Where does Trix Organizer EDMS fit with respect to PLM and BOM systems?

Trix Organizer EDMS

Engineering Document Management Systems (EDMS), such as Trix Organizer, focus on documents of all types [e.g. DWG, Word, Excel, PDF]: The primary purposes are

• to make it simple and fast to find the correct documents for a specific physical design, location or process and

• to regulate, control and record changes to documents.

Once rules are established for the management of documents, EDMS systems are relatively simple to implement. The usual challenge is cleaning up inconsistencies in existing documents during initial migration into the system. EDMS systems are appropriate for companies of any size or type that are losing control over engineering drawings and documents.

PLM

Product Lifecycle Management Systems (PLM) focus on process: The primary purpose is to integrate all the resources, procedures and data relating to a product from concept through to manufacture, delivery, support and disposal. They encompass multiple disciplines. PLM systems are typically complex, challenging to implement and best suited to managing long-lifetime products.

PLMs are not Document Management Systems. But if a company does not have its documents under control, PLM implementation will fail since it is the documentation and drawings that translate the intentions of managers and designers into physical product. In this respect, a good EDMS such as Trix Organizer is a required pre-cursor for, and then component of, successful PLM.

BOM

Bill of Materials (BOM) Systems are assembly-centric: Their purpose is to record all the sub-components that are required to produce a final top level assembly. A BOM system can be a component in a PLM system or exist independently. BOM systems are most appropriate where products have many parts, complex sub-structures and share common components.

A BOM can be considered as a simple but very useful list. However it has little 'intelligence' when it comes to identifying and managing the information associated with the individual components.

The drawings and documentation required to produce these individual components are not stored in the BOM (though information, such as BOM quantities, may be extracted from documents into the BOM). A BOM system may be linked to an EDMS so that the selection of an assembly, sub-assembly, or component calls up the relevant documents in the EDMS.
 

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