project activities across your entire enterprise.

SAP Project Management (SAP PS)

  • SAP PS is the management tool for demanding projects. Thanks to its integration with the SAP ERP system, you have full access to all logistical processes within your business and benefit from the unique controlling functions available in SAP. This makes it easy to generate and calculate sophisticated client projects and book them directly into your asset accounting system.

SAP Engineering Control Center (SAP ECTR)

  • SAP ECTR lets you seamlessly integrate SAP product data with authoring systems such as CAD, software administration systems or electrics/electronics tools. It manages all relevant data and processes generated by these authoring systems and guarantees data availability and transparency in downstream processes.

SAP Document Management (SAP DMS/ SAP DVS)

  • SAP Document Management permits easy handling of product and business documents in SAP. SAP DMS is fully integrated with all other SAP processes.

SAP Product Structure Management (SAP PSM)

  • SAP Product Structure Management creates the basis for a functionally organized product structure derived from the requirements at hand. This is particularly efficient for mapping product families, including product variants, which can in turn act as a basis for optimized manufacturing of lot size 1 variants.

SAP BOMs

  • For decades, SAP has provided tools for efficient management of bills of material for virtually any business process - no matter whether it concerns early-phase CAD structures mapped by way of document BOMs, engineering BOMs (EBOMs), manufacturing BOMs (MBOMs) or service BOMs. And of course, all this can be done with or without variants, with access to a wide range of options and, if required, fully integrated with SAP change management.

SAP Guided Structure Synchronization (SAP GSS / SAP PSS)

  • To keep product structures of different BOMs synchronized during change processes, SAP GSS provides the means for automatic or partially automatic BOM reconciliation.  

SAP Material Master

  • The SAP Material Master is the core element of many SAP processes. Its view concept for virtually any organizational unit makes it powerful and flexible at the same time, allowing you to access all relevant product data of any given component and giving you full control of all relevant processes.

SAP Master Data Governance (SAP MDG)

  • SAP Master Data Governance (SAP MDG) lets you centrally allocate ownership of all master data in accordance with your business rules and processes. MDG features domain-specific, predefined applications as well as a framework for customer-defined master data. MDG also offers change request-based management of master data with the following elements: workflow, staging, approval, activation and distribution.

SAP Product Lifecycle Costing (SAP PLC)

  • SAP Product Lifecycle Costing is SAP’s highly flexible solution for providing the required degree of cost transparency, right from the early stages of product development.

SAP Variant Configuration (SAP LO-VC)

  • SAP Variant Configuration is a means for comprehensive mapping and efficient order processing of variant-rich products.

SAP Change Management (SAP Change Mgmt)

  • SAP Change Management permits replication of all product-related changes and is fully integrated with all associated processes.

SAP Classification

  • High-quality structural organization of data in PLM systems can be achieved with the aid of SAP classification. This makes it easier to locate data and tag it with additional, specific attributes.

SAP PLM 7

  • With the solutions contained in SAP PLM 7, SAP has once again extended the boundaries of product lifecycle management. Via the web interface, users can access solutions which have been optimized for special requirements.

SAP 3D Visual Enterprise

  • SAP 3D Visual Enterprise provides a means for generating neutral-format 3D data from native 3D data and link them with data from logistics, service, warehousing, project planning and other divisions - in real time.

SAP Visual Manufacturing Planner

  • The Visual Manufacturing Planner assists you in generating and managing manufacturing structures (MBOMs) and work schedules. Based on engineering BOMs, (EBOMs) or CAD structures, the structures needed for logistics processes can be generated via a visually guided planning process.

SAP Asset Intelligence Network (SAP AIN)

SAP AIN is designed with your service segment in mind. It offers manufacturers and operators, but also service partners, valuable up-to-date information on exactly how to conduct maintenance work.

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