8.7 SaabTech Electronics AB

---

The Saab Group develops, manufactures, and supplies advanced products and services for the defense market and commercial markets. Saab’s operations are organized in six business units, covering modern defense information technologies, command and control systems, military and commercial aircraft, advanced technical support and services, missiles, space equipment, and aviation services [5].

SaabTech Electronics AB (formerly CelsiusTech Electronics) is a business unit within Saab that develops and manufactures advanced products within the areas of electronic warfare, optronics, and sensors. SaabTech Electronics AB consists of three divisions: optronics, electronic warfare, and sensors. The optronics division is the supplier of advanced optical and optronics sights, chiefly various types of missile and weapon sights. The electronic warfare division is a supplier of electronic warfare equipment, such as advanced radar warning systems and self-protection countermeasures. The sensors division is engaged in radar, microwave applications antennas, signal and image processing, and stealth technology.

This case study describes briefly its currently-used PDM system, developed in-house, and the requirements of the system by which it is to be superseded. The new system is an example of a global PDM system integrated with all the local systems used throughout the company.

8.7.1 The central article and structure register PDM system

The central article and structure (CAS) register system is an in-house PDM system, used for the administration of products. The development of CAS began in the mid 1980s. CAS is the company’s main register for articles and structures. Every item, from small components to entire products, is identified by articles. The system contains information about articles, such as article numbers, article structures, type list (a list with approved articles that may be used under current requirements), and a manufacturer and customer register.

All articles and their structures are registered in CAS. The information is then distributed from CAS to adjacent tools [e.g., to the company’s Manufacturing and Planning System (MPS)]. Most articles have references ( relationships) to the documents describing the articles. A number of different reports and schedules are generated from CAS (e.g., part lists).

8.7.1.1 Environment, system, and authority

CAS is implemented on a VAX/VMS operating system and uses the VAX Database Management System (DBMS) database. The system was developed to permit concurrent usage. CAS has its own access management system, making it possible to control access to different functions for each user. To register data in the system, the user needs a user account on the VAX computer with access rights to enter or update the information in CAS. Access to CAS can be obtained via a terminal or via the company’s intranet.

8.7.1.2 CAS architecture and functions

The CAS system is divided into five different subsystems (see Figure 8.24), CAS Register (CASR), CAS Interface (CASF), CAS Lists (CASL), CAS Production (CASP), and a set of functions for transfer of data to other systems:

• CASR. Updating and registration of data in CAS is primarily performed in CASR. CASR contains functionality to maintain articles, part lists, type lists, customers, and manufacturers.

• CASP. Certain information, exclusively used by the production department, is registered by CASP.

  
  Figure 8.24: CAS system functions.

• CASF. CASF is used to search for information (e.g., metadata and free text). A separate database has been created to provide good performance for free text search and to reduce the load on the global company database. This copy of the database is updated once a week from the main CAS database. CASF has two user interfaces: HTML and VT100. The HTML interface on the company’s intranet is used by those only reading information.

• CASL. CASL incorporates functions for printing different lists and reports (e.g., document lists, component lists, and structure lists).

• Data transfer subsystem. CAS is the company’s master system for article metadata (i.e., data created, updated, and managed in CAS). Data is transferred to the following systems:

1. Prima—the company MPS-system;

2. VeriBest—electronic CAD (ECAD) development;

3. REM—traceability system for delivered systems and spare parts;

4. PREDICTOR—program for reliability calculations;

5. DOKREG—register for documents.

8.7.2 The new PDM system

There is now a significant need to replace CAS with a new generation of capabilities for product data management, designated CAS II. One reason is that, within the near future, it will become difficult to provide the resources to maintain the existing CAS, in particular, the platform on which CAS is running. There are also requirements for additional functionality and a more user-friendly interface. To provide the expanded functionality and improved availability, the company has concluded that it would be more effective to develop a completely new system than to upgrade the existing one.

CAS II will be developed in a research and development project in collaboration with two other companies and will be based on the commercial PDM tool, Metaphase Foundation from EDS [6]. The use of CAS II will begin within smaller groups and then be gradually extended throughout the entire organization and all products.

8.7.2.1 System architecture

Initially, CAS II will provide the functionality of the existing CAS, but subsequently, as a central PDM system, it will constitute an integrated system (including routines, rules, and tools) that will establish and maintain the product configuration during its entire life cycle (i.e., the configuration of all product data needed to describe the product, detailed enough for its manufacture, use, administration, and further development). This product configuration and the product data may need to be managed in many different development environments and their corresponding information technology support tools. Such development environments are, for example, electronics, mechanics, software, and user and customer documentation.

The system architecture was designed on the basis of experience from the PDM/CM area at the company during 1980–2000, together with trends on the market, as depicted in Figure 8.25.

