A PLM & ERP integration enables the effective synchronization between the engineering bill of material (BOM) and the manufacturing bill of material, and can significantly streamline the engineering change order process.

Benefits:

• Support for the design anywhere/build anywhere paradigm
• Reduced number of engineering design changes
• Reduced timeframe for processing engineering design change orders

Features

E-BOM to M-BOM Transfer and Update
The PLM and ERP integration supports the creation of both a new manufacturing BOM, from the PLM engineering BOM, and also an incremental update, given a set of changes on the PLM side. The integrations are usually ECO driven and based on the BOM Compare function, only the "changes" to a BOM are sent to the ERP system for implementation. The goal is that the MBOM is modified to meet the requirements of the EBOM (where the EBOM is master).

BoM Compare
The PLM and ERP integration can support BOM comparisons in multiple ways. Most PLM applications can compare one PLM BOM to another PLM BOM, and such incremental BOM changes are the basis for an EC update. The integration can also compare a source PLM BOM to a target ERP BOM, and provide a differences report back to the user. Furthermore, depending on customer preference, the difference report can then be used to synchronize either the PLM or ERP BOM. The BOM Compare becomes a very powerful feature when multiple manufacturing organizations are associated with the overall EBOM (components, sub assemblies) since the BOM Compare calculates the required EC update for each specific manufacturing site.

M-BOM Visibility in PLM
It is often desirable for Engineers to be able to use a PLM --- ERP integration to browse through items, BOMs and EC's located within the ERP system. Furthermore, the integration allows for Engineers to retrieve what-if reports based upon information located within ERP, such as a cost'-report for a given prototype design that the engineer has created.

Extensible Architecture
Almost every manufacturing organization has a customized implementation of either their PLM system and/or their ERP system. Consequently, in order to deploy a full-function PLM and ERP integration, the core system usually needs to be extended or customized.

Read More:

• Learn more about our PLM Integrations
• Product Data Interoperability Consulting Services
• Education & Training