Figure 8.25: CAS II system architecture.

As seen in Figure 8.25, the CAS II is an umbrella tool integrated with all archives, development environments, integrated logistic support (ILS), and production tools. It should provide support for managing the total product configuration, including the management of relationships between different parts of the product during its entire life cycle. It will be necessary to control identity and versions of articles centrally.

8.7.2.2 Cooperation of the main system and local tools

The main system will cooperate with local tools on an appropriate level for each type of activity. An important requirement is the storage and transfer of data in standardized formats. A further major requirement is the ability to store data safely for a long period (20 to 30 years) relying on well established and stable standards. All articles and related data needed during the product development process are created and processed by other tools. When a new version of an article is released, the development result will be managed in the main PDM system, either directly or by references. However, this is often only a subset of all of the information managed in the local IT system.

8.7.2.3 Supporting the generic PLC

The company’s generic life cycle model is shown in Figure 8.26. According to this model, the project manager decides which functional and physical articles should be under CM, how the structure shall be designed, and which documents should be included in the baselines. The PDM system will support the process of obtaining product configurations by establishing relationships between versions of articles, documentation, and changes during the entire life cycle.

Figure 8.26: Life cycle model.

In order to support this concept, the main PDM system should provide support for:

• Document management—support for the creation, identification, registration, archiving, presentation, searching for, and reuse of documents. The system should also support different workflows (e.g., reviewing and approval and release).

• Article management—support for the creation, identification, registration, presentation, searching for, reuse, connection of information, and structure management.

• Configuration management—support for the identification, control, review, and status accounting of managed objects in the PDM system.

• Change control, including:

1. Support for the creation and management of documents from change proposal to approved change orders;

2. Workflows for review, approval, and release;

3. Status accounting (e.g., a change proposal can be in one of the states, created, approved, or implemented).

   • Workflow—support for the creation and change of processes, or workflows (e.g., the document release process).

   • Program management, or WBS support for the relationship of a WBS activity to an object managed by the PDM system. This enables status accounting of documents.

Furthermore, it should also be possible to integrate the PDM system with other information technology systems by efficient and standardized interfaces.

When integrating with the local information technology systems, three different types of local information technology systems can be identified:

• Embedded PDM/CM systems [e.g., UG/manager for managing mechanical CAD (MCAD) data developed in Unigraphics];

• Local CM support (e.g., the archive Dokreg and CVS for software management);

• Manual CM support (e.g., manual naming of directory structures and files in the NT environment, say for documents created in Microsoft Office).

Export and import of information, both between two internal information technology systems and between information technology systems and external PDM systems, should be distributed through the main PDM system whenever possible. The information format used can be either application dependent or application independent. In most cases, it should be application independent.

Support for CM and change management is fundamental and should be implemented for all phases in the company’s life cycle model. For the initial phases, marketing and sales, the primary need for support is in document management. In succeeding phases, such as project management, development, production, delivery, and maintenance, the main needs for support will be, for example, article and structure management.

8.7.2.4 Gradual completion of the product structure

The product structure is gradually built up in the main PDM system (see Figure 8.27). During the initial phase of the product development process, the main activity is to create requirement documents defining a functional structure managed in the main PDM system. The system design and associated documents are reviewed, approved, and established following the workflow supported in the main PDM system. In the succeeding phases, the system design is realized in the relevant local development environments. The project manager creates WBS activities, which refer to the articles in the functional structure managed by the main PDM system. When the realization is finished and realization structures have been developed in the local environments, these are released (exported) to the main PDM system, gradually building up the total product structure. This is done latest, at the establishment of a formal version in the local information technology system. Examination/approval/establishment is performed with the help of the workflow in the main PDM system.

Figure 8.27: Overall system architecture and its relationship to the development phase during the product development process.

In preparation for manufacture, all the required information is collected in the main PDM system and transferred to the current MPS system. Subsequently, in all succeeding phases, the individual articles will be registered and updated in the main PDM system. During the product maintenance phase, all necessary information for each product or article, including the serial number, will be found in the main PDM system. When larger modifications or upgrades of existing products are performed, a new project is begun and proceeds through the development process. Obsolete systems are phased out after a formal decision.

8.7.3 Conclusion

SaabTech Electronics AB is in a period of transition between two generations of PDM systems. In the same way as many other large companies, the company has an established PDM process but is in a situation in which its technology is aging and there are increasing demands for new PDM tools based on emergent technology. In this transition period, the company strategy is to retain the present system but to improve its efficiency by introducing new tools and improving the interoperability between the tools. Although the use of a commercial PDM system has been decided on, much effort will be required to adjust it to the existing process and to integrate the system with other tools.

The evaluation and deployment of new tools was discussed in Chapter 7. Tool interoperability and integration was further analyzed in Chapter 6.

